The interrogation of Lucullus

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The interrogation of Lukullus is a radio play by the German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht . He later reworked it together with Paul Dessau into the opera libretto The Condemnation of Lucullus .

Emergence

Brecht wrote the piece shortly after the outbreak of war in the autumn of 1939 in exile in Sweden with the help of Margarete Steffin within seven days. He called it a "radio piece", also "radio text". More recent research assumes that the piece was conceived as a "radio opera" when it was created. It was a commissioned work for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation Stockholm , but it was not broadcast there. A short time later, Brecht offered the piece to Swiss radio, which broadcast it on May 12, 1940 via the Beromünster station . In the period that followed, Brecht tried unsuccessfully to have the piece set to music. In 1945/46 a piece of music by Roger Sessions was written in the USA ; Brecht did not take part in this production.

In 1949 there was another setting of the piece by Paul Dessau as a commissioned work by the NWDR Hamburg , which was not broadcast. In this context and at Dessau's suggestion, Brecht had given up the open end of the play with a new scene, The Judgment . In the same year Dessau and Brecht reworked the radio opera into a stage opera. The work got into a dispute about formalism in art , which had been carried out in the GDR since 1950 at the instigation of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD). The opera was rehearsed on March 17, 1951 at the Berlin State Opera . A failure of the performance was apparently to be organized through the targeted allocation of tickets by the Ministry of Popular Education . This plan completely failed. In the subsequent dispute with the SED functionaries, Brecht made minor changes in order to dispel alleged “ pacifist tendencies”. Dessau revised its music on a larger scale. The first performance then took place under the title The Condemnation of Lukullus on October 12, 1951 at the Berlin State Opera. The West German premiere was on January 30, 1952, and the first version of the opera was staged here. The international breakthrough came around 1957. A Leipzig production was shown in Paris in 1958.

Excursus Lucullus

Lucius Licinius Lucullus (born 117 BC) was a Roman senator and general. In the Third Mithridatic War he initially led the Roman troops successfully and was later replaced by Pompey . When he returned to Rome, he had several magnificent buildings built. Lucullus became known for its sumptuous lifestyle and its opulent feasts. That he brought the cherry tree to Italy is a legend that goes back to Plutarch .

Contents (version 1939)

The late Roman general Lukullus is buried in his grave. A frieze depicting the “heroic deeds” of the deceased is on the train. After the tomb has been closed, the action continues in the realm of the dead. Lukullus has to join the queue of those waiting here, against which he is indignant. He learns that his “use” will determine whether he comes to Hades or the “realms of the blessed”. When he is brought before the court of the underworld, he tries to name Alexander of Macedonia as an advocate, but he cannot be found in the “realms of the blessed”. Lukullus therefore suggests asking the people depicted on his funeral frieze. The first four testify against him that he brought death and destruction to their countries. The general tries to justify his actions by saying that he did everything only for Rome.

After a pause in deliberation, the delinquent rejected the court on the grounds that there were no military experts represented. A lay judge replied that she knew the war well enough because she had lost a son to it. The last two witnesses, on the other hand, his cook and a farmer, praise Lukullus' "humanity", as he knew how to appreciate the art of cooking and also brought the cherry tree to Italy . The judge of the dead draws the balance: the little useful that Lukullus achieved does not outweigh his conquests, "but you sent 80,000 to Orcus for it". The court withdraws to deliberate. In the opera versions from 1951, the court and witnesses join a lay judge's demand: "Into nothing with him".

review

The play, at least in the first version, has all the characteristics of Brecht's epic theater . The controversial dialogues in court challenge the viewer to comment. The open ending transfers the arc of tension built up in the action to the audience, namely giving the answer to the question: "Is war to be condemned?" The relocation of the plot to the underworld can be understood as an offer to the viewer, who is "allowed to discover the topicality himself and to feel it all the more violently and deeply". The distinction between war of aggression and war of defense incorporated into the last version of Brecht, in contrast to the earlier uncompromising anti-war statement of the play, did not meet with a majority approval among reviewers.

As in the poem “ Questions from a Reading Worker ” from 1935, this piece also reflects Brecht's idea that history must be written and evaluated from the perspective of the working people, not that of the ruling class. This becomes clear both at the beginning, when Lucullus, like everyone else, has to queue in front of Hades, and later during the composition of the court and in the dialogues there.

environment

Brecht occupied the figure of Lucullus on at least two other occasions. In early 1939 he wrote the novella The Trophies of Lucullus . For the fourth book on The Business of Mr. Julius Caesar, which was not completed, a “ necrology of civil liberty” was planned as a conversation between Lucullus and other protagonists. The corresponding works by Brecht date from 1938.

filming

In 2009 the French director Jean-Marie Straub filmed a reading of scenes 6 to 12 with Cornelia Geiser. The accused Lukullus, popularly known as Lakalles, has to justify himself before his accusers, overthrown kings, raped queens, conquered cities and a fishwife.

Further radio play productions (selection)

(Source: The HörDat audio game database )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joachim Lucchesi: The interrogation of Lukullus / The condemnation of Lukullus. In: Jan Knopf (Ed.): Brecht Handbuch , Vol. 1. Stuttgart: JB Metzler, 2001 (p. 403)
  2. ↑ Ibid., P. 406
  3. ↑ Werner Hecht: Brecht Chronicle 1998–1956 . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 955
  4. ↑ Quoted from Walter Jens (ed.): Kindlers new literature dictionary , Vol. 3. Munich 1998 (p. 111)
  5. ↑ Bertolt Brecht: Large commented on Berlin and Frankfurt editions , vol. 6. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, ​​1989. (p. 419 ff.)
  6. ^ Ana Kugli, Michael Opitz (ed.): Brecht Lexikon . Stuttgart and Weimar 2006, p. 91
  7. ↑ The film was shown at various international festivals, e. B. in Locarno, Vienna (Viennale 2009), Paris (Cinéma du réel), New York (NYFF), Seoul (Jeonju IntFF), Bangkok and Buenos Aires.