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Hanns Eisler (1898–1962) The Mother

3rd Version – Stage Music [vce(ch),ens] Berlin 1950/51 Duration: 30' Text: Bertolt Brecht

solo: vce (choir) – fl.clar – hn.trp – perc – banjo – pno – db


Hanns Eisler edited The Mother two more times. Here you will find the first and second version.

For concert use only - The rights for staged performances can be obtained from Suhrkamp, Frankfurt

hire material | on request

The world premiere took place at the „Komödienhaus am Schiffbauerdamm“ in Berlin on 17 January 1932. Though the premiere was greeted with acclaim, the critics obviously all reviewed it according to their different positions. There were about 30 more performances, which were always sold out. Next to Wangenheim’s “The Mousetrap”, “The Mother” was the most successful example of proletarian German theatre before 1933.

The fact that Eisler later repeatedly revised and expanded the music shows that he thought very highly of it. He revised it for a performance in New York in 1935 (for which he wrote the two pieces “Der zerrissene Rock / Der Torn Jacket” and “Lob der Dialektik / Praise of Dialectics”); he produced a “Cantata Version” for soloists, chorus and two pianos for Vienna in 1949; and he reworked it for Brecht’s new production with the Berliner Ensemble in 1951.

(Jürgen Schebera)

Audio samples of the Mother are to be found in the 2nd version.

Overture
1. Wie die Krähe
2. Das Lied von der Suppe
3. Der zerrisene Rock
4. Bericht vom 1. Mai 1905
5. Lob des Kommunismus „Er ist vernünftig“
6. Lob des Lernens „Lerne das Einfachste“
7. Lob eines Revolutionärs „Viele sind zuviel“
8. Im Gefängnis zu singen „Sie haben Gesetzbücher“
9. Lob der Wlassowas „Das ist unsre Genossin“
10. Lob der dritten Sache „Immerfort hört man“
11. Grabrede „Aber als er zur Wand ging“
12. Die Partei ist in Gefahr „Steh auf“
13. Lob der Dialektik