NDLI: “Yes, to nothingness!”The Condemnation of Lucullus—An opera of peace by Bertolt Brecht and Paul Dessau

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Obermayer, Hans Peter
Copyright Year	2001
Abstract	In his fight against Nazism, Brecht often used subjects of Roman antiquity. In 1939, he wrote the novelThe Affairs of Julius Caesar, the short story “The Trophies of Lucullus”, and the musical radio play “The Trial of Lucullus”. The last he finished very quickly to counteract the military success of Hitler’s Germany. But surprisingly the radio play could not be broadcast: before the Swede Hildung Rosenberg could even start composing the music, Stockholm Radio cancelled the contract. It would take another 12 years until, with the score of Paul Dessau, the play could be staged at theStaatsoper in Berlin. But even then, in 1951, the author and his composer had to fight for the opera. The cultural functionaries of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) accused Brecht’s text and Dessau’s music of being “formalistic”, the most devastating criticism under Stalinist cultural policy.This paper discusses the history of the “Lucullus” project, especially in the USA, where Brecht was in exile 1941–1947, the work method of the “Roman Brecht”, and the metamorphosis of the radio play and opera “The Trial of Lucullus” into the opera “The Condemnation of Lucullus” through a revision of the text and music in partial compliance with the ideological criticism of the political leadership of the then German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Starting Page	217
Ending Page	233
Page Count	17
File Format	PDF
ISSN	10730508
Journal	International Journal of the Classical Tradition
Volume Number	8
Issue Number	2
e-ISSN	18746292
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2001-01-01
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Classical Studies Languages and Literature Arts
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Cultural Studies Classics

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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