Zu frühen deutschen Hörspielen und Hörspielkonzeptionen (1924-1927/28):

The first half-decade (1924-29) of the history of the German radio play is still rather murky. Historians are aware of many reworkings of set literary texts (mainly drama and narrative prose) for so-called “Wendespiele” in the new medium. But already in this formative phase, attempts were made to establish the radio play (Horspiel) as a new genre theoretically as well as in practice by works written for radio in their own right. Four examples are presented – one from 1924 (Flesch) and three successful productions sent in to the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (Reich Radio Society) for a competition of 1927 (plays by Auerbach, Leonhard and Mohring). Two of them – Auerbach and Leonhard – grow out of theoretical concepts aiming at contrasting types of radio plays. The one makes the new medium itself the fictional framework; the other involves a “turning inward” in which the figures are tied together by forces and events lying completely outside the protagonists and which would not be possible on stage. Their first type corresponds to Flesch’s “Zauberei auf dem Sender” (Magic on air, 1924) and Auerbach’s “Dr. Funkius”; the second to Leonhard’s “Wettlauf” (Competition) and Mohring’s “Sturm uber dem Pacific” (Storm on the Pacific) with storms, plane crashes and shipwrecks. [The relevance of this typology could be evaluated on the basis of a broader selection of material necessitating larger editions.]