The Flight across the Ocean

The ocean air, also under the (former) titles known Lindbergh Flight and The Flight of Lindbergh, is a musical soundscape of 1929 with text by Bertolt Brecht.

Background / Origin

The text of the Lindbergh flight, deals with the first successful airplane in a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, the Charles Lindbergh in 1927 carried out. Brecht was Lindbergh's book We (1927, in German translation: We two, in 1927 and should read Lindbergh himself and his plane ) impressed, and took over from the German translation of both pure facts about the flight as well (almost unchanged) a few paragraphs of text. Brecht's text describing the event from several different angles. In addition to the pilot in the fog, the snow storm and sleeping with whom he fights to come, as well as the American and the European continent to the language.

Brecht wrote the text originally for Kurt Weill, who was to him set to music for the Baden-Baden Music Festival 1929. Some parts of the still not completely perfect text published in April 1929 in the Berlin journal Uhu (under the provisional title Lindbergh ).

Here Brecht and Weill had already agreed with Paul Hindemith cooperation. Hindemith wrote about half of the musical premiered in Baden -Baden, Weill the other half. It worked with under the direction of Hermann Scherchen at the premiere of the Lindbergh flight in Baden -Baden orchestra, choir and soloists.

Still 1929, Weill decided as originally planned to set to music the entire text itself. In addition to extensive adoption of its material from the Baden-Baden version now he composed the music for the parts that were once fallen Hindemith, new. The new plant, a " cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra ," was performed on December 5, 1929 at Berlin's Kroll Opera under the baton of Otto Klemperer.

At this time Brecht worked up the text to thoroughly. This text should now "is not the description of an Atlantic flight " be explicit, but a " radio lesson for boys and girls " are, that was not titled The Lindbergh flight, but the flight of Lindbergh. Especially with the addition of the new section " ideology " continued Brecht now a very different thematic focus than before and passed the text Marxist thought to. The new version was published in 1930; the new parts of the text were not set to music.

After the war, on the occasion of an inquiry by the West German Broadcasting Service, Brecht was in 1950 a new condition for the performance of the work known, namely, that the title would be amended in the ocean air and that all mentions of the name Lindbergh be removed from the text. Brecht felt that Charles Lindbergh would have been a sympathizer of National Socialism and would have the " Hitler - butchers " even the "flying with deadly bombs " ( as Brecht in newly written prologue ) are shown. The text says so at no point more " Lindbergh ", but instead, for example, " the aviator ". The representation of the plane, "My name is Charles Lindbergh " was changed to " My name does not matter " changed.

The cantata Weill is still called the Lindbergh flight, as Weill, who died a few months after the last change in title, from her learned nothing and would not have approved of security with her. However, in today's performances of the cantata, the name Lindbergh is usually omitted in the text itself.

Interpretation

In "The Ocean Flight " Brecht personifies the plane and the forces of nature, which fight against the daredevil pilots, so a verbal confrontation between the weather, the pilot, his aircraft and the departure and arrival continent formed.

Brecht used in this text to a distancing effect on the pilot, because he can see this transience, has the memory of his endeavor, his motivation, however, does not suffer.

• Work of Bertolt Brecht
• Literary work
• Literature ( 20th century)
• Literature ( German )
• Charles Lindbergh