The Seven Deadly Sins (Ballet)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The seven deadly sins |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Kurt Weill |
| Libretto : | Bertolt Brecht |
| Premiere: | June 7, 1933 |
| Place of premiere: | Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris |
| Place and time of the action: | USA early 1930s |
| people | |
|
|
The Seven Deadly Sins is a satirical ballet with singing in seven pictures with prologue and epilogue by George Balanchine ( choreography ), Bertolt Brecht ( libretto ) and Kurt Weill (music). Caspar Neher took care of the equipment . The work was premiered on June 7, 1933 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris with Lotte Lenya and Tilly Losch in the leading roles under the musical direction of Maurice Abravanel . Brecht later expanded the title of the ballet into The Seven Deadly Sins of the Petty Bourgeois .
action
prolog
Anna I explains in the sister's song that she and Anna II are actually just one person and each only does what is good for the other. Anna I embodies the saleswoman; Anna II symbolizes the goods. On their joint tour through seven American cities, at the behest of their family (father, mother and two brothers, represented by a quartet of men sitting at the edge of the stage), the sisters are said to earn enough money to buy a home.
First picture: laziness
Anna II approaches a couple in a park and pretends that the man is an old friend of hers. Anna I pretends to be embarrassed by her sister's actions. While Anna II pounces on the woman, Anna I extortes money from the husband. The sisters use this trick several times until Anna II falls asleep on a bench.
Second picture: pride
In a cabaret in Memphis, Anna II makes every effort to cheer up the five guests with her dances. This, however, only dulls the number that has been deducted from it. The owner of the establishment replaces Anna II with a vulgar old woman who dances sexually provocative and raves the guests to a storm of applause. Anna I then shortens her sister's skirt to well below her knees. Dancing on stage again, she will no longer be denied success.
Third picture: anger
A film studio in Hollywood hired Anna II as an extra. The star of the film is beside himself because his horse does not obey him. He then thrashes at the animal until it collapses. In a burst of anger, Anna II rushes at the actor and works him with her fists, which results in her dismissal. Anna I commands her sister to humbly show repentance. Anna II takes the advice, kneels in front of the star and kisses his hand. Now she will be accepted back into the ensemble.
Fourth image: gluttony
Hollywood made Anna II a celebrated diva. However, she had to contractually agree not to gain weight. When she checked her weight during a guest performance in Philadelphia, the scale showed one gram too much. Anna I then has her sister monitored by killers.
Fifth image: fornication
Their trip took the sisters to Boston. Anna II lets rich Edward bear her wages and gives her wages to the gigolo Fernando, whom she loves. The sisters quarrel about this and fight in the street. Anna II gets the short straw, gives the destitute Fernando the pass and returns to her rich lover.
Sixth picture: greed
Edward accompanied his lover and her sister to Baltimore. When he realizes that Anna II will only tolerate him near her for the sake of his money, it is already too late to turn back. Financially completely ruined, he gives himself the killing shot.
It is no different for the next man Anna II approaches. But that's not all: she soon got her third lover to the point that he voluntarily wants to leave her life. But now Anna I gets a guilty conscience. She can no longer answer that suddenly all respectable people turn away from her once so highly praised sister. She compensates the desperate man for his loss and continues the journey with Anna II.
Seventh picture: envy
In San Francisco, Anna II enviously observes other girls who look like themselves, commit deadly sins and appear happy in the process. Nevertheless, she decides to return to a virtuous life. In doing so, she frees herself from her emotional burden and sees how the other Annas are falling into decline.
epilogue
Anna I starts her last song:
Then we returned to Louisiana,
Where the waters of the Mississippi flow under the moon.
Seven years we were in the cities
to try our luck.
Now we've done it.
Now there it is, our little house in Louisiana.
Now we're returning to our little house
on the Mississippi River in Louisiana.
Isn't it, Anna?
Yes, Anna.
literature
- Otto Friedrich Regner and Heinz-Ludwig Schneiders: Reclams Ballettführer , 8th edition, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-15-008042-8