Ludwig Anzengruber - Creative Period

Creative Period

In 1869 he found his way back into bourgeois society, when he took a job as a clerk (probably because he badly needed money) in the imperial police headquarters in Vienna. In 1870 under the pseudonym "L. Gruber" he wrote what was to be his breakthrough, his anti-clerical drama Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld (The Priest from Kirchfeld). The play was first produced at the Theater an der Wien, and its premiere on November 5 was a great success. Heinrich Laube, the head of the Burgtheater, wrote an enthusiastic review and through this Ludwig struck up a friendship with Peter Rosegger. His overnight success meant that the police official (4th class) could step off the career ladder of the civil service and devote himself entirely to literature, which saved him from conflict between being a poet and his duty to his office.

In 1873, despite his mother's warnings, Anzengruber married the 16-year-old Adelinde Lipka (1857-1914). His young bride, the sister of his childhood friend Franz Lipka, was not up to the demands of practical life, and thus there were repeated crises in their marriage, although Ludwig's considerable debts and very close relationship with his mother were often also to blame for this. Despite their three children, divorce was inevitable, and in 1889 the couple separated officially.

The following years were very successful for Anzengruber. His plays were produced throughout Europe, though his mother was never able to fully share in his success, as she had died in 1875. From April 1882 until May 1885 he was the editor of the Viennese paper Die Heimat (The Homeland), in May 1884 he became a contributing editor of Le Figaro and in August 1888 he became the editor of the Wiener Bote (Vienna Messenger).

In September 1888 he was given the position of dramaturg for the Volkstheater Wien in Vienna, which opened on September 14, 1889 with his piece Der Fleck auf der Ehr (The Stain on Honour).

At the end of November, the dramatist, who was only fifty years old, became sick with anthrax, and not two weeks later died as a result of blood poisoning.