Hugo von Hofmannsthal

This letter reflects the growing distrust of and dissatisfaction with language that so characterizes the Modern era and Chandos's dissolving personality is not only individual but societal. Because of this realization Hofmannsthal’s idea of the role of the artist began to take shape as someone who created works that would inspire or inflame the instinct rather than merely preserving it in a creative form. In 1912 he adapted the 15th century English morality play Everyman as Jedermann and Jean Sibelius (amongst others) wrote incidental music for it.