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Pia
Guest
But this is my "favourite" (and it sounds like the wrong word really).... but it is the most powerful song he ever wrote...
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P
Pia
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and you get the bonus of a few minutes of the film too!
P
Pia
Guest
Mac the knife is a great song, but really "Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral" is a phrase for all eternity, on so many levels... the best line he ever EVER wrote...
P
Pia
Guest
I know.... It is so weird that it has become an easy song to sing... it is so deeply dark....The film, interestingly, was made in the same time in both a German and French version, with different actors. I have never been able to decide which one I like the most... they are just different. It's a shame that Brecht swallowed a different propaganda tract of course.... but he wasn't alone... and at least he left posterity a deep and profound truth...that's a great clip, thanks for finding that pk -
it's a grim insight into a strange world,
yet I fear its message is still true today
(and what a difference between
'Mackie Messerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr'
and the sanitised 'Mack the Knife')
P
Pia
Guest
Ooooh - ik ook!!!!
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Pia
Guest
It is important that he used "fressen" rather than "essen" - it conveys stuffing your mouth, eating like a pig, devouring, gorging... nothing nice like "dining".... Bertolt knew his words alright....
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Pia
Guest
The German words are much more threatening (and also more beautiful) than the translation - I love "blue Sunday"...
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Pia
Guest
And here is Margo Lion as Jenny (Lotte Lenya)....pretty amazing I think - all those ships with sails blowing and cannons and all!
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Pia
Guest
Anyway, we've gotten too distracted by Weimar Berlin.... I need to take you back to Zoppot in the last happy, thoughtless year of Wilhelmine Germany... in sunny (and sometimes rainy) 1913....
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Pia
Guest
Good night everyone! Thank you for keeping me company! It has been a long, hard, difficult, but ultimately blessed day! Kisses!
P
Pia
Guest
Chapter 8
“So at last you’re back girls! I hope you’re not too worn out? Well, a change of plan. We’re eating out… don’t even ask! A kitchen disaster. But not to worry! Markus has come to the rescue and we have a table booked at the Metropol. So, time to refresh yourselves and change into your finest. Gisela, Brangane… I’ve arranged for a cab to collect you in…hmm…forty five minutes time, so I suggest you head home and get ready. Tristana, same for us. I know it’s not far, but, well, it’s a warm evening and you will be tired, so go and do whatever girls do and I will be waiting. Alright? It’s the newest place in town girls, and everyone says it is simply excellent. So ladies, I will see you in Seestraße in, hmmm, about an hour. Good?”
P
Pia
Guest
Another view - and this one is from 1913 - the hotel and restaurant opened in 1909...
looks a bit like Tree's Coffee House - tarted up
Quite a step up from Missouri "log and chink" construction ... but you know how it is in the colonies.
P
Pia
Guest
“I’ve got a better idea Markus...”
“Yes, Tristana?”
“Well, why don’t we send Melot to get the girls’ things, then they can stay here and we can dress together and Konstanze can help us! Gisela, you’d like that I know! You haven’t even met Konstanze! She’s been with us since, oh, forever Her mother worked for us, I’ve sort of grown up with her. You’ll love her!”
“Yes...yes... I think that would be nice. But who’s Melot?”
“Oh he’s the same. Well, obviously not quite, but they’ve both been with us in the Berlin house, oh, ages! Uncle said they could come along with us as he’d be along next week. So, we’ll do that then? You both stay here and Melot will get the things. But we’ll need more than an hour, more like two hours Markus. You can put back the table? Can't you?”
“I think that will be alright Tristana. Anyway, I have a few things to arrange there, so actually it will suit very well. So I will see you there and, Tristana, you bring Gisela and Brangane in the cab, alright?”
“Yes Markus. That’s perfect! Let’s go upstairs and meet Konstanze!”
So upstairs we go. It’s a lovely villa, all white paint and flooded with light. And Tristana’s room is so sweet. I’d love a room like that, I think to myself. And Konstanze is sweet too! I don’t know why but I imagined that she’d be old, but she’s not. Just as Tristana said, they are virtually the same age. She’s pretty, but obviously not as pretty as my Tristana. Short dark curls bob around her head and she's a sweet little tilt of a nose. I imagine that they’ve had some nice times together as they grew up.
“So, you must be the famous Gisela then? How nice to meet you at last. I’ve heard all about you from Dr. Topf. And he’s right. You are absolutely lovely! What amazing hair! And you, you must be Brangane! What a strange name... But we’re used to strange names around here, aren’t we Tristana? Melot’s another one! They say his family came from Brittany or somewhere, where’s your name from? It’s strange but very pretty. Well, Gisela, let me look at you again....Hmmm... I think the Dr was right to get Tristana to bring you here! Yes, you and Master Markus, you’ll make a fine couple, that’s for sure!”
My mind spins. My face must have gone quite blank. I knew I knew, but now I know. I’m to be married. I’m a chattel, nothing more: a chattel to unite the Rohkrämers and the Topfs. That was why we went to the opera back in the winter. That is why we stayed in the Brenner Park by the Oss. That is why I am here in Zoppot. Not to be with my darling Tristana, but to be with Markus. I should have known. My heart is tearing in two. My soul is lost. I am empty.
“Yes, Tristana?”
“Well, why don’t we send Melot to get the girls’ things, then they can stay here and we can dress together and Konstanze can help us! Gisela, you’d like that I know! You haven’t even met Konstanze! She’s been with us since, oh, forever Her mother worked for us, I’ve sort of grown up with her. You’ll love her!”
“Yes...yes... I think that would be nice. But who’s Melot?”
“Oh he’s the same. Well, obviously not quite, but they’ve both been with us in the Berlin house, oh, ages! Uncle said they could come along with us as he’d be along next week. So, we’ll do that then? You both stay here and Melot will get the things. But we’ll need more than an hour, more like two hours Markus. You can put back the table? Can't you?”
“I think that will be alright Tristana. Anyway, I have a few things to arrange there, so actually it will suit very well. So I will see you there and, Tristana, you bring Gisela and Brangane in the cab, alright?”
“Yes Markus. That’s perfect! Let’s go upstairs and meet Konstanze!”
So upstairs we go. It’s a lovely villa, all white paint and flooded with light. And Tristana’s room is so sweet. I’d love a room like that, I think to myself. And Konstanze is sweet too! I don’t know why but I imagined that she’d be old, but she’s not. Just as Tristana said, they are virtually the same age. She’s pretty, but obviously not as pretty as my Tristana. Short dark curls bob around her head and she's a sweet little tilt of a nose. I imagine that they’ve had some nice times together as they grew up.
“So, you must be the famous Gisela then? How nice to meet you at last. I’ve heard all about you from Dr. Topf. And he’s right. You are absolutely lovely! What amazing hair! And you, you must be Brangane! What a strange name... But we’re used to strange names around here, aren’t we Tristana? Melot’s another one! They say his family came from Brittany or somewhere, where’s your name from? It’s strange but very pretty. Well, Gisela, let me look at you again....Hmmm... I think the Dr was right to get Tristana to bring you here! Yes, you and Master Markus, you’ll make a fine couple, that’s for sure!”
My mind spins. My face must have gone quite blank. I knew I knew, but now I know. I’m to be married. I’m a chattel, nothing more: a chattel to unite the Rohkrämers and the Topfs. That was why we went to the opera back in the winter. That is why we stayed in the Brenner Park by the Oss. That is why I am here in Zoppot. Not to be with my darling Tristana, but to be with Markus. I should have known. My heart is tearing in two. My soul is lost. I am empty.
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