It is 50 years ago now, approximately.
The American singer, Bobby Darin - always something of a misfit in the American pop music industry - had a hit with "Mack The Knife". It was a song with unusual lyrics to say the least, and a song with an interesting history.
Originally, it was a German song - called "Mackie Messer". I spent a fair bit of time scouting round the web a couple of years ago seeing if I could find the original. Sure enough - a greying old black and white movie from the early thirties with the delightful Lotte Lenya singing (don't expect to find it now, incidentally - YouTube have had to remove it under copyright laws. You know - everyone is really fascinated at the prospect of buying a vintage 80 year old movie!).
Lotte Lenya was an Austrian born actress who had become established in Berlin, married the composer, Kurt Weill (who wrote the music for Mackie Messer, and had collaboarated musically with Brecht since 1927), and appeared in most of the dramas in Berlin in the late 20s and early 30s written and produced by Bertholt Brecht. The song comes from "Die Dreigroschenoper" ("The Threepenny Opera" in English).
Brecht wrote the words of the song needless to say, as he wrote the plays, but he was never an easy man to define. He was though, without question, a committed Marxist. He was curiously, originally from Bavaria, but Berlin (which still preferred the Communist Party to Hitler's NSDAP in both the last two elections of the Weimar Republic in 1932) suited him better. His epic drama productions were themselves very revolutionary in style, and combined drama with politics.
Come 1933, came Hitler. Brecht, Weill and Lenya (who had now divorced) all saw no future for themselves in Germany, and all left. Lenya spent some time in Paris, Weill (not merely a committed socialist, but also Jewish) left almost immediately after Hitler took power and headed for Paris and then London. Brecht meanwhile headed off for Denmark.
Curiously, given all their political leanings, they were to end up in the United States - Weill and Lenya reconciling with each other and remarrying.
Quite why the USA - except for the fact that it was a long way from Hitler's Fascist "paradise"? (Author's note - that is meant to be extremely satirical, you should know by now what I think of Fascists, and "scum" is too kind a word!). Difficult to say.
Their fortunes there were mixed. Weill experienced some difficulties at first, but became accepted by the musical establishment. He was to colloborate in musical works with no less than Ira Gershwin among others, and he had established a successful career for himself by the time he died, quite young at the age of 50 in 1950.
Lenya became a successful Broadway actress, and seemed to settle reasonably successfully into what might seem to be have appeared at first, an alien culture with a completely different belief system.
Brecht? Well, why the USA rather that the USSR? That is the first question. The point with Brecht is that he was a committed "Marxist". He was not a committed "Stalinist". And yes, there is a difference. It is not even that convincing an argument that Brecht believed in the "Communist Party" either.
He lived in Hollywood throughout the war years, without ever really mastering English, was brought be the US House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947, where his lack of English skills almost reduced the proceedings to a farce, and as the war was now over, left again for Europe.
His beliefs were just about as opposed to all things American as can be imagined, it takes some believing that he would have wanted to go there at all. It also would have shaken all but the ivory tower academics in the US that he was in the country at all. He epitomised the attitudes that Americans generally at once hate and fear. That anyone so fiercely anti-capitalist could possibly attract any sympathy on Main Street?
It is fascinating in its way, although it is also interesting that he wrote some of his best work while living there. Perhaps there is something to be said for living among the enemy!
That he was to go and live in East Germany should not be so surprising. That he was iconised by the regime there should also not come as a surprise. That he regarded it as Stalinist and actually tacitally supported the uprising in 1953 should really not be too surprising. Either.
Maybe some people are never really born to be satisfied with their lot. Maybe some people will go on looking for the answers that will never be available. Perhaps some people are simply too brilliant for the world and its mediocrities. At times I know and understand this all too well myself. Brecht definitely did.
Still depart at this point singing the following lyrics:
Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
und die trägt er im Gesicht
und Macheath, der hat ein Messer
doch das Messer sieht man nicht ....
quoted without copyright, but would Brecht have approved of copyright restrictions, I wonder? I wait for the day meanwhile that I can see Lotte Lenya singing this on YouTube .... again!
No comments:
Post a Comment