Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898 in Augsburg, Germany. His first poems, heavily influenced by Rimbaud and Verlaine, were published at age 16. He served as an orderly in the German army during the First World War, but by its end was deeply disenchanted, not only with the war, but also with society in general. His first play, Baal, was written in 1918 in response to Hanns Johst's tragedy, The Lonely Man. Drums in the Night followed this in 1920. During this period, he was writing a good deal of poetry and music as well. Poetry was easy for him, like breathing, and so drama was the more noble cause.Brecht was a regular in the cabaret acts of Trude Hesterberg and Karl Valentin in the early 1920s in Munich. In 1922 Drums in the Night had its Munich premier, and then played at the Deutsches Theatre in Berlin. He was awarded the Kleist Prize for this play, and at twenty-four years of age, achieved national recognition and critical acclaim as a playwright and poet. Brecht was far from his peak. In 1924, he moved to Berlin, where he continued to write, collaborating with the great German composer, Kurt Weill, on The Threepenny Opera, The Rise & Fall of the City of Mahagonny, and The Seven
In 1941, the Nazis invaded Denmark, and Brecht moved to Finland and then to America with his wife, the actress Helene Wiegel, where he worked briefly in Hollywood. There he was reunited with other German intellectuals, including Lion Feuchtwanger, Fritz Lang, Hans Eisler, and Paul Dessau. He also met Aldous Huxley and Charlie Chaplin. Brecht was a fan of Chaplin especially, once saying, "There are two directors in the world. Chaplin is the other." As I was reading through The Sunday Times Magazine I came across an interview with probably the most successful director ever, Steven Spielberg. In his article he is publicising his latest film, Minority Report, and he goes on to say that in this film and in a number of his previous films like Amistad, The Color Purple, Saving Private Ryan '...were all serious, engaged, didactic works.' How his work influences modern directors 1943 Works with Lion Feuchtwanger on Die Gesichte der Simone Machard (The Visions of Simone Machard) for which the film rights are sold to MGM (never produced), first staged in Frankfurt am Main in 1957; Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg (Schweyk in the Second World War) completed, first staged in German in Erfurt, 1958
Some common words found in the essay are:
It's Brecht´s, Peter Brook, Using Megaphones, Peter Brook's, Erwin Piscator, Berliner Ensemble, Hitler Hitler's, Banholzer· Brecht, Theatre Company', Piscator Brecht, berliner ensemble, threepenny opera, mother courage, mother courage children, helene weigel, courage children, drums night, peter brook, world war, simone machard, kurt weill, starring helene weigel, seven deadly sins, visions simone machard, caucasian chalk circle,
Approximate Word count = 4257
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
