Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny [libretto]

by Bertolt Brecht (Librettist)

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This play chronicles the development and demise of the 'paradise city' of Mahagonny in a series of tableaux capturing the baser aspects of human nature. Three criminals create the city in order to trap money: it is a place of pleasure, where no-one works, everyone drinks, gambles, brawls and visits prostitutes, and all that matters is whether you can pay your way. A hurricane passing dangerously close to the city encourages complete lawlessness and debauchery, and soon the raving, delirious show more city destroys itself. show less

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Librettist
1,435+ Works 23,746 Members
Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898 in Augsburg, Bavaria, and died on August 14, 1956. He was a German playwright, theatre director and Marxist. The modest house where he was born is today preserved as a Brecht Museum. Brecht formed a writing collective which became prolific and very influential. He wrote many lyrics for musicals and show more collaborated with Kurt Weill to create Die Dregroschenoper -- the biggest hit in 1920s Berlin. Brecht experimented with his own theater and company -- the Berliner Ensemble -- which put on his plays under his direction and which continued after his death with the assistance of his wife. Brecht aspired to create political theater, and it is difficult to evaluate his work in purely aesthetic terms. Brecht died in 1956. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Some Editions

Auden, W. H. (Translator)
Braunmuller, A. R. (Introduction)
Castellani, Emilio (Translator)
Kallman, Chester (Translator)

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny [libretto]
Original title
Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
Alternate titles
Mahagonny
Original publication date
1929
People/Characters
Leokadja Begbick; Fatty; Trinity Moses; Jimmy MacIntyre; Bank Account Billy; Jack O'Brien (show all 9); Alaskawolfjoe; Jenny Smith; Toby Higgins
Important places
Mahagonny (fictional)
Related movies
Great Performances: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (2007 | IMDb)
Original language
German
Disambiguation notice
3518100211 1963 softcover German edition suhrkamp 21

This work is for the libretto only.
Please do not combine it with scores or recordings.

Classifications

Genre
Fiction and Literature
DDC/MDS
832.9Literature & rhetoricGerman & related literaturesGerman drama1900-
LCC
PT2603 .R397 .A9613Language and LiteratureGerman, Dutch and Scandinavian literaturesGerman literatureIndividual authors or works1860/70-1960
BISAC

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Languages
5 — Danish, English, French, German, Italian
Media
Paper
ISBNs
10
ASINs
7