The Brandner Kaspar

The Brandner Kaspar is a fictional character from a story Franz von Kobell in top of Bavarian dialect , which in the 1871 Flying sheets was published. The title character Brandner Kaspar deceives death as a person and steals additional years of life. While this creates some confusion in the heavenly order, in the end Caspar is convinced of the blessings of eternal bliss. The story was adapted and filmed several times for the theater.

Original version by Franz von Kobell

Beginning of the 19th century: Kasper Brandner, a sprightly seventy-four year old, lives as a locksmith, gunsmith and hunting assistant on the Tegernsee . His wife Traudl has already died, his two sons serve as soldiers in a Bavarian artillery regiment. One evening Boandlkramer (death) appears and wants to take him with him. After many unsuccessful excuses, the man from Brandner succeeds in getting Boandlkramer with Kerschgeist drunk and in playing cards to trick him into agreeing to get him only at the age of 90.

A few years later, however, a dairy woman from the neighborhood of Brandner Kasper had an accident, went to heaven, and her statements lead to the discovery of the illegal trade. On the orders of St. Peter (called by Kobell the Portner ) the Boandlkramer goes back to the Tegernsee to finally pick up the long overdue man. The Brandner Kasper has since suffered a lot from the bad times, his sons died in the Battle of Bergisel . Yet he does not want to follow death. He can only be persuaded to take a quick look at paradise.

Once at the top, the Portner leads him to his sons, his wife and other relatives. The joy of seeing each other and the astonishment at the glory of Paradise are so great that he decides to simply stay “up”.

Theater version by Joseph Maria Lutz

Based on Kobell's story, the Pfaffenhofen author Joseph Maria Lutz wrote a folk play in 1934 with the title The Brandner Kaspar looks into paradise . His version adheres closely to Kobell's original and, as Lutz himself writes, does not rely on overheated dramatic bang effects , but on real depth of mind . Lutz did not want humorous ingredients and jokes, as he said in the preface to the play.

At the world premiere in Dresden, Erich Ponto played Boanlkramer. Since its premiere, the piece has been performed on over 100 stages.

Theater version by Kurt Wilhelm

Emergence

Kobell's great-great-great-nephew Kurt Wilhelm edited and staged the work of his ancestor for the Residenztheater in Munich in 1975 . The version of The Brandner Kaspar and the Eternal Life was in the program of the Bavarian State Theater more than 1000 times until 2001 and was adopted by over 60 theaters. Wilhelm also added the numerous and now strongly humorous "heavenly scenes".

Rolf Wilhelm wrote the music for the theater version .

action

First picture

In the first picture the characters are presented against the backdrop of a court hunt for the King of Belgium. Kaspar Brandner, a seventy-two-year-old widowed smallholder and locksmith, tries to maintain his small, indebted property for his granddaughter Marei and therefore hires out as a hunting assistant on this farm hunt. When he was hit by a stray shot by the ducal hunter Simmerl, he briefly saw a black figure in the thicket. Flori, the lover of Brandner's granddaughter Marei, connects the old man, and they immediately agree to take Simmerl in his arms. When Simmerl shows up, Brandner plays a fit of weakness and makes use of the “Kerschgeist” that Simmerl gives him to strengthen, while Flori teases and provokes the hunter because of his accuracy. Finally, Kaspar lets the hunter carry him piggyback down the mountain, where they meet the hunting party. Marei also appears there, disguised as a boy, also working as a hunting helper. Simmerl and Mayor Senftl are furious, the former over Kaspar's jokes, the latter because Marei deceived him with her disguise. On the way home, Flori reports of a big stag that was shot up on the mountain but was still able to escape. He suggests to Kaspar that they look for the deer and bring it down in order to sell the meat for a profit. The Brandner refuses for fear of punishment.

Second picture

At home in his hut, Kaspar first lights a pipe when suddenly someone knocks. In the doorway stands a thin, pale, black-clad figure. Brandner first needs a while before he realizes that he has the "Boanlkramer" in front of him - death. He announces to the old locksmith that this is his day today and that the shot on the hunt should have scared him to death. Brandner is still alive and tries to evade the Boanlkramer's access. A shot glass falls into his hands. Shrewdly he pulls out the Jäger Simmerl's bottle and invites Boanlkramer for a glass, and another, and another. The alcohol makes the Boanlkramer talkative, and he complains to the Brandner of his suffering because people never want to go with him voluntarily and always make it difficult for him, although he is supposed to lead them to paradise. Kaspar plays the understanding friend and finally even manages to persuade Death to play a card game. The Boanlkramer is so drunk that he drops a few cards. Brandner uses the unobserved moment to stick the most important card - the Gras -Ober (old German sheet) - up his sleeve. Of course, the Boanlkramer loses the game. The price for this is another 18 years that Kaspar can continue to live. The Boanlkramer stumbled away. Shortly afterwards, Marei and Flori appear, who asks Brandner again about the stag that was shot. Full of exuberance, the old man sets out to fetch the noble venison into his hut.

Third picture

Three more years go into the country. On his 75th birthday, Brandner gathers an astonishingly large festival community around him while a storm is approaching on the horizon. There are wild rumors circulating: Something is wrong with the Brandner. He has managed to get rid of much of his debt through recklessness in recent years. It is an open secret that he managed to do this by poaching and selling the crooked venison, but so far no one has been able to prove anything. With downright devilish luck, he was able to escape the hunters who followed him again and again. Nevertheless, on this feast day of all times, Flori wants to go up into the mountains again to shoot a chamois for which a wealthy, unknown townsperson offered him a lot of money. Marei is not at all happy with it, she has dark premonitions.

Mayor Senftl reluctantly gives a congratulatory speech to Kaspar and also mentions how the old locksmith stands in his way: As the main creditor of the brandner, he wanted to sell his hut to a noble Prussian, but he could not seize the hut because Kaspar had paid his debts . In a forgiving way, he praises his rival's diligence and diligence. Kaspar answers the speech with a strange sermon about life and death. In the end, however, the deep thoughts turn out to be just a joke. Marei learns from Vroni, a peasant girl, that the hunters have moved into the mountains with their weapons. During a birthday serenade, Jäger Simmerl and Mayor Senftl exchange meaningful looks with some hunters from the area. Simmerl asks Marei to dance and makes a few hints that heighten Marei's distrust. Finally Simmerl becomes intrusive and receives a violent rebuff from the girl. For this he has to put up with the ridicule of the guests.

Marei realizes that calamity is brewing and alerts the fire man: Senftl wants to lure her loved one into a trap in order to catch him poaching. The townsperson mentioned by Flori was the bait cast by the Simmerl. Then she runs after the Flori. The thunderstorm breaks out, Brandner suddenly hears the death knell announcing the Boanlkramer and suspects something terrible. Full of horror, he runs after the two of them.

Fourth picture

Archangel Michael , the old Thurmair and the pilgrim Nantwein are sitting in the sky with beer and a card game in front of the heavenly door when a newcomer announces himself. Marei comes in shyly and has to look around first. But after everyone has greeted her kindly, she takes courage and asks the heavenly ones for help for her Flori. She lets the two deceased look through binoculars, and Marei sees herself lying down there, dead, crashed in the Wolfsschlucht and buried by falling rocks. St. Peter comes over and tries to reassure her: after all, this is paradise, and if Flori came up too, it wouldn't be that bad. Then he goes on to the official part, but a little amazes him: In the heavenly bookkeeping, Marei's death age is incorrectly stated: 18 years too early. Then Marei also tells him that her grandfather, Kaspar from Brandner, is still alive, contrary to the entries. Petrus must first convince himself of this by looking through the binoculars. On top of that he notices that a "Schornai" (journal) - a directory from the bookkeeping - is missing. He immediately rings for Nantwein and orders that the Boanlkramer be found. During the waiting time there is a lot of gossip about the Bavarian thick skull, the church and the Prussians . A messenger from the Prussian sky announces himself. He brings a letter of complaint: A Prussian should have bought a hut on Tegernsee, but it was occupied by Brandner. The course of world history threatens to fall apart. Peter struggles to maintain his heavenly meekness. Finally, Marei is invited to choose a companion to move into paradise. She chooses one of her relatives and returns home to eternal life.

The Boanlkramer is led into the anteroom of heaven by three young angels. He suspects what is in store for him now and tries to bring the stolen directory back, but is surprised by the porter. Deeply contrite, but still eloquently, Death confesses the problem to angry Peter: Shivering with the cold, he misdirected the shot at Brandner and could not bring the old locksmith into the sky by force. In the end he comes out with the story of the schnapps and the card game. Peter vacillates between holy anger, compassion for death, and amused laughter. In the end, the Boanlkramer is ordered to correct his mistake and immediately call Brandner up. The Boanlkramer is at a loss, after all, he has promised the Brandner another 15 years and is bound to his word. But he is chased out of paradise with mockery and abuse.

Fifth picture

Brandner sits lonely and broken in his hut. He tries to find some comfort in reading the Bible. Simmerl comes in and wants to pour out his heart to the Brandner: He wanted to bring about order and fight poaching in his territory. On top of that he was jealous of Flori because he himself had his eye on Marei. But now he feels guilty about Marei's death. Kaspar also showered him with bitter accusations: Kaspar's whole purpose in life died with Marei. Shortly afterwards, Flori is brought in - by a gendarme, tied up. Simmerl just has time to hide. Flori also makes serious accusations that he is to blame for Marei's death, then he discovers Simmerl and almost clashes with him. Kaspar drives in between. Simmerl, full of remorse, manages to jump over his shadow. He wants to withdraw the charge against Flori and be reconciled with him. At that moment the old man hears the death knell again. He nervously sends the two fighters out to be alone with the Boanlkramer.

The first thing death shows him is how much smarter it would have been if Brandner had come with him back then instead of rebelling against divine providence. He would have been spared all this suffering. But this time too, despite a lot of back and forth, Kaspar remains stubborn: he insists on his remaining 15 years and explains to Boanlkramer that he only believes what he sees with his own eyes. Frustrated, the Boanlkramer wants to give up when he senses one last chance: He offers the brandner the chance to look into paradise for an hour and then return. Kaspar is suspicious, but agrees.

Sixth picture

Kurt Wilhelm himself considered this picture suitable only for “large stages with the most modern technical equipment”.

On the death cart, Kaspar from Brandner and Boanlkramer climb higher and higher through clouds, lightning and thunder.

Seventh picture

Archangel Michael is in a pretty bad mood. His archangel pride is cracked because he hadn't noticed the boanlkramer's deception, and because he was now banned from drinking beer and playing cards. On top of that, he has to listen to Nantwein and Thurmair's ridicule. Kaspar and Death reach the forecourt of the Heavenly Gate, there you can take a look into paradise. Brandner sees everything he already knew on earth, only much bigger and more beautiful. His wife and granddaughter are standing there by his hut, and an infinite longing grips him.

Then Portner appears. Kaspar admits that he still has to atone for a few sins, and the trial begins: Michael as the accuser relentlessly brings the entire register of sins and finally wants to restore order. The Boanlkramer as a defender, who also fears for his own reputation, tries to get the best out of Kaspar. He gets unexpected help from some of the sky dwellers, which annoys Michael. The archangel wants to make an example and is not kidding. And Peter, as a good-natured judge, considers Kaspar's earthly pranks to be harmless and initially wants to turn a blind eye. But then Michael points out to him a serious crime by Kaspar. Peter takes the register of sins to take the case directly to the highest authority. The Boanlkramer gets nervous. It turns out that this crime concerns him of all people: deceiving the heavenly powers while playing cards. In addition, the hour has now expired, Kaspar should return to earth. But he doesn't want to anymore. The longing for paradise gives him so much strength that he wants to take on purgatory . Michael sets out to lead Kaspar away, but is just held back by Peter and the heavenly inhabitants: The eternal Trinity has forgiven Brandner. They all laughed heartily at the joke and the shrewdness of the Brandner. And so Kaspar from Brandner can return home unscathed to eternal life at the side of his granddaughter and parents. He secretly wants to give the Boanlkramer the rest of the Kerschgeist, but he has long since secretly appropriated the bottle.

characters

Kaspar Brandner

The 72-year-old Kaspar from Brandner has a solid social status. He pays attention to his appearance, dresses simply according to his status. Kaspar has debts, but pays them off so that he can keep his little house in the mountains. He was a trained gunsmith and locksmith, but now only works as a hunting assistant, as he knows the area best.

Marei

Marei is a 24 year old, medium height, slim, young woman. She has long, curly brown hair. She disguises herself as a boy so she can go hunting. Her grandfather takes good care of her because her mother died in childbirth. Her father has also passed away. Marei is in love with Flori and kisses him before she crashes in the forest and dies.

Florian

Flori is 24 years old. He is a day laborer in Albach and also earns his money as a poacher, which means he will end up in prison. Since the Brandner Kaspar is indebted to Alois Senftl, Flori sells his booty and helps out with the money. Since Flori loves Marei, he works with Kaspar from the brand. His clothes are simple and he has blond hair.

Simmerl

Simmerl (28) is a hunter in the service of the prince, but despite his job, his shooting skills leave a lot to be desired. He has been in love with the granddaughter of the Brandner (Marei) for some time. The stately built Simmerl reacts very aggressively to jokes because he does not understand them and otherwise feels very defenseless.

Alois Senftl

The mayor of Albach, Alois Senftl (50), is a self-confident hunter. With the exception of the hut belonging to Brandner Kaspar, the thin man with a pot belly and mustache owns almost the entire village. Senftl is not a very composed man and often suffers from fits of anger. His goal is to sell the Brandner's hut to a Prussian nobleman.

The Boanlkramer

The Boanlkramer is a thin figure who wears a black robe that contrasts with his floral white skin. He is death who redeems people and leads them to heaven. These trips make him cold quite often, which is why he gladly accepts the cherry spirit from Brandner Kaspar. Despite his divinely assigned task, he is feared and hated by most mortals and therefore actually pitiful in his difficult task. The only person who has friendly feelings towards him is the Brandner Kasper.

Saint Portner

Saint Portner wears a gray robe with a blue stole.

The almost holy nant wine

The basic characteristics of the almost holy Nant wine are that it does its job diligently and that it speaks almost exclusively in Latin with others. He only appears in picture 4 when talking to Marei. He often corrects the mistakes of others, about half of his statements are corrections.

Turmair

The figure of Turmair usually appears with that of Nantwein. He is the wise spirit in the scene, who slows down the sometimes all too hot Nantwein or ensures the heavenly calming of the sometimes very excited protagonists. So he lets the intimidated Marei see the earth through the "Fraunhofer" (a telescope).

archangel Michael

The archangel is at first a happy participant in the Watt round with St. Nantwein and the Turmair. Compared to Brandner, however, he strictly insists on observing the heavenly laws and acts as a "public prosecutor" or prosecutor - also because it annoys him that he overlooked the Boanlkramer's mishap and was therefore (temporarily?) Forbidden from drinking beer and playing cards .

Film, radio, television, theater

• On the basis of the Lutz version, Erna Fentsch and Carl Wery edited the material for the film " The Strange Story of Brandner Kaspar ". The feature film, produced in 1949 with Carl Wery and Paul Hörbiger in the leading roles, is also known under the titles "The Brandner Kaspar looks into Paradise" and "The Gate to Paradise".
• In 1954, Bayerischer Rundfunk broadcast a radio play, also based on the version by JM Lutz, entitled “ The Brandner Kaspar looks into paradise ”. Speakers and singers included Roider Jackl and Rudolf Vogel , and Alois Johannes Lippl directed .
• The production by Kurt Wilhelm at the Munich Residenztheater was produced in 1975 as a studio recording for BR television under the title “ The Brandner Kaspar and the Eternal Life ” with Fritz Straßner , Toni Berger and Gustl Bayrhammer in the leading roles . This version was broadcast annually on All Saints' Day by Bavarian TV until 2015 ; only in 2006 was a recording of the 2005 Munich Volkstheater broadcast. Due to numerous audience reactions, it was decided in 2007 to broadcast the recording from 1975 again. In the meantime (2019) this has been converted to the 16: 9 aspect ratio; however, no color correction (to eliminate the inevitable aging effects of the originally analog tape recording) was made.
• The new production by Christian Stückl , the artistic director of the Münchner Volkstheater , has been on the program of his theater since April 2005 until today (2018). As early as 2010, the production was shown in 200 performances there as well as in guest performances in front of over 130,000 spectators. A television version was first broadcast on All Saints' Day 2006 by Bavarian television. Maximilian Brückner plays Boanlkramer, Alexander Duda plays Brandner Kaspar.
• A cinema adaptation directed and camerawork by Joseph Vilsmaier , who in addition to Markus Zimmer also excels as a producer of the film, started in German cinemas in October 2008. The leading roles are Michael Bully Herbig as Boanlkramer and Franz Xaver Kroetz as Brandner Kaspar. See: The story of Kaspar from Brandner .

Others

The story of the gunsmith from Tegernsee was also the basis for a novel by Anton Maly , which he published in 1953 under the title “ Der Brandner Kasper ”.

On July 6th, 2012, the opera version Der Brandner Kasper - a Bavarian opera (comp: Christian Auer, libr .: Karl-Heinz Hummel, director: Verena von Kerssenbrock) had its world premiere at the 16th Ludwig Baumann Opera Festival at Gut Immling.

Web links

• The G'schicht 'of' Brandner-Kasper. Retrieved May 15, 2020 .  Original version by Franz von Kobell forProject Gutenberg-DE

Individual evidence

1. ↑ City Chronicle 1975 . State capital Munich. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
2. ↑ http://www.wochenanzeiger.de/article/136250.html
3. ↑ The Brandner Kaspar and the eternal 'life. Bayerischer Rundfunk, October 27, 2015, accessed on December 3, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Münchner Volkstheater: "The 'Brandner' mach i net". Merkur.de, December 12, 2010, accessed on May 15, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Der Brandner Kasper - a Bavarian opera ( Memento from July 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Official website; Gut Immling Opera Festival