Everyone

'Everyman' is, alongside 'The Rosenkavalier', Hugo von Hofmannsthal's most popular work. Millions have seen 'The Game of the Death of the Rich Man' in the cathedral square of Salzburg and elsewhere, and hundreds of thousands have read the play. With this work, the poet's desire for popularity has been fulfilled: for the "play before the crowd," for an art that transcends the divisions of social classes and educational levels and speaks to everyone. This serious popularity is neither artificial nor naive. As is always the case with Hofmannsthal, perspectives of world literature also open up here: Everyman comes from far away. The inspiration was an old English morality play, which is preserved alongside a Dutch and a Low German version. Hofmannsthal aimed for more than mere edification. In a time of seemingly unchallenged prosperity, he sensed uncertainties.