Peterchen's moon trip
Peterchens Mondfahrt is a fairy tale for children by Gerdt von Bassewitz . It is about the adventures of the cockchafer, Mr. Sumsemann, who flies to the moon with the human children Peter and Anneliese to get his lost sixth leg from there.
On December 7th, 1912, Peter's journey to the moon was premiered as a fairy tale game in six pictures with music by Josef Achtélik and "set in scene" by Paul Prina in the Old Theater in Leipzig . In 1915 the fairy tale was published as a book with illustrations by Hans Baluschek . Today it is considered a classic of German children's and youth literature .
The sheet music for theater music was thought to be lost for a long time until Josef Achtélik's grandson rediscovered them in an old granary and presented them to the MDR Children's Choir for a performance on the 100th anniversary of its history in 2012 .
The children of the same name are said to have served as a model for the siblings Peter and Anneliese, who belonged to the couple Eva and Oskar Kohnstamm , who were in their sanatorium in 1911 for a cure.
Content details
The story of the Sumsemanns
When an ancestor of the Sumsemann cockchafer family is recovering from a sumptuous meal on a birch branch with his newlywed wife, a wood thief chops off his leg. When he wakes up from his fainting again, he meets the fairy of the night who banished the wood thief to the moon with his bundle of wood because of his Sunday forest crime. When she learns that the cockchafer's sixth leg is still hanging on this wood, she feels sorry for Mr. Sumsemann. But she cannot and does not want to reverse the punishment. Out of pity, however, she allows him to fly to the moon with two children who have never tortured an animal to get the leg again.
The five little legs are passed on from generation to generation in the Sumsemann family, because they all fail in their search for two children who have never harmed an animal.
A thousand years later, Mr. Sumsemann is the last of his clan. He has just lost his wife and lives secluded from the other cockchafer in the garden of Peterchen's parents. There he plays a small, silver violin (also a family heirloom) in the evenings and makes sure that he doesn't endanger himself in any way.
In the nursery
One evening Mr. Sumsemann came into Peterchen and Anneliese's room. There he barely escapes the fate of his ancestors, to be beaten to death by the maid, and hides behind a curtain. From there he watches as the two children are sung to sleep by their mother with his cockchafer ballad. That gives him courage; he looks around the nursery and begins to play a cockchafer dance on his violin, jumping around more and more exuberantly. Peterchen and Anneliese wake up and watch with amusement. After introducing yourself, Mr. Sumsemann tells the curious children the sad story of his sixth leg and both agree to help him find his missing leg. The children learn to fly from him in a magic dance. When that works, they set off on the flight to the moon with two baskets full of apples as provisions, Anneliese with doll and Peterchen with jumping jack in her arms, while the cockchafer fiddles tirelessly.
The flight to the star meadow and the star meadow
On their flight through the night, the three adventurers arrive at the star meadow. There the sandman runs the star school and makes sure that the stars of the lying children are straightened and those of the bad children are polished to a shine again. When it discovers the three visitors, it is angry at first and tries to chase away the intruders with its huge drum. After Anneliese and Peterchen gave her two apples, she was forgiving and asked Mr. Sumsemann to explain the reason for the trip. To find out whether Peterchen and Anneliese are really two good children, as the night fairy once asked, the sandman brings the star girls of the two children (every child on earth has its own star). Since their stars have always shone, it is to Mr. Sumsemann's delight that the two meet the requirement. The children are allowed to hug their stars and they promise help in times of need. Since the sandman knows how dangerous the journey is, he offers the three of them to come to the night fairy's castle for a coffee gossip that same night to ask the nature spirits for their support.
The sleigh ride on the Milky Way
On their journey through the Milky Way in the moon slides Sandman, the eight moths is pulled, the children learn some phenomena know of heaven, such as the Tausee, ghost lights , sky cows and shooting stars .
The night fairy's castle
Meanwhile, the night fairy receives the nature spirits in her castle for a midnight coffee chat. Gradually appear with imposing ballads of thunder, the Windliese, the cloud woman, the lightning witch, the rain fritz, the storm giant, the hail Hans, Frau Holle , the Eismax, the Wassermann , the Taumariechen (daughter of the night fairy) and last the sun with its children, the dawn , the evening red , the morning star and the evening star . When everyone has gathered, the Milky Way man suddenly storms into the hall, complaining angrily about the guests of the night fairy, since most of them have damaged something or messed up something on their arrival. However, he can soon be calmed down by the nature spirits with a generous tip.
The arrival of the children in the castle of the night fairy and the ride on the great bear
When the sandman and his companions appear in the castle of the night fairy, they first cause astonishment. However, after everyone has been reminded of the story of Mr. Sumsemann and sees the two good children in front of them, they are impressed by the courage of the children. The storm giant, the thunder man and the aquarius spontaneously promise their help. The sandman is instructed by the night fairy to continue with Peterchen, Anneliese and Mr. Sumsemann, and the Milky Way man has to fetch the Big Bear , whose terrible mood is also appeased with apples. Then he is ready to mount the four to take them to the moon cannon. Now the quick ride across the night sky to the moon begins, where they take a break in Santa's garden .
The Christmas meadow and the Easter basket
All the toys and sweets that the children are given for Christmas grow on the Christmas meadow. Here the children meet a gingerbread man who welcomes them in a friendly manner, shows them everything and leads them to Santa Claus . They also see the Christ Child , although it is still asleep to strengthen itself for Christmas. But the journey on the Great Bear will soon continue, much to the delight of Mr. Sumsemann, who is not interested in the Christmas meadow because he cannot do anything with toys or sweets. At the Easter nest there are lots of colorful chickens that lay many colored eggs, which are then picked up by the Easter bunnies and brought to earth at Easter . Since time is short, travelers don't have time to look around here, and they ride on across a strange lunar landscape with pebble fields and swaying "rubber ponds" until they arrive at the foot of the large moon mountain, where the moon cannon is also located.
The moon cannon
The two children and the cockchafer must be shot with the moon cannon on the big moon mountain, as there is no other way of climbing. But there is the birch on which the sixth leg of Mr. Sumsemann hangs. Likewise, there lives moon man who once banished to the moon Holzfrevler. After the sandman has cleaned the cannon and Peterchen and Anneliese have said goodbye to him, he first shoots the cockchafer (who first tries to pretend to be dead out of sheer fear) and then the children on the Mondberg. Once at the top, they start looking for the leg.
The fight with the moon man
Just as they have discovered the birch on which the leg is hanging, the giant moon man jumps out from behind a rock and threatens the intruders. Despite his ugly appearance, the children remain fearless and treat him politely, just as the sandman advised them to do. The moon man would like something in return for the leg. So Peterchen and Anneliese first give him their last two apples, then all the gingerbread that Santa Claus gave them, and finally Peter's jumping jack and Anneliese's doll, which the moon man devours just as greedily to the horror of the children. Since he is still not full, he now wants to eat the children. At the last second the Thunder Man leaps out and throws him to the ground. When this has disappeared again, the moon man gets up and attacks the children again. This time Aquarius knocks him down with a great surge of water. As soon as the moon man has breath again, he starts the next attack. Then the storm giant appears and throws the moon man to the ground with a torn tree trunk. The children are already rejoicing - the moon man struggles to get himself up from there. Now Peterchen pulls out his wooden sword and Anneliese desperately calls for her asterisks. They appear immediately and blind the moon man with their rays. Disoriented, the villain now runs through the moon forest and keeps getting lost.
The leg
Now Peter climbs quickly up the birch on which the sixth leg is hanging and takes it off the nail on which it was attached. Anneliese sticks it to the cockchafer, who is still passed out on his back for fear of the moon man, with spit in the right place. Then they wake him up joyfully. This is of course very happy; but while he is still dancing his joyous dance, the dawn appears and asks the three adventurers to return to earth soon, as they would never find their way back after daybreak. So they embrace one last time, and an incantation uttered by Mr. Sumsemann triggers a rapid fall through the opening lunar floor, from which the travelers, however, only perceive a rustling and roaring - which finally subsides.
Back home
When the two children open their eyes, they are sitting on the table in their children's room. All the things that they lost on their journey (the apples, the jumping jack and the doll) are back, and the cockchafer is in the room too, with six legs. You release him into freedom through the window. When the mother comes in, she has the gingerbread parcels from Santa Claus, which he sent his mother to earth as a reward for the children.
Film adaptations
Film adaptation from 1959
In 1959 the story was filmed under the title Peterchens Mondfahrt and directed by Gerhard F. Hering . The black and white film is 103 minutes long; the cast included u. a. Frank Freiherr von dem Bottlenberg as Peterchen, Cora Freifrau von dem Bottlenberg as Anneliese, Horst Butschke as Sumsemann, Lola Müthel as Night Fairy, Dirk Dautzenberg as Sandman, Else Knott as narrator, Irmgard Först as Peterchen's mother, Margot Trooger as Sun, Rudolf Therkatz as Man in the moon, Hans Helmut Dickow as the gingerbread man, Edith Teichmann as the lightning witch and Hans Müller-Westernhagen as the Milky Way man. The music for the film was composed by Clemens Schmalstich .
This film was often broadcast on ARD at Christmas.
Film adaptation from 1990
A new film adaptation from 1990 as a cartoon attracted 718,000 visitors to the cinemas. The director of the 80-minute film was Wolfgang Urchs , the soundtrack was composed by Klaus Doldinger . In 1997, KI.KA first broadcast this film as a five-part series.
In this cartoon, the story is expanded with additional invented songs. The poems of the nature spirits when they arrived at the night fairy's castle, however, have been left out.
Radio plays
Radio play from 1926
This radio play (broadcast) was produced by NORAG and broadcast live on December 26, 1926. Under the direction of Hermann Beyer, a . a. Lotte Castle (The mother), Edith Scholz (Peterkin), Friedel Lind (Anneliese), Hedwig Herder (The beetle), Claire Goericke (The Sun / The Sandman), Karl Pündter (The thunder man), Emmi Reiter (The Blitz Witch) John Walter (The Aquarius) and Wilhelm Karthaus (The Milky Way Man).
Radio play from 1951
This radio play was produced by BR and broadcast for the first time on December 23, 1951. Gerda Corbett was responsible for the radio play adaptation . Under the direction of Heinz-Günter Stamm, u. a. Jutta Günther and Hardy Krüger . The playing time of the recording is 74'15 minutes.
Radio play from 1964
This record setup of the stage version by Benno Schurr was realized with speakers such as Irene Marwitz , Antje Hagen , Hans Timmerding and Kurt Ebbinghaus . After its first edition by Ariola in 1964, it appeared for decades in a wide variety of editions on sound carriers and remained the only commercially available audio production in history until the CD age. It uses the original music for the stage by Clemens Schmalstich, musically edited by Max Roth .
Radio play from 1999
The new recording comes from DeutschlandRadio Berlin . It was first broadcast on April 4, 1999. The book was written by Holger Teschke . The direction was directed by Peter Groeger . The following spoke: Walter Fister-Culjat (Peter), Anne Helm (Anne), Christian Gaul (Mr. Sumsemann, Maikäfer), Rainer Büttner (The Sandman), Peter Groeger (The Little Bear), Wilfried Herbst (The Milky Way Man), Ulrike Krumbiegel ( The Night Fairy) and Jürgen Kluckert (The Moon Man). The playing time is 56'28 minutes.
Radio play from 2009
The radio play was produced by the radio play label Titania Medien. The following spoke: Joachim Pukaß (narrator), Albert Werner (Peterchen), Marie Hinze (Anneliese), Axel Malzacher (Mr. Sumsemann), Engelbert von Nordhausen (Sandmann), Peter Reinhardt (The Big Bear), Tobias Nath (Morgenstern), Melanie Hinze (Abendstern), Katja Nottke (night fairy), Uli Krohm (Donnermann), Philine Peters-Arnolds (Windliese), Monica Bielenstein (Blitzhexe), Uwe Büschken (Regenfritz), Jürgen Thormann (Eismax), Astrid Bless (sun), Hasso Zorn (Mondmann) u. v. a. The radio play is based on Marc Gruppe's theater adaptation of the fairy tale by Gerdt von Bassewitz of the same name. The production includes a CD and is over 84 minutes long.
Board game
In 1967 the journey to the moon was published by JW Spear & Sons in Nuremberg under the original title as a board game for four players.
expenditure
- Gerdt von Bassewitz: Peterchens Mondfahrt. 28th edition. Südwest-Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-517-00145-7 .
- Gerdt von Bassewitz: Peterchens Mondfahrt . with illustrations by Olga Polyakowa . gondolino, Bindlach 2012, ISBN 978-3-8112-3296-9 (slightly abbreviated; publisher information ).
Illustrations by Hans Baluschek
Web links
- Audiobook (blocked for Internet users from Germany) in Project Gutenberg
- Little Peter's journey to the moon. A fairy tale game (1924) in Project Gutenberg
-
Peterchens Mondfahrt public domain audio book at LibriVox
- Peterchens Mondfahrt (1959) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Peterchens Mondfahrt (1990) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ From: Königsteiner Burgfestbuch 2013, 700 years of city rights in Königstein Burgverein Königstein eV (ed.), Gaby Terhorst: Anneliese, Peter, Gerdt, Oskar and the moon trip. P. 77.
- ^ Eva Weissweiler : Otto Klemperer - A German-Jewish artist's life. Cologne 2010, p. 85 f.
- ^ Beate Großmann-Hofmann, city archivist Königstein: Memory of Dr. Oskar Kohnstamm (1871-1917). In: Yearbook Hochtaunuskreis 2017, Frankfurt 2016, ISBN 978-3-95542-226-4 , p. 95.
- ^ Gerdt von Bassewitz - Peterchens Mondfahrt (radio play by Marc Gruppe). titania-medien.de, accessed on February 19, 2015 .