After discussions about the artistic focus of the magazine, it was renamed for the first time in Freie Bühne für den Entwickelungskampf der Zeit (Free Stage for the Struggle for Development of the Time), shifting to more popular content and to monthly publication.

Otto Julius Bierbaum took over as editor of the magazine in 1893 and named it Neue Deutsche Rundschau.

[2] The magazine became one of the most important forums for modern literature and essay writing in the German Empire and the Weimar Republic.

The magazine published several first works of literature; authors included Rainer Maria Rilke and Arthur Schnitzler.

The 1904 title shows Gerhart Hauptmann's "Das Hirtenlied", Wilhelm Boelsche's "Zukunft der Menschheit", the novel Kreuzungen by Emil Strauß, Ellen Key's "Über Liebe und Ehe", Mann's "Ein Glück", Alfred Kerr's "Neue Schauspielkunst" and Richard Dehmel's "Der kleine Held".