Fastnachtsspiel

Fastnachtsspiel, German Carnival or Shrovetide play of the 15th century, in one act, performed mainly in Nuremberg by students and artisans. It shows, in its somewhat crude couplets, a mingling of religious and popular elements interesting in the light of later developments in German drama. It developed, independently of religious drama, from a sequence of narrated episodes in which each character endeavoured to outdo the others in absurdity or obscenity. The earliest known writer of Fastnachtsspiele was Hans Rosenplüt (c.1400–c.1470). The subjects of the Carnival plays are those which would appeal to mainly urban audiences—the weaknesses and venial sins of lawyers and their clients, doctors and their patients, clerics and their female parishioners. In most of these farces the Narr or fool is the central character, sometimes with a dull-witted companion to serve as a butt for his practical jokes. At first the plays were presented in the simplest possible way, rather in the style of the English mumming play, but later, when the town guilds took them over, a raised stage and hangings, with a few properties, became general. Many of the Carnival plays were written by the Mastersingers.