Robert Stumpfl

Robert Heinrich Viktor Stumpfl (6 June 1904 – 11 August 1937) was an Austrian philologist who specialized in Germanic studies and the history of theatre.

Robert Stumpfl
Born(1904-06-04)4 June 1904
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died11 August 1937(1937-08-11) (aged 33)
Guggenthal, Austria
NationalityAustrian
Academic background
Alma mater
Doctoral advisorRudolf Much
Other academic advisorsJulius Petersen
Academic work
Discipline
Sub-disciplineGerman philology
Institutions
Main interests
Notable worksKultspiele der Germanen als Ursprung des mittelalterlichen Dramas (1936)

Biography

Robert Stumpfl was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary on 6 June 1904. His father was a senior official in the Foreign Ministry of Austria-Hungary. He studied English, German and Scandinavian at the universities of Vienna and Kiel, gaining his Ph.D. at Vienna in 1926 under the supervision of Rudolf Much. His dissertation was on Protestant theatre in Austria during the Reformation (16th century). In the 1920s the prospects for an academic career in Austria were dim, and Stumpfl subsequently lectured in German at the University of Edinburgh.

Returning to Austria Stumpfl married Johanna Nikolaia Karoline Spitzy in Vienna on 7 July 1931. He completed his habilitation at the University of Berlin in 1936 under the supervision of Julius Petersen. His dissertation, Kultspiele der Germanen als Ursprung des mittelalterlichen Dramas (1936), suggested strong Germanic influences on the emergence on medieval theatre, and was received with great interest in the scholarly community. This line of research had earlier been pursued by Jacob Grimm and Gustav Freytag. Stumpfl was subsequently appointed a professor at the University of Heidelberg.

Stumpfl died in a car accident at Guggenthal, Austria on 11 August 1937.

See also

Selected works
  • Schauspielmasken des Mittelalters und der Renaissancezeit und ihr Fortbestehen im Volksschauspiel, 1931
  • Das alte Schultheater in Steyr im Zeitalter der Reformation und Gegenreformation, 1933
  • Unser kampf um ein deutsches nationaltheater, 1935
  • Kultspiele der Germanen als Ursprung des mittelalterlichen Dramas, 1936

Sources
  • Castle, Eduard (21 August 1937). "Der tödliche Unfall des Theaterhistorikers Robert Stumpfl". Neues Wiener Journal. pp. 9–10 – via ANNO.
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