Die Dreigroschenoper

Last Sunday night, Red Baron was at the opera in Freiburg's Municipal Theater.

When Die Dreigroschenoper had its first performance on August 31, 1928, in the theater on Berlin's Schiffbauerdamm, now Bert Brecht Theater, the program leaflet read:

DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER (The Beggar‘s Opera)
A play with music in a prelude and 8 pictures after the English of John Gay.
Translation: Elisabeth Hauptmann
Adaptation: Brecht
Music: Kurt Weill

In fact, later, Bert Brecht was accused of plagiarism by some. So, you may say that the present changes in the text by the director of the play (Regietheater) are tolerable.

A strange scenery invited the spectator to watch the 3G-Oper (G standing for Groschen, which used to be a 10 Pfennig coin).

The Freiburg production had plenty of text omissions and additions. As one critic wrote, "Today's word scrap from Donald Trump's You are Fired to Christian Lindner's Risks are thorny opportunities*."
*Germany's Finance Minister

©Theater Freiburg

However, the staging was instead characterized by the funny performance of the actors clothed as Teletubbies. There was more slapstick than wit.

©Theater Freiburg

So another critic saw the characters "tripping to the music over the walkways and stairs of the blinking house." With this, the play lost some of its biting social criticism, but this further alienation of Brecht's alienation was probably intended.

Red Baron was annoyed by the burlesque acting. Luckily, they cannot change Weill's music, or I say it with Gershwin: "They Can't Take That Away from Me."

So occasionally, I closed my eyes and listened, e.g., to the three powerful ballads performed by opera singers. These songs contain the gist of the Dreigroschenoper.

Ballade über die Frage "Wovon lebt der Mensch" Macheath: Wie ihr es immer dreht, Und wie ihr's immer schiebt: Erst kommt das Fressen, Dann kommt die Moral. Jenny: Denn wovon lebt der Mensch? Macheath: Denn wovon lebt der Mensch Indem er stündlich, den Menschen Peinigt, auszieht, anfällt, abwürgt und frisst. Nur dadurch lebt der Mensch, Vergessen kann, dass er ein Mensch doch ist.

Ballad About the Question, "What Does Man Live On". Macheath: No matter how much you twist it, And how you always push it: First comes food, Then comes the moral. Jenny: For by what does man live? Macheath: For by what does man live That hourly, the human being Tortures, strips, attacks, strangles, and eats Only by this man lives Can he forget that he is a man.

Ballade von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Planens Denn für dieses Leben Ist der Mensch nicht schlau genug. Niemals merkt er eben Diesen Lug und Trug. Ja, mach nur einen Plan! Sei nur ein großes Licht! Und mach dann noch’nen zweiten Plan Gehn tun sie beide nicht. Denn für dieses Leben Ist der Mensch nicht schlecht genug. Doch sein höhres Streben Ist ein schöner Zug.

Ballad about the Uselessness of Man's Ambition Because, for this life, Man is not smart enough He never notices All the tricks and lies. Yes, just make a plan! Just be a great light! And then make another plan; They both won't work. For, in this life, Man is not bad enough But his higher ambitions Are a beautiful trait.

Ballade von der sexuellen Hörigkeit Da ist nun einer schon der Satan selber Der Metzger: er! und alle andern: Kälber! Der frechste Hund! Der schlimmste Hurentreiber! Wer kocht ihn ab, der alle abkocht? Weiber! Das fragt nicht, ob er will - er ist bereit. Das ist die sexuelle Hörigkeit.

Ballad of Sexual Bondage Now, there is one already: Satan himself He is the butcher, and all the others are calves! The cheekiest dog! The worst whoremonger! Who does him in? Who does them all in? Women! Don't ask if he likes it; he's up for it That's sexual bondage.

In the last act, Tiger Brown, London's police chief, is bustling around the stage with a loaded revolver. Ultimately, he shoots Macheath ("Mack the Knife"), his buddy from army days, dead. 

What a reverse ending! 

 In John Gay's Beggar's Opera, there is a Happy End. Macheath is reprieved due to the audience's demand. All are invited to dance and celebrate his wedding to Polly. So early critics blamed Gay for glorifying the "charms of idleness and criminal pleasure."      

 In Brecht's Dreigroschenoper, Tiger Brown arrives as the deus ex machina, announcing that the queen had pardoned Macheath and even granted him a title, a castle, and a pension. So, Weill's final choir demands that wrongdoings are not punished too harshly, as life is harsh enough. 

 In both endings, the evil survives as in real life. Can somebody please explain Macheath's shooting in the present staging to me? 

No curtain. Applause and the actors are bowing …

… and are running again.

Still, Red Baron enjoyed the Freiburg performance of the Dreigroschenoper.

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