Harry's head

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Harrys Kopf is a play by Tankred Dorst , which premiered on October 17, 1997 under the direction of Wilfried Minks in the Great House of the Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf with Fritz Schediwy in the title role.

The sick Heinrich Heine (pencil drawing by Gleyre around 1851)

Harry Heine, born in Düsseldorf in 1797 , converted as Heinrich Heine from the Jewish to the Christian religion in June 1825 . In 1831 he went into exile in Paris. From 1848, Heine was lying there seriously ill in the mattress tomb . Tankred Dorst recalls the life and death of the important German poet with scenes from those Parisian years.

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In the first scene, the “Prologue”, anonymous gentlemen have their say, who - arriving from Germany - had invaded the “revered poet Heinrich Heine” at his sick bed in Paris from May 1848 to the spring of 1851, or in the garden of the Palais Royal had encountered. The conversations that are reported on were not only about German literature , but also, for example, about Heine's money speculation on behalf of Rothschild . However, the chronology that the viewer expects after the years 1848 and 1851, which were initially pronounced, is interrupted by a few flashbacks. The fourth scene - “You won't get rid of me” - goes back to 1841: Heine marries his Mathilde , as he called her. And in the fifth scene - "Here I find you" - Börne steps in. That must have been before 1837. Not only is the course of time broken. In the ninth scene - “A Religion” - Christ carries his heavy cross across the stage and Heine jumps up - as if recovered - from his mattress tomb after one of his blasphemy blasphemies . Heine thinks he'll leave everything to God - except for the finances. Or in the twelfth scene - "Ancient History" - the Passover festival is celebrated with the Rabbi von Bacharach . In the tenth scene - "Heads" - this cabinet of curiosities, four heads of Heine, planted in flower pots, have their say with poems by the poet. But the piece is not called "Harry's Four Heads". The viewer seeking meaning could cling to the preface at the head of the piece, in which Heinrich Heine says of another part of the body - his heart - that it was not intact in life, but rather torn. Even more, “the great rift of the world” would go through the poet's heart.

Once at a time - in the scenes "Monsieur is not at home", "Here I find you", "The poor rich", "In the cage", "Heads" and "Je flâne" - the Heine family is led by Mr. Cokker bothered. Goethe is a stranger to the journalist, who writes primarily for English women . Heine can no longer hear Cokker's reflections on the valid first name - Heinrich or Harrühhh. The lyric poet reveals news to the Englishman. The financier Heinrich Heine has recently been speculating with the Nordbank shares of Baron Rothschild. An Englishman may never lose his temper, but as a rational person he speaks aside about his communication problem with the German poet Monsieur Heine. Mr. Cokker's persistence is rewarded. He is allowed to write down some of the poet's utterances; for example the one about the compulsion to enjoy life excessively when one is mortal.

Heine's literary café has closed due to the revolution. But “Reb Heine”, the “monarchist” Balzac and Börne are served by the old waiter Nasenstern. It goes back and forth between the writers. Heine looks back. With the word he broke a number of altars. The poet counts his immortal poems at twenty. Börne scolds Heine for Rothschild's court jester. Balzac orders the former theater critic Dr. Be silent when poets speak. Not only the Englishman Mr. Cokker and the waiter Nasenstern provide audience amusement. Another joker in the café is the well-paid hippodrome owner Seraphim. The horse lover explains literature to the three men of letters and announces that as soon as he has earned enough, he immediately lapses into idleness; become a writer. It's not just male jokers who appear. As fourth or fourth Heinrich Heine's wife Mathilde beats the Dr. Run away with one of her shoes. Mathilde jokes are only held up to the penultimate scene called “Je flâne”. In the last scene “ Thanatos ”, when the title character comes to an end, Heinrich Heine's last love Mouche displaces his wife Mathilde from the place at the death bed.

Almost no one from the Parisian years goes unmentioned. Heine's young friend Dr. Marx is discussed. Heine jokes with the waiter Nasenstern that God killed the angel of death Malach Hammoves. So now man can stay alive. In addition to the anonymous literature enthusiasts mentioned at the beginning, a delegation of German workers and craftsmen finally penetrated the seriously ill. The message: German revolutionaries urgently need Heine. Too late. Heine can no longer appear at their meeting over in Germany. And the poet, as he has to admit, dreads before the “clumsy sovereign” people come to power.

Poetry

Tankred Dorst has taken over a little bit of Heine's lyrics, partly literally and completely:

reception

radio play

literature

Text output

Secondary literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ If Börne had not died in 1837, the February Revolution of 1848 could have been meant.
  2. ↑ The Jew Nasenstern also offers space for interpretation. His song performance “Ein Zicklein, ein Zicklein” (Edition used, pp. 186–188 above), taken together with his remaining confessional speeches, can be taken as the basis for a basic statement of the piece: the adult can convert to a foreign religion and yet remains in the religious culture into which he was born.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Erken bei Arnold, p. 88, left column, third entry
  2. ↑ Edition used, p. 137 middle
  3. ^ Heinrich Heine: The Rabbi von Bacherach in the Gutenberg-DE project
  4. ↑ Edition used, p. 133
  5. ^ Heinrich Heine: The Rabbi von Bacherach in the Gutenberg-DE project
  6. ↑ Edition used, p. 150
  7. ↑ Edition used, p. 170, 8th Zvu
  8. ↑ Edition used, p. 179, 6. Zvo
  9. ↑ Edition used, p. 179, middle
  10. ↑ Edition used, p. 203, above
  11. ↑ Edition used, p. 172, 3rd Zvo (see also recitation Fritz Stavenhagen on YouTube )
  12. ↑ Edition used, p. 179, last stanza
  13. ↑ Edition used, p. 180, above
  14. ^ Kässens in the afterword of the edition used, p. 387, 4th Zvo
  15. ^ Kässens in the afterword of the edition used, p. 387, middle
  16. ↑ HörDat