Biography
Frank Wedekind (1864-1918), born in Hanover and raised partly in Switzerland, was one of the most provocative dramatists of the Wilhelmine era and a crucial bridge between naturalism and Expressionism. His Frühlings Erwachen (Spring Awakening, 1891, premiered 1906) addressed adolescent sexuality, pregnancy, and suicide with a directness that led to decades of censorship and bowdlerisation. The Lulu cycle—Erdgeist (1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora (1904)—tracks the destruction of its femme-fatale heroine across two plays; Alban Berg's unfinished opera Lulu is based on them, as is G.W. Pabst's 1929 film with Louise Brooks. Wedekind was also a cabaret performer, songwriter, and prolific essayist. He died in Munich in 1918 from complications of hernia surgery. Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's 2006 rock musical Spring Awakening brought his work to new global audiences.
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