About the work
Zwischenspiel (Interlude) is a comedy in three acts, written in 1904–05, which Arthur Schnitzler premiered on 12 October 1905 at the Burgtheater in Vienna.
Plot
Conductor Amadeus Adams and opera singer Cäcilie agree to keep their marriage going as an open friendship without a duty of fidelity. When rumours reach Berlin of an affair between Cäcilie and a prince, Amadeus grows jealous after all and tries to win her back; after one last night together, both realize the marriage cannot be saved and part ways.
Cultural significance
According to Schnitzler's diary, the premiere met with mixed applause and even hissing in the third act; he himself later called the play "on the whole a weak piece of theatre." Even so, scholars regard Zwischenspiel as a telling experiment on the limits of the open marriage as a modern ideal around 1900.