Bahr, Hermann (Linz/Danube, 1863-1934, Munich), studied in Vienna, Czernowitz, and Berlin, where, in the 1880s, he met A. Holz and M. Kretzer, the Naturalist writers. He worked for a time as a journalist and publisher's reader in Berlin, and then became a dramatic critic in Vienna (1892). Bahr moved frequently, living again for a time in Berlin, then in Salzburg, and once more in Vienna, until in 1922 he settled finally in Munich. In 1909 he married the opera singer Anna Mildenburg. For a short time in 1918 he was senior dramatic adviser (Dramaturg) at the Burgtheater. Towards the end of his life Bahr went out of his mind.

Always a step ahead of the latest movement, Bahr wrote, as early as 1891, Die Überwindung des Naturalismus, a book of essays rejecting Naturalism and calling for a ‘Literatur der Nerven’. His numerous plays, many in Viennese dialect, include Die neuen Menschen (1887), Die große Sünde (1889), Die Mutter (1891), Aus der Vorstadt (1893, with C. Karlweis), Der Franzl (1901, on F. Stelzhamer), Die häusliche Frau (1893), Das Tschaperl (1898), Der Meister (1904), Das Konzert (1909), Wienerinnen (1911), Die Kinder (1911), Das Prinzip (1912), Das Phantom (1912), Der Querulant (1914), Die Stimme (1916), Unmensch (1919), Spielerei (1919), Ehelei (1920), the title of which alludes to Schnitzler's Liebelei, and Altweibersommer (1924). Of these Das Tschaperl and Das Konzert are the best known. Among his novels are Theater (1897), Drut (1909), later entitled Die Hexe Drut, and three works of a cycle intended to contain 12 volumes setting forth the shape and temper of the age: ‘O Mensch’ (1910), Himmelfahrt (1916), and Die rotte Korahs (1918). Wiener Theater (1899) and Rezensionen (1903) contain some of his theatre criticism. His autobiography (Selbstbildnis) appeared in 1923. Bahr proclaimed his reconversion to the Roman Catholic faith in 1916. Select editions, Meister und Meisterbriefe um Hermann Bahr, ed. J. Gregor, appeared in 1947 and Zur Überwindung des Naturalismus. Theoretische Schriften 1887-1904, ed. G. Wunberg, in 1968. Briefwechsel mit seinem Vater (1971) was followed by the volume Dichter und Gelehrter. Bahr und Josef Redlich in ihren Briefen 1896-1934 (1980) and by diaries, Bahr. Prophet der Moderne. Tagebücher 1888-1904 (1987).

(hĕr'män bär) , 1863–1934, Austrian dramatist and critic. His essay Zur Kritik der Moderne (1890) established modernism as a literary term, and his study Expressionismus (1916, tr. 1925) defined that literary trend. Bahr's plays include the comedies Das Konzert (1909, tr. 1910) and Der Meister (1914, tr. 1918).

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