The ballad of the water wheel
The ballad of the water wheel is a well-known ballad by the poet Bertolt Brecht . It was originally published in Brecht's play The Round Heads and the Pointed Heads (versions 1932/33 and 1938, respectively). The poem contains a socially critical text. It is about the great lords of the world who suffer from the little people who feed it. In the piece it is sung by the character Nanna Callas, a prostitute. According to Albrecht Schöne, the water wheel stands for Fortuna's wheel of fortune. In addition to a first version, Brecht published a version in Hundert Gedichten (1951) with the title Song of the Water Wheel. The music comes from Hanns Eisler .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Reinhold Grimm : Brecht's wheel of Fortuna. In: The German Quarterly. Volume 46, Number 4, 1973, pp. 548-565.