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Baal was the first full-length play written by the German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 modernist
Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century....
 playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
 Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht

was a Germany poet, playwright, and theatre director. An influential theatre practitioner of the Twentieth-century theatre, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and Theatre, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble?the post-war theatre company operated by Brec...
. Set in Berlin's underworld, it concerns a wastrel youth who becomes involved in several sexual affairs and at least one murder. It was written in 1918, when Brecht was a 20-year-old student at Munich University
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , also known as LMU, is a university in Munich and, with more than 44,000 students, is the second-largest university in Germany....
, in response to the expressionist
Expressionism

Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect; it is a subjective art form. Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, theatre, film, Expressionist architecture and Expressionism ....
 drama The Loner (Der Einsame) by the soon-to-become-Nazi dramatist Hanns Johst
Hanns Johst

Hanns Johst was a Germany playwright and Nazism Poet Laureate.Hanns Johst was born in Seehausen as the son of an elementary school teacher. He grew up in Oschatz and Leipzig....
. Baal did not receive a theatrical performance until 1923, when it opened on the 8th December at the in Leipzig
Leipzig

Leipzig is, with a population of over 511,252, the largest city in the States of Germany of Saxony, Germany....
 (in a production directed by Alwin Kronacher in which Brecht participated for most rehearsals).






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Baal was the first full-length play written by the German
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 modernist
Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western culture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century....
 playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
 Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht

was a Germany poet, playwright, and theatre director. An influential theatre practitioner of the Twentieth-century theatre, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and Theatre, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble?the post-war theatre company operated by Brec...
. Set in Berlin's underworld, it concerns a wastrel youth who becomes involved in several sexual affairs and at least one murder. It was written in 1918, when Brecht was a 20-year-old student at Munich University
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich

The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , also known as LMU, is a university in Munich and, with more than 44,000 students, is the second-largest university in Germany....
, in response to the expressionist
Expressionism

Expressionism is the tendency of an artist to distort reality for an emotional effect; it is a subjective art form. Expressionism is exhibited in many art forms, including painting, literature, theatre, film, Expressionist architecture and Expressionism ....
 drama The Loner (Der Einsame) by the soon-to-become-Nazi dramatist Hanns Johst
Hanns Johst

Hanns Johst was a Germany playwright and Nazism Poet Laureate.Hanns Johst was born in Seehausen as the son of an elementary school teacher. He grew up in Oschatz and Leipzig....
. Baal did not receive a theatrical performance until 1923, when it opened on the 8th December at the in Leipzig
Leipzig

Leipzig is, with a population of over 511,252, the largest city in the States of Germany of Saxony, Germany....
 (in a production directed by Alwin Kronacher in which Brecht participated for most rehearsals). Brecht wrote Baal prior to developing the dramaturgical
Dramaturgy

Dramaturgy is the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. Some dramatists combine writing and dramaturgy when creating a drama....
 techniques of 'epic theatre
Epic theater

Epic theatre is a theatrical Art movement arising in the Twentieth-century theatre from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners, including Erwin Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and, most famously, Bertolt Brecht....
' that characterize his later work. He wrote a revised version with Elisabeth Hauptmann
Elisabeth Hauptmann

Elisabeth Hauptmann was a Germany writer who worked with Bertolt Brecht.She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year she came to Berlin. She began collaborating with him in 1924, and is listed as a co-author of The Threepenny Opera ....
 in 1926 for a brief production at Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt

Max Reinhardt may refer to:*Max Reinhardt , Austrian theatre and film director*Max Reinhardt , British publisher...
's Deutsches Theater
Deutsches Theater

The Deutsches Theater in Berlin is a well-known Germany theatre. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-St?dtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia....
 in Berlin, where he had worked recently as a dramaturg
Dramaturge

A dramaturge or dramaturg is a position within a theatre that deals mainly with research and development. It has gained its modern-day function through the innovations of Gotthold Lessing, a playwright and theatre practitioner who worked in Germany in the 18th century....
. It opened on the 14th February for a single matinée performance. It was performed by the Junge Bühne and directed by Brecht and Oskar Homolka (who also played the title role), with set-design
Scenic design

File:Robert Edmond Jones.jpgScenic design is the creation of Theatre, as well as film or television theatrical scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with Master of Fine Arts degrees in theatre arts....
 by Caspar Neher
Caspar Neher

Caspar Neher was a Austrian-Germany scenographer known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. They were school friends who were separated for a time by the World War I, during which Neher was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class ....
.

The story traces the decline of a drunken and dissolute poet, Baal, an anti-hero
Anti-hero

In fiction, an antihero is a protagonist whose character or goals are antithetical to traditional hero. The term dates to 1714, although literary criticism identifies the trope in earlier literature....
 who rejects the conventions and trappings of polite society. This honors the German Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang

Sturm und Drang is the name of a movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in response to the confines of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements....
 tradition which celebrates the cult of the genius living outside the conventions of society that would later destroy him. "The outcast, the disillusioned tough becomes the hero; he may be criminal, he may be semi-human," argues John Willett
John Willett

John Willett was a Translation and a scholar who is famous for translating the work of Bertolt Brecht into English language. He was born on 24 June 1917 and died on 20 August 2002....
, "but in plays like Baal he can be romanticized into an inverted idealist, blindly striking out at the society in which he lives." Baal roams the countryside, womanizing and brawling. He seduces Johanna, who subsequently drowns herself. He spurns his pregnant mistress Sophie and abandons her. He murders his friend Ekart, becoming a fugitive from the police. Defiantly aloof from the consequences of his actions, Baal is nonetheless brought low by his debauchery, dying alone in a forest hut, hunted and deserted, and leaving in his wake the corpses of deflowered maidens and murdered friends.

The play is written in a form of heightened prose
Prose

Prose is writing that resembles everyday Speech communication. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward"....
 and includes four songs and an introductory choral hymn
Chorale

A chorale was originally a hymn of the Lutheran church sung by the entire congregation. In casual modern usage, the term also includes classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
 ("Hymn of Baal the Great"), set to melodies
Melody

In music, a melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity....
 composed by Brecht himself.

Characters

as per the Bentley/Esslin translation
  • Baal -a poet
  • Mech -a publisher & big businessman
  • Mrs. Mech (Emily)
  • Dr. Piller -a critic
  • Johannes Schmidt
  • Johanna -fiancee of Johannes
  • Ekart -a composer
  • Louise -a waitress
  • Two Sisters
  • Landlady
  • Sophie Barger
  • Bum
  • Lupu
  • Mjurk -owner of a nightspot
  • Chanteuse
  • Pianist
  • Parson
  • Bolleboll
  • Googoo
  • Old Beggar
  • Maja -a beggarwoman
  • Young Waitress
  • Watzmann
  • Two Rangers
  • Teamsters, Farmers, Lumberjacks, etc.


Setting

  • About 1911, in Augsburg, Germany and the surrounding region.


BBC production

In 1982, musician/actor David Bowie
David Bowie

David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and Arrangement. Active in five decades of rock music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s....
 played the title role for a BBC television production of Baal. John WIllett provided the English translation and screenplay. Bowie's recordings of the play's five songs were released as an EP
Extended play

An extended play is a vinyl record, Compact disc, or music download which contains more music than a Single , but is too short to qualify as an LP album....
, David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht's BAAL
Baal (EP)

Baal was an Extended play by David Bowie, comprising recordings of songs written for Bertolt Brecht?s play Baal . It is sometimes referred to as David Bowie in Bertolt Brecht?s Baal, as credited on the sleeve....
.