AYRER, JAKOB (?-16o5) , German dramatist, of whose life little is known. He seems to have come to Nuremberg as a boy and worked his way up to the position of imperial notary. He died at Nuremberg on March 26, 1605. Ayrer left some 6o or 7o plays which were printed at Nuremberg under the title Opus Theatricum in 1618. This collection contains 3o tragedies and comedies and 36 Fastnachtsspiele (Shrovetide plays) and Sing spiele. As a dramatist, Ayrer is virtually the successor of Hans Sachs, but he came under the influence of the so-called Englische Komodianten, that is, troops of English actors, who, at the close of the i6th century and during the i7th, repeatedly visited the continent, bringing with them the repertory of the Elizabethan theatre. From those actors Ayrer learned how to enliven his dramas with sensational incidents and spectacular effects, and from them he borrowed the character of the clown. His plays are cast in a more ambitious mould than those of Hans Sachs. He chose in many cases complicated historical subjects which served for a cycle of three, four, or even five pieces. The Helden buck, for instance, has three dramas on Hugdietrich, Otnit and Wolfdietrich. Ayrer was not in any way a great writer, but his work marks a forward stage in the practice of the drama.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Ayrers Dramen, ed. by A. von Keller, have been Bibliography.-Ayrers Dramen, ed. by A. von Keller, have been published by the Stuttgart Lit. Verein (1864-65). See also L. Tieck, Deutsches Theater (1817) ; A. Cohn, Shakespeare in Germany (1885) , which contains a translation of the two plays mentioned above; J. Tittmann, Schauspiele des sechzehnten Jahrhunderts (1888) ; W. Wodick, Jacob Ayrers Dramen in ihrer Verhkiltnis zur einheimischen Literatur and zum Schauspiel der englischen Komodianten (1912).