What is the title of Frank Wedekind’s 1895 play that precedes Pandora’s Box?

Frank Wedekind’s 1895 play that precedes Pandora’s Box is titled Earth Spirit.

Earth Spirit, or Erdgeist in German, introduces Lulu, the central character later developed in Wedekind’s Pandora’s Box. The two plays are often treated together as the Lulu plays because they form a connected dramatic cycle about Lulu’s relationships, social power, sexuality, and eventual destruction.

Wedekind wrote Earth Spirit in 1895, while Pandora’s Box followed in 1904. The plays challenged conventional theatrical morality and were controversial because of their frank treatment of desire and social hypocrisy. Their influence reached beyond theatre, inspiring later operatic and cinematic adaptations.

The title Earth Spirit is sometimes confused with Pandora’s Box itself because both works belong to the same Lulu sequence. It is also unrelated to Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, Gerhart Hauptmann’s The Weavers, and Wedekind’s later play Spring Awakening. Identifying the earlier title helps distinguish the source texts behind the 1929 film.