Hörspiel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hörspiel is the German term for radio drama. The term describes a storytelling broadcast that mixes radio documentary, soundscape, music, various narrators and sound editing techniques to help the listener imagine the story. It should not be confused with the art form audio book, which mainly consists of recital by only one narrator and usually without soundscape and music.
The Hörspiel art form was brought about by the advent of radio. It was later followed by the feature. The feature has more of the character of a documentary, but like the radio play, it involves fictionalized texts.
The development of the radio play is closely connected with the history of theatre and film and it is often regarded as "Cinema for the Ears". The "Hörspiel" as a dramatic production with distributed speaker roles is particularly popular in the German linguistic area.
Since the early 1970s many different series and single plays have been published and were able to captivate generations of keen listeners. While listening to them as children, many fans re-discovered this genre as grown-ups and now pass on their preference to their children. This may explain why the genre "Hörspiel" is still enjoying high sales figures in Germany.
[edit] Most popular children/juvenile series
- Die drei Fragezeichen; known as "The Three Investigators" in English
- Masters of the Universe
- Bibi Blocksberg
- TKKG
- Benjamin Blümchen
- Pumuckl
- Fünf Freunde, "Famous Five", based on the children books series by Enid Blyton
- Point Whitmark
- Hanni & Nanni, St. Clare's also by Enid Blyton
- Hui Buh, recently made into a movie
- Jan Tenner
[edit] Most popular adult series
- Gabriel Burns
- Paul Temple, based on the books of Francis Durbridge
- Prof. van Dusen, "Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen" originally based on the books by Jacques Futrelle, later continued by German writer Michael Koser
- Larry Brent
- Macabros
- John Sinclair (German fiction)
- Grusel Kabinett
- Schattensaiten
[edit] External links
- Hoerspiele.de - overview (in German)
- Rocky-Beach.com - German fansite about the series Die Drei Fragezeichen
- He-Man.de - German Hörspiele about He-Man and the masters of the universe
- Hoerspiel-Rezensionen.de - Reviews and news on the latest Hörspiele (Radio Plays)
- Hörspieltalk - Talk about the Hobby