Rameau's nephew (Tankred Dorst)
Rameau's nephew is a dialogue by Diderot that Tankred Dorst translated and edited for the stage. The one-act play was premiered on September 28, 1963 under the direction of Rolf Lansky at the Städtische Bühnen Nürnberg-Fürth . Tankred Dorst has partially rearranged and shortened the satirical text with a philosophical touch.
time and place
Diderot meets the mediocre musician Rameau in 1762 amid the chess players around Légal and Philidor in the Parisian Café de la Régence . The philosopher's dialogue partner is - more precisely - the nephew of the famous Jean-Philippe Rameau .
content
Rameau says that after saying goodbye to his father, a pharmacist from the provinces, he learned the trade of a musician from his renowned uncle in Paris. The uncle, used to success, finally chased him away, the "miserable string pluck". The expellee prophesies that the uncle will be called the great Rameau for ten years and then soon forgotten.
Rameau rarely has a Louisdor in his pocket. He calls himself a parasite who lives off the rich. He had forfeited the place at the wealthy Bertin's table , which he believed to be safe , through loud speeches - on the fatal assumption that he was “an essential man” and could open a “sack full of cheek”. Rameau had snubbed a guest of the house, the Abbé Trublet - editor of the literary journal L'Année littéraire - at the table and thus provoked the resentment of the host Bertin. Even the lady of the house, Mademoiselle Hus, could no longer help him. Rameau calls her a "little boozy actress". When he was still Bertin's fool , as soon as a new play was mentioned in Paris, he had to find the poet in question in his attic and find a suitable role for the lady of the house.
Rameau - now the "original in the gutter" - can watch people. Diderot has to admit that he really despises the other person, but finds it entertaining. Rameau knows he's an ignoramus, a fool, a glutton, a rascal and a rascal - a madman. Nevertheless, the interlocutors occasionally come up with a common denominator. For example, when it comes to their children. Diderot has an eight year old daughter. It sounds like Rameau wants to become the little girl's music teacher. Diderot waves it away. His wife takes care of their daughter.
Rameau also had a wife. She ran away from him, but the son stayed with him. The father is crazy about the little one. The boy is not supposed to become a musician one day.
Both men have firm ideas about women. Rameau wants to get drunk with girls, use them on her terms and then go straight to perversions . Diderot - more modest - would already be happy after touching the breasts and registering the greed in the gaze of the beautiful woman concerned. Rameau is far from being lucky enough because he doesn't want to be an “idealistic enthusiast”. Diderot hates vice and wants to explore the essence of virtue . Suitable reading can be found in Bruyère and Molière .
Rameau has certain demands. Diderot then presents his undemanding, unfortunately long-faded colleague Diogenes as a model. Rameau, on the other hand, argues that the Greek had beauties - Lais and Phryne . In any case, Rameau does not allow himself to be turned upside down by the somewhat wealthy philosopher Diderot. The bad musician would like to enjoy the misfortune for a few more years.
Quotes
- "Whoever suffers makes others suffer."
- "It's better to write big things than do small ones."
- "Nature puts everyone in their place."
- "In the original, the world produces much more than art can imitate."
radio play
- 1971 ORF , editor: Tankred Dorst
See also
literature
- Denis Diderot, Tankred Dorst: Rameau's nephew. Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1963. Collection Theater Texts 16. 90 pages
Used edition
- Rameau's nephew. by Denis Diderot. Translated and edited for the stage. Pp. 217-265 in Tankred Dorst. Early pieces. Work edition 3 (content: The cat or how to play the game . Society in autumn . The curve . Big diatribe on the city wall . Rameau's nephew. The Mohrin . The judge of London ) Suhrkamp Verlag 1986 (1st edition), ISBN 3 -518-03009-4 , 404 pages.
Secondary literature
- Heinz Ludwig Arnold (Ed.): Text + criticism Issue 145: Tankred Dorst . Richard Boorberg Verlag, Munich, January 2000, ISBN 3-88377-626-2
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature . German Authors A-Z . Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-520-83704-8 , p. 126, left column
Individual evidence
Partly in French