The sad story of Frederick the Great

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Movie
Original title The sad story of Frederick the Great
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1983
length 150 minutes
Rod
Director Alexander Lang (theater)
Peter Vogel (film)
Wolfgang Münstermann (film)
production Television of the GDR
music Uwe Hilprecht
camera Klaus Hesse
Angelika Katzer
Tristan von Lühmann
cut Rolf Wellingerhof
occupation

The sad story of Frederick the Great is the 1983 television recording of a production by Alexander Lang of the fragment of the same name by Heinrich Mann by Alexander Lang, with the attempt to complement it by Alexander Lang, in the Berlin Theater in the Academy with the Ensemble of the German Theater .

action

Crown Prince Friedrich is on the parade ground to improve his military skills and that of his soldiers. His father, Friedrich Wilhelm I , observes him while talking to his son that he is not his father, but his king . When counting his tall guys , he realizes that one of them is missing. It's the Turk who has already been captured, as the lieutenant in charge makes clear. The punishment of 25 lashes with the cane is carried out immediately, with the Crown Prince flinching at each blow as if he had received it himself.

The king, his wife Sophie Dorothea , Princess Wilhelmine and the Crown Prince meet for dinner . As always, the king made a verbal blow to his family, but had to let his wife tell him that the House of Hanover was the first house in Germany and that his greatest virtue was obedience to her. He replies that whoever wants to give orders must also be obedient. Only with his son does he have another problem, whom he puts in a corner as a punishment and is therefore pointed out by his wife that he is no longer a child and that an officer is not so humiliated. The Crown Prince now feels dishonored and goes into his apartments to hear the tragedies of Voltaire , in which his sister wants to support him. The king finally uses the opportunity to be alone with his wife to father another child with her, but only after he has put a cloth over his head to cover his eyes. Then he informs the queen that he wants to put two Prussian officers at the side of his effeminate son with immediate effect , who should turn the weakling into a man.

The royal couple takes their daughter for a walk in the park, while the queen tells that her brother George II , King of England, is still considering whether to betroth their two children to his own. The Prussian king needs the English alliance to be strong against the emperor, that is, the children have to be married off. His wife replies that the war is against his nature, because it only rages in his own home. However, the king is still of the opinion that his daughter has cheated him out of the English alliance because she is in love with the Margrave of Schwedt . Crown Prince Friedrich secretly listens to the conversation and is upset about how his father can determine that he has to love an English princess. To his delight, the minister von Grumbkow told him that he had read in secret letters from the English king that he had refused the proposed double engagement. During the feast on the occasion of the visit of the Russian Tsar Peter the Great , however, an English envoy delivered a letter from George II to Frederick, in which he announced his consent to the double engagement. After the Tsar's state visit, Friedrich Wilhelm I reveals to his son that they are traveling to Dresden . He already knows that the King of England will revoke the double engagement, which is an insult to the Prussian king, which is why he is now on the emperor's side and is looking for a relationship with his loyal friends, the Saxon elector in Dresden. Saxony is the richest state in Germany, and August the Strong will get even richer from Polish coal.

The Crown Prince secretly meets with the English ambassador, Sir Hotham, and introduces him to his loyal friend and admirer von Katte . He tells the Englishman that he is determined to break free as soon as possible, because he can no longer bear the outrageous treatment he receives every day from his father. He is supposed to accompany his father on a trip to Ansbach and wants to leave for Strasbourg to stay in France for several weeks. He therefore asked Sir Hotham to ask the English court for the support of the French court during his stay, which Sir Hotham refused. He tells his sister that he intends to flee to England and that he will then certainly catch her up, but she tries to talk him out of this plan, which anger him very much.

The Crown Prince deserted , which is why the King had him arrested. He no longer recognizes him as his son, having dishonored him and the whole house with this step, such a wretched person is no longer worth living. Von Katte is also arrested as a confidante who swears during the interrogation that he only wants to tell the pure truth. He did not want to denounce the Crown Prince , which is why he did not divulge his knowledge, and he did not suspect that Friedrich would take the step without him. The king orders von Katte to be executed in the presence of his son, but rejects the father's personal petition for mercy . After the execution, the Crown Prince declares that he will never try to flee again and that he will always serve his father faithfully and obediently.

The king is in a wheelchair and has only a short time to live. He uses this to transfer rule to his son Friedrich II in the last hour of his life and to oblige all subordinates to remain unwaveringly loyal to him.

production

The premiere of this production took place on March 5, 1982 in the Berlin plenary hall of the Academy of Arts of the GDR (theater in the academy) because of the modernization work in the Deutsches Theater . The performance with the set and costumes by Gero Troike was also recorded here. The dramaturgy was in the hands of Ilse Galfert .

The first broadcast took place in the 2nd program of the television of the GDR on January 8, 1983.

criticism

In the Berliner Zeitung , Dieter Kranz commented at the premiere:

“It is admirable how director Alexander Lang creates witty, intelligent theater by mobilizing his acting imagination. Not every actor in the large ensemble has a grateful role, but everyone is included by the director in an exuberantly unleashed and at the same time highly disciplined, often ceremonially tamed game with the story. "

In the Neue Zeit , Helmut Ullrich also comments on the premiere:

“What remains is a staging that Alexander Lang has worked out with incredible precision and is also brilliant. Often crude spectacular, but far more often meaningful and precisely pointed. Often very funny, but also full of horror. With the rude manners of that time, but also with their constraints, people trained to be puppets and machines. Much loud and shrill; Shouting commands and the rule of the beating stick, breaking etiquette at court feasts and with angry zeal executed and thereby satirically alienated military band droning. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of March 4, 1982, p. 7
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of January 8, 1983, p. 6
  3. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of March 10, 1982, p. 7
  4. ↑ Neue Zeit of March 10, 1082, p. 4