Trauerspiel

Trauerspiel, literally “mourning play,” is a term in German literature for a category of tragedy that flourished in the Baroque period (roughly the 17th century). While it shares with Tragödie the presentation of serious action and an unhappy ending, Trauerspiel is distinguished by its emphasis on external misfortune, moral didacticism, and a solemn, ceremonial style. The plots often hinge on political upheaval, dynastic crises, or judgments of fate and providence, rather than on the inner development or psychological complexity of a single heroic character.

Formally, Trauerspiele tend to be episodic, with extensive use of messengers and set-piece tableaux, and they employ elevated diction and sententiae (moralizing maxims). The mood is elegiac, and the aim is to awaken reflection on virtue, public order, and the fragility of human power, sometimes with an implied critique of tyranny or religious conflict. The genre often deals with grand public concerns and uses rhetorical contrast, ceremonial scenes, and vivid representations of catastrophe to elicit pity and moral reflection.

In 18th-century German criticism, especially in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Hamburg Dramaturgy, Trauerspiel was distinguished from Tragödie as a separate category with its own conventions. The genre declined as Enlightenment aesthetics favored psychological depth and reformist forms of tragedy, but it remains a key term for describing Baroque theatre and its distinct approach to fate, virtue, and the public consequences of misfortune. Today, Trauerspiel is primarily a scholarly label used to describe historical drama rather than a living genre.