Brecht, Bertolt, 1898-1956

Variant names
Dates:
Birth 1898-02-10
Death 1956-08-14
Germans,
German, English,

Biographical notes:

Brecht was a German dramatist and poet. Karl Korsch was a Marxist theoretician.

From the description of Correspondence with Karl Korsch, 1934-ca.1954. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122556373

From the guide to the Bertolt Brecht correspondence with Karl Korsch, ca. 1934-1954., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)

Reyersbach was a pediatrician with special training in endocrinology and rheumatic diseases; she came to the U.S. in 1937.

From the description of Letter : to Gertrud C. Reyersbach, 1927. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 612864272

Brecht was a German dramatist and poet.

From the description of Correspondence with Ferdinand Reyher, 1946-1952. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122520931

From the guide to the Bertolt Brecht papers, 1946-1952., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)

Bertolt Brecht, playwright. Erica Christ and Paul Walsh, translators.

From the description of Puntila and his chauffeur Matti: typescript, n.d. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 144651949

Epithet: dramatist and poet

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000834.0x00011f

Bertolt Brecht was an influential German playwright, poet, and theater director. Born Eugen Berthold Brecht in Augsburg, Brecht enjoyed a middle-class upbringing until the disruptive advent of World War I. After the war he lived in Munich, writing articles, poetry, and drama, and in 1922 won the prestigious Kleist Prize. Brecht went on to great success and acclaim, forming a writing collective, but left Germany in 1933 for political reasons, living in Sweden, Finland, and the United States, before returning to Germany after World War II. He formed the Berliner Ensemble in 1949, which performed mostly Brecht's plays. His influence on modern drama and theater is notable, and his theories have also influenced numerous filmmakers, including Rainer Werrner Fassbinder and Jean-Luc Godard.

From the description of Zentralantiquariat der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. holiday greeting with Bertolt Brecht poem Vergnügungen, circa 1973. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 173848815

Bertolt Brecht, playwright. Sheldon Patinkin, translator.

From the description of The good person of Setzuan: a parable play: typescript, 1992. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122598349

German librettist and playwright.

From the description of Typewritten document signed, dated : Santa Monica, 31 July 1947, 1947 July 31. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270874437

Bertolt Brecht, playwright.

From the description of The measures taken: typescript, 1956. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122640220

Bertolt Brecht first achieved notoriety together with the composer Kurt Weill through their involvement with Die Dreigroschenoper (Berlin, 1928), an adaptation of John Gay's Beggar's opera based on a German translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann; among other well-known works on which Brecht and Weill collaborated are the "songspiel" Mahagonny (Baden-Baden, 1927), the opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Leipzig, 1930), Happy end (Berlin, 1929), and Die sieben Todsünden (= The seven deadly sins = Les sept péchés capitaux; Paris, 1933).

Two plays for which Weill provided incidental music which is now largely missing are Das Leben Eduards des Zweiten von England (after Marlowe; Leipzig, 1928) and Mann ist Mann (Berlin, 1931). Forced to live in exile throughout the Third Reich, Brecht returned in 1949 to what was then East Berlin, founding there the much-acclaimed Berliner Ensemble theater company. Copyright matters concerning the phenomenally successful Dreigroschenoper (both the musical and the German and French film versions by Pabst) have always been exceedingly complex, and served very much as a bone of contention between the various parties involved--including Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmann, on one hand, and Lotte Lenya (as executrix of Weill's estate following his death in 1950), on the other.

From the description of Bertolt Brecht-Elisabeth Hauptmann papers relating to Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, 1930-1956. (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison). WorldCat record id: 122520486

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Subjects:

  • German literature
  • Theater
  • Authors and publishers
  • Authors, German
  • Authors, German
  • Authorship
  • Copyright
  • German drama
  • German language
  • Manuscripts
  • Philosophy, Marxist
  • Political refugees
  • Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
  • Weill, Kurt
  • Women and war

Occupations:

  • Actors
  • Actresses
  • Authors, German
  • Librettists
  • Lyricists

Places:

  • Germany (East) (as recorded)
  • Germany (as recorded)
  • New York (State)--New York (as recorded)

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