The measure (drama)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Data
Title: The measure
Genus: Lesson
Original language: German
Author: Bertolt Brecht
Music: Hanns Eisler
Publishing year: 1930
Premiere: 13./14. December 1930
Place of premiere: Berlin , house of the old Berlin Philharmonic

The measure is a drama by Bertolt Brecht . Like Der Yesager / Der Neinsager or Das Badener Lehrstück about consent , it is one of the so-called teaching pieces .

Emergence

The measure arose in collaboration with the composer Hanns Eisler from a reworking of the school opera Der Jasager , which Brecht wrote around 1929/30 based on a Japanese Nō-theater model in a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann and for which Kurt Weill had composed the music. The didactic piece was premiered on 13./14. December 1930 in the house of the "old" Berlin Philharmonic in Bernburger Strasse in a night performance. Due to intense criticism and discussion after the premiere, Brecht wrote a second version, which was printed at the end of 1932.

content

Four communist agitators appear in front of the "control choir" (the party court) to justify the killing and extermination of a young comrade. In doing so, they replay the situations that led to this extreme "measure". Their mission had been to go from Russia to China to carry out propaganda there: At the border they were received by a local comrade who was to accompany them on behalf of the party. The agitators use masks to erase their identity and cross the border disguised as Chinese. The social conditions in China are characterized by the most brutal exploitation and oppression. Among other things, humans are used as draft animals because, from the point of view of the capitalist exploiters, they are more profitable than real pack animals. The agitators quickly gain supporters among the Chinese workforce and succeed in getting the majority enthusiastic about their cause. However, the young comrade is unable to behave tactically in an appropriate manner: Instead of carrying out the actions decided by the agitators, he repeatedly shows compassion and thereby endangers the work of the group. Finally he tears off his mask. After their exposure as foreign revolutionaries, the agitators flee and kill the young comrade with his consent so as not to be killed by the Chinese themselves. They then successfully continue their work. The revolution is finally "marching" in China too. Back in Russia, they have to answer for the killing of the young comrade in a party court. The piece ends with a fundamental discussion of how far the revolution may violate moral principles in order to effectively combat exploitation and oppression.

style

The measure is one of the lessons . The basic idea of ​​the didactic dramaturgy is that the play is not directed at an audience but at the actors themselves. By adopting different postures and gestures, they should be trained politically. At the same time, the text and music contain numerous references to the dramaturgy of the (Bach) passions. It is considered certain that several of Lenin's works gained influence on the problem of the play, such as Der Radikalismus - the childhood disease of communism . For his piece, Brecht sought collaboration with workers 'choirs and communication with the revolutionary workers' movement. This distinguishes the measure from earlier didactic pieces, which were linked to bourgeois reform efforts.

reception

The measure was one of Bertolt Brecht's most controversial works , because in this drama he indirectly treated the " Stalin's purges " in the Soviet Union (which did not begin in full until a few years later ) in such a way that some saw it as a justification for the purge policy Many were also bothered by the euphemistic term "measure" for killing a person. On the other hand, it was criticized - especially from the communist side - that the play - despite the conflict - is a very schematic work by Brecht. After 1945, Brecht banned performances of the measure , but at the same time, in a conversation with Manfred Wekwerth, described the play as an example of the “theater of the future”.

Walter Benjamin writes about The Measure in his lecture The Author as Producer (1934) with reference to Eisler's observation that music without words acquired its great importance and its full expansion only in capitalism , that "the change of a concert into a political meeting" " is not possible without the involvement of the word ", and he adds as an example:" But that such a change does indeed represent the highest level of musical and literary technology, Brecht and Eisler have proven with the didactic play The Measure . "

In his play Mauser (1970), Heiner Müller takes up the problem of the measure and intensifies it in terms of content and form.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In an interview with Eisler, titled: Das Lied, born in the fight of the Berliner Rundfunk in December 1957, Eisler speaks of 1928.
  2. ^ BB: Selected works in 6 volumes . Suhrkamp 1997, vol. 2, p. 664 ff
  3. ↑ Walter Benjamin, “The Author as Producer. Address at the Institute for the Study of Fascism in Paris on April 27, 1934 ”, in: Collected writings . Second volume. Second part, edited by Rolf Tiedemann and Hermann Schweppenhäuser. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt / Main 1982, 2nd edition of the single edition 1989, ISBN 3-518-57307-1 , pp. 683-701, p. 694

literature

  • Bertolt Brecht: The measure. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main, ISBN 3-518-12058-1 .
  • Inge Gellert, Gert Koch, Florian Vaßen (eds.): MEASURES. Controversial perspective Praxis Brecht. Eisler's didactic piece DIE MESSNAHME , Theater der Zeit. Research 1, Berlin 1998

Web links