The flight of the Lindberghs

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Data
Title: The flight of the Lindberghs
Original title: Lindbergh
Genus: Drama, didactic plays
Original language: German
Author: Bertolt Brecht , Elisabeth Hauptmann
Literary source: Charles Lindbergh : The two of us. Across the Atlantic in a plane. Leipzig 1927
Music: Kurt Weill , Paul Hindemith
Publishing year: 1930
Premiere: Text: Original version: July 27, 1929 / This version: June 23, 1930
Place of premiere: Baden-Baden , Festival "German Chamber Music" under the title "Der Lindberghflug"
Place and time of the action: July 27, 1929 as "radio cantata"
people
  • In the version of the experiments: The Lindberghs, The Radio, also as: America, The City of New York, The Ship, The Fog, The Snowstorm, Sleep, Europe, The Fishermen, Noises (water, engine, a large crowd), The great choir
  • Musical instrumentation of the 1st version (Hindemith / Weill): Orchestra: piccolo , flute, alto clarinet, clarinet, alto saxophone, bassoon , 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, kettledrum, percussion, banjo, violin, viola, violoncello, double bass ; Old (sleep); Tenor (Lindbergh), baritone (the city of New York, Nebel, 2nd Fischer, radio); Bass (snow storm, 1st fisherman); Choir ( SATB )
  • In the version by Weill (1930): 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, percussion, string quintet

At the suggestion of Kurt Weill , Paul Hindemith , Elisabeth Hauptmann and Bertolt Brecht developed the teaching piece Der Lindberghflug for the Festival of German Chamber Music Baden-Baden . Brecht's text describes the flight across the Atlantic from several angles. Different voices change: the American newspapers, the city of New York, the fog, the snowstorm, Europe and others. The central theme of the piece is the confrontation between humans and nature. The fight against ignorance and exploitation becomes possible through the development of economy and technology, which at the same time also makes religious ideas superfluous. Some parts of the text, which was not yet fully completed, appeared in the Berlin magazine Uhu in April 1929 (under the provisional title Lindbergh ).

The first didactic piece was designed from the outset for media effectiveness. The first solo crossing of the Atlantic from New York to Paris by Charles Lindbergh on May 20, 1927 was a media event of the first order. Brecht's text describes Lindbergh's flight soberly and in detail. Brecht was able to refer to Lindbergh's autobiographical description We , which had appeared in 1927, and to numerous newspaper reports.

Premieres

On July 27, 1929, the piece was broadcast on the radio in a setting that demonstrated the technical possibilities and limits of music transmission. At the same time, the piece was played over loudspeakers in several rooms. The next day, Brecht put through a second, concert performance , which he converted to demonstrate his idea of ​​audience participation. The stage was shared and simulated that the Lindbergh's singer was singing to the orchestra's music on the radio at home. Before and during the performance, Brecht explained his concept. He formulated the educational goal of involving numerous listeners, for example in schools, in the performances in order to educate them. The piece was recorded again immediately after the festival and broadcast by almost all German broadcasters. Contrary to the later lay orientation of the didactic pieces, the performers were professional musicians and broadcasters. Weill composed numbers 1–4, 6b, 12 and 13 of the first version, Hindemith numbers 6a, 8, 11, 14 and 16; the numbers 7, 10 and 15 consist of dialogues that may have been underlaid with sound effects.

Versions

Different versions were created later. In autumn 1929 Kurt Weill composed music for the entire piece. This version was premiered on December 5, 1929 in the Berlin State Opera under the direction of Otto Klemperer . Later text changes were partly not set to music. Brecht conceived the last version in 1949/50 under the title The Ocean Flight . Because of Lindbergh's sympathy for National Socialism , his name was deleted from the title and play.

Content of the text version from Brecht's experiments

In June 1930 Brecht published the piece under the title Der Flug der Lindberghs. A radio tutorial for boys and girls in the first volume of the experiments series. This version, which has been changed compared to the premiere, now consists of 17 sections. All roles except that of the aviator receive the note "radio". With this, Brecht connected the idea that all roles could be broadcast through the radio and that the listener at home could take on the role of the aviator. The extensive eighth section under the title “Ideology” is new, with other minor changes interpreting the events in a socially critical way.

Charles Lindbergh 1927
Charles Nungesser (left) and François Coli with the L'Oiseau Blanc double-decker
The engine of the Spirit of St. Louis
Statue in honor of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli at the entrance to Le Bourget Airport
  1. "Request to everyone"
    On behalf of the “community”, the radio turns to the performers and to Lindbergh's actor with a request to begin.
  2. "The American newspapers extol the recklessness of the Lindberghs"
    “Amerika (Radio)” asks skeptically whether Lindbergh is a “fool” to risk the flight with this equipment.
  3. "Presentation of the aviator Charles Lindbergh and his departure in New York for his flight to Europe"
    In the plural "The Lindberghs", the aviator's speaker introduces himself, his aircraft and his equipment. Despite the bad weather forecast, he decides to start.
  4. "The City of New York Questions the Ships"
    "The City of New York (Radio)" receives a radio message from the ship "Empress of Scotland" that Lindbergh has probably flown over it.
  5. "The plane had to struggle with fog for most of its flight"
    The portrayal of man's struggles against the personified, ancient forces of external nature: fog, snowstorm, water begins. The aviator can resist them because he is not alone. Behind him stands the anonymous, collective power of human labor.

    “Seven men built my device in San Diego,
    often 24 hours without a break
    from a few meters of steel pipe.
    What
    you have done must be enough for me. You have worked, I
    continue to work, I am not alone, there are
    eight of us who fly here. "

  6. "A snow storm came during the night"
    The personified snowstorm wonders about the survival of the weak aviator, who doubts in his fear and thinks of the failed project of his predecessors Charles Nungesser and François Coli .
  7. "Sleep"
    The seventh piece describes the struggle against inner nature, here sleep personified. Here, too, the aircraft helps the thought of the tireless work of the “comrades” from aircraft construction.
  8. "Ideology"
    The new eighth piece evaluates the events with the voice of "The Lindberghs" from the point of view of a Marxist belief in progress. “A new time” has dawned, “the great dreaded sea / Be a little water.” The fight against nature appears as a “battle against the primitive”, as a fight for the “improvement of the planet”. Real progress does not grow from new ideas of the subject, but from the “dialectical economy”, from the struggle against inner and outer nature.

    “So I fight against nature and
    against myself.
    Whatever I am and what stupidities I believe.
    When I fly, I'm
    a real atheist. "

    The ideology emerges from class society, exploitation and ignorance, expressed in the text as belief in God. "Revolution" in society and technology "liquidates" this belief. The piece ends with an appeal from the Lindberghs:

    "Therefore take part
    in the fight against the primitive,
    in the liquidation of the hereafter and
    the scare away of every god,
    wherever he appears."

  9. "Water"
    Water and wind threaten the plane, which is in danger.
  10. "During the whole flight all the American newspapers kept talking about Lindbergh's luck"
    For all problems, Americans believe in Lindbergh's luck.
  11. "The Thoughts of the Happy"
    "The Lindberghs" encourage themselves.
  12. "This is how it flies, wrote the French newspapers, the storms above it, the sea around it and the shadow of Nungesser below"
    While "America" ​​believes "that the lucky one arrives", "Europe" is skeptical: Because of the many dangers, "we believe / we will not see him."
  13. "Lindbergh's conversation with his engine"
    The Lindberghs speak to the engine in an interplay with engine noises.
  14. "Finally, not far from Scotland, Lindbergh sees Fischer"
    The dialogue between the fishermen who saw the plane shows once again Europe's skepticism. The unbelieving fisherman does not even trust his own perception:

    "Why look where it
    can never be."

  15. "On the night of May 21, 1927, at 10 o'clock in the evening, a huge crowd awaits the American plane at Le Bourget airfield near Paris"
    "He arrived."
  16. "Arrival of the aviator Charles Lindbergh at Le Bourget airfield near Paris"
    Lindbergh allows himself to be carried "into a dark shed" to hide "his natural weakness", the first reminder to be to inform his "comrades in the Ryan works" that "their work was good".
  17. "Report on the unattainable"
    The "Radio" and "The Lindberghs" sing about the triumph of flying, but remind us of what has not yet been achieved:

    “Towards the end of the 3rd millennium of our era
    , our
    steely simplicity arose.
    Showing the possible
    without making us forget: the
    unattainable.
    Our report is dedicated to this. "

    In a footnote to the Baden lesson on consent , Brecht commented on the "unattainable": "This needs to be corrected in: what has not yet been achieved."

Origin and settings

Hindemith already had experience with music that should not simply entertain the audience, but rather involve them, something with the cantata Frau Musica , to which Hindemith wrote in the foreword:

“This music was written neither for the concert hall nor for the artist. It wants to be interesting and modern practice material for people who sing and make music for their own pleasure or who want to play music in a small group of like-minded people. [...] The opening and closing choirs may all those present, for whom the relevant passages have been studied with the help of the notes written on a blackboard, before the start of the performance. "

- Frau Musika , op. 45 No. 1; quoted from: Giselher Schubert : Between Fronts. Hindemith, Brecht and Benn. P. 123

Conflict between Hindemith and Brecht

Hindemith and Brecht's discussions about the piece are partly recorded in Brecht's notes. Brecht and Weill had agreed to work with Paul Hindemith. Hindemith wrote about half of the music for the premiere in Baden-Baden, Weill the other half. In 1929, Weill decided, as originally planned, to set the entire text to music himself. In addition to largely adopting his material from the Baden-Baden version, he now also re-set the parts that had previously belonged to Hindemith. In 1930 Brecht judged his collaboration with Hindemith as a misunderstanding. A new version of the work, which Hindemith did not set to music, is called  Das Badener Lehrstück from the consent  and is to be understood as an alternative to the Lindberghflug.

Cooperation with Kurt Weill

Kurt Weill also brought some experience into the project, not only from his collaboration with Brecht, but also from his long work in the media sector. Between 1925 and 1929 he wrote numerous articles for the magazine Der deutsche Rundfunk in the form of reviews and theoretical articles. Weill dealt intensively with Brecht's ideas on epic theater and developed ways of translating central Brecht's terms into music. In March 1929 he described the “rhythmic fixation of the text” as the basis of the new theater music. The "gestural music" is not intended to provide the composer and the listener with enjoyment, but rather to appeal to the thinking listener through the musical interpretation of the word.

“This theater wants to show what people do. It is only interested in substances to the point where they provide the framework or pretext for human relationships. "

- Kurt Weill : About the gestural character of music . Die Musik, Berlin, Band = XXI. (1928/29), number = 6, month = March 1929, p. 64

With Brecht, Weill wants to create music that “addresses the music needs of broader sections of the population”, “without giving up its artistic substance”.

“The first question for us is: is what we do useful to the general public? Only a second question is whether what we do is art; because that only decides the quality of our work. "

- Kurt Weill : The Opera - Where to? "Utility Music" and its Limits. Quoted from: Kurt Weill: Music and Theater. Collected Writings. P. 68

Kurt Weill composed the first 4 pieces of music for the Lindberghstück in February and March 1929.

grades

  • Paul Hindemith (composition); Rudolf Stephan (Ed.), Giselher Schubert (Editionsleitung): Score and Critical Commentary, Complete Edition Series I: Stage Works - Volume 6, Schott Music, 276 pages, ISBN 979-0-001-12113-2

Text output

  • Bertolt Brecht: Lindbergh. In: Uhu . The monthly magazine. Ullstein-Verlag Berlin, 5 (1928/29, issue 7, pp. 10–16, April 1929 (9 parts with subtitles))
  • Bertolt Brecht: The Lindberghflug. In: Südwestdeutsche Rundfunk-Zeitung, No. 29 of July 21, 1929; at the same time in the program guides "Arbeiterfunk" and "Die Werag" (addition to texts on expectations in the USA and Europe; 12 parts)
  • Bertolt Brecht: The Lindberghflug. Text of the world premiere. In: Program of the Festival of German Chamber Music Baden-Baden 1929 / 25. – 28. July, city of Baden-Baden, German radio (16 parts, slightly expanded)
  • Bertolt Brecht: The Flight of the Lindberghs. A radio tutorial for boys and girls. In: Attempts Heft 1, Berlin (Gustav Kiepenheuer) June 1930
  • Bertolt Brecht: The ocean flight. (Addition of a prologue; removal of the name Lindbergh because of his sympathy for National Socialism) (1949/59)

Sound recordings

  • Kurt Weill (composer): Lindberghflug (in the late version of the ocean flight), Latham-König (artist), Krso (artist), audio CD, Capriccio (Naxos Germany 2000)
  • Kurt Weill (composer): Lindberghflug. Thorofon LP, MTH 118, Karl Markus, tenor, Uwe Freibott, baritone, Gottfried Schwartz, bass, Hermann Wünscht, speaker, university choir and Academic Orchestra Association Göttingen, Hermann Fuchs, conductor

Lindbergh's original report

  • Charles A. Lindbergh: We two - with the Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic. New translation 2013 with a foreword by Reeve Lindbergh. MavenPress Verlag, Flensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-941719-05-7 .
  • Charles A. Lindbergh: The two of us: In a plane across the Atlantic. Leipzig (FA Brockhaus) 1927, 159 pages
  • Charles A. Lindbergh: We. GP Putnam's Sons 1927

Secondary literature

  • Friedrich Kittler (author), Stephen Hinton (author), Tamara Lewitz (author), Hermann Danuser (ed.), Hermann Gottschewski (ed.): Americanism - Americanism - Weill: The search for cultural identity in modernity. Schliengen Edition Argus 2002, ISBN 3-931264-23-8 .
  • Jan Knopf: Brecht manual. Theatre. Metzler, Stuttgart 1986, unabridged special edition, ISBN 3-476-00587-9 .
  • Jan Knopf: Brecht-Handbuch Vol. 1 “Pieces”. Metzler, Stuttgart 2001 (new edition).
  • Klaus-Dieter Krabiel : The Lindberghflug / The flight of the Lindberghs / The ocean flight. In: Jan Knopf: Brecht-Handbuch Vol. 1 “Pieces”. Metzler, Stuttgart 2001 (new edition)
  • Klaus-Dieter Krabiel: Brecht's teaching pieces. Creation and development of a game type. Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-476-00956-4 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Krabiel: The lesson. Brecht's theory of a political-aesthetic education. Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-86099-250-3 .
  • Klaus-Dieter Krabiel: Kurt Weill. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-499-50453-7 .
  • Joachim Lucchesi , Ronald K. Shull: Music with Brecht. Henschel, Berlin / Suhrkamp Frankfurt a. M. 1988, ISBN 3-518-02601-1 .
  • Jürgen Schebera: Theater of the future? Brecht / Weill's The Yes Man - Brecht / Eisler's The Measure. A comparative study. In: Musik und Gesellschaft 34 (1984), no. 3, pp. 138-145.
  • Rainer Steinweg: didactic play and epic theater. Brecht's theory and theater pedagogical practice. Frankfurt am Main 1995.
  • Rainer Steinweg: The lesson. Brecht's theory of a political-aesthetic education. Metzler, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-476-00352-3 .
  • Giselher Schubert : Between fronts: Hindemith, Brecht and Benn. In: Dominik Sackmann: Hindemith interpretations: Hindemith and the twenties. P. 117 ff.
  • Giselher Schubert: The Lindberghflug by Weill, Hindemith and Brecht: Concept and function. In: Kittler u. a .: Americanism - Americanism - Weill: The search for cultural identity in the modern age. Edition Argus 2002, ISBN 3-931264-23-8 , p. 258 ff.
  • Kurt Weill: Music and Theater, Collected Writings. With a selection of conversations and interviews. Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-362-00114-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ premiered on December 5, 1930 in the Berlin State Opera under the direction of Otto Klemperer
  2. ↑ Information from Joachim Lucchesi ; Ronald K. Shull: Music with Brecht. Berlin: Henschel; Frankfurt a. M .: Suhrkamp 1988, p. 460
  3. ↑ Olaf Grabienski: Time of Experiments. Forerunner of the radio feature in the Weimar Republic. 1998, accessed August 18, 2015 .
  4. ^ SLUB Dresden: Uhu, 5.1928 / 29, H. 7, April. In: magazine.illustrierte-presse.de. Retrieved August 18, 2015 .
  5. ↑ cf. Klaus-Dieter Krabiel: The Lindberghflug / The flight of the Lindberghs / The ocean flight . In: Jan Knopf (ed.): Brecht manual . tape 1 "pieces". Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, p. 216 (new edition).
  6. ↑ cf. Klaus-Dieter Krabiel: The Lindberghflug. P. 220 ff.
  7. ↑ Director: Ernst Hardt , Conductor: Herrman Scherchen, Speaker: Paul Laven , who had already broadcast the real Lindberghflug; Singer: Josef Witt (Stadttheater Dortmund); Johannes Willy (Frankfurt Opera); Oskar Kálmán (Berlin Kroll Opera ); Betty Mergler (Frankfurt Opera House); Chamber choir. Hugo Holles Madrigalvereinigung (Stuttgart) and the Frankfurter Rundfunkorchester
  8. ↑ a b The Lindberghflug (1929). In: www.kwf.org. Retrieved June 16, 2016 .
  9. ↑ Information from Joachim Lucchesi ; Ronald K. Shull: Music with Brecht. P. 461.
  10. ↑ cf. for example Hans-Thies Lehmann: Theater as a field of experimentation. Mejerchol'd, Brecht, Artaud. P. 18.
  11. ↑ Bertolt Brecht: The flight of the Lindberghs. A radio tutorial for boys and girls . In: attempts . Issue 1. Gustav Kiepenheuer, Berlin June 1930 .; also the text basis of the Brecht Complete Edition GBA
  12. ↑ GBA. Volume 3, p. 404.
  13. ↑ "Not seen for 1000 years ..."; GBA. Volume 3, p. 13.
  14. ↑ GBA. Volume 3, p. 13.
  15. ↑ a b GBA. Volume 3, p. 15.
  16. ↑ a b GBA. Volume 3, p. 16.
  17. ↑ a b GBA. Volume 3, p. 17.
  18. ↑ GBA. Volume 3, p. 19.
  19. ↑ GBA. Volume 3, p. 20.
  20. ↑ GBA. Volume 3, p. 22.
  21. ↑ a b GBA. Volume 3, p. 23.
  22. ↑ Error in the original
  23. ↑ GBA. Volume 3, p. 24.
  24. ↑ GBA .. Volume 3, p. 409.
  25. ↑ op. 45 No. 1 (January 1928); Giselher Schubert : Between fronts. Hindemith, Brecht and Benn. P. 123.
  26. ↑ partially published in: Reiner Steinweg: Das Lehrstück. Brecht's theory of a political-aesthetic education . Stuttgart 1972, p. 6th ff .
  27. ^ Collaboration with Bertolt Brecht: Paul Hindemith. In: www.hindemith.info. Retrieved August 19, 2015 .
  28. ↑ see for example the collection in: Kurt Weill: Musik und Theater. Collected Writings. With a selection of conversations and interviews . Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-362-00114-9 , pp. 163-289 .
  29. ↑ Kurt Weill: About the gestural character of music. The music . XXI. (1928/29), no. 6 . Berlin March 1929, p. 4119-423 . Quoted from: Kurt Weill: Music and Theater. Collected Writings . S. 65 .
  30. ^ Kurt Weill: The Opera - Where To? "Utility Music" and its Limits . Quoted from: Kurt Weill: Music and Theater. Collected Writings . S. 68 .
  31. ↑ cf. Klaus-Dieter Krabiel: The Lindberghflug / The flight of the Lindberghs / The ocean flight. P. 216; In: Jan Knopf: Brecht-Handbuch Vol. 1 “Pieces”. Stuttgart (Metzler) 2001 (new edition), p. 219
  32. ↑ cf. Klaus-Dieter Krabiel: The Lindberghflug / The flight of the Lindberghs / The ocean flight. P. 216; In: Jan Knopf: Brecht-Handbuch Vol. 1 “Pieces”. Stuttgart (Metzler) 2001 (new edition), p. 219. Also printed in: Paul Hindemith: Complete Works. I / 6; Partial print in: Reiner Steinweg: Brecht's model of teaching pieces. Testimonials, discussions, experiences. Frankfurt am Main 1976, p. 35 ff.
  33. ↑ GBA. Volume 3, p. 401.
  34. ↑ The one-word title refers to the "spiritual partnership" that Lindbergh felt during the flight to his machine