Mackie Messer - the real Mack the Knife
The Threepenny Opera (pronounced Threppny for the non-English), called Die Dreigroschenoper in German, is a 1928 “play with music” by Bertolt Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmannand with music composed by Kurt Weill. It is an adaptation of John Gay’s 1728 ballad opera The Beggar’s Opera. It premiered on 31 August 1928 at Berlin’s Theater am Schiffbauerdamm and became one of the defining theatrical successes of the Weimar Republic.
The idea originated with Elisabeth Hauptmann who was Brecht’s longtime collaborator, assistant, and lover. In 1927 she learned of the hugely successful London revival of Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera. She obtained a modern edition and began translating it into German in the winter of 1927 - 28. Gay’s work, satirical “anti-opera” featuring underworld rogues, political and social satire, and popular ballads rather than grand Italian-style arias, aligned well with Brecht’s developing Marxist outlook and interest in non-Aristotelian, “epic” theatre techniques that aimed to provoke critical thought rather than emotional identification.
Brecht brought in Weill for a completely new score. The final title Die Dreigroschenoper was chosen shortly before the premiere.
The text diverged significantly from Gay’s original. The setting shifted to London around the time of Queen Victoria’s 1838 coronation. Brecht interpolated ballads by the 15th century French poet François Villon and Rudyard Kipling. Weill retained only one original melody (Peachum’s “Morgenchoral”) and composed the rest in a distinctive, accessible style drawing on cabaret, jazz, and popular idioms, written for actors who could sing rather than trained opera singers.
The original program credited Hauptmann with the translation, Brecht with the adaptation, and Weill with the music.
The plot, which I won’t describe in detail to avoid spoilers centres round the criminal underworld and police corruption, but more widely attacks bourgeois and capitalist values. The lead character Macheath is nicknamed Mackie Messer (usually translated as Mack the Knife). The famous “Moritat von Mackie Messer” (“Ballad of Mack the Knife”) was added just days before the premiere at the insistence of Harald Paulsen (the original Macheath), who wanted an introductory number for his character. Mackie isn’t a rough uncouth thief, he is a suave Victorian gentleman, he wears a well cut suit and a bowler hat, he has a clipped moustache and he carries a gold tipped ivory cane. He moves in the best society like a Moriarty figure at the centre of a web of intrigue and criminality.
The Ballad at the start of the piece is sung by a street singer accompanied on a barrel organ. It is a ‘Moritat’ a ballad describing the misdeeds of a criminal about to be hanged. If you’ve only heard the Bobby Darin version or the Frank Sinatra version prepare to be surprised. The original is much more gruesome. Here are the original lyrics with my translation:
Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
Und die trägt er im Gesicht
Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.
And the shark fish, who has white teeth
And he shows them open free
And Macheath, who has a flick knife
Yet the knife, no one can see
Und, es sind des Haifischs Flossen
Rot, wenn dieser Blut vergießt.
Mackie Messer trägt ,nen Handschuh
Drauf man keine Untat liest.
And there are fins there, that the shark has
Red, if all this blood can flow
Mackie Messer wears his kid gloves
So the deed no one can know
An der Themse grünem Wasser
Fallen plötzlich Leute um
Es ist weder Pest noch Cholera
Doch es heißt: Mackie geht um.
In the Thames where flows green water
Falling swiftly people drown
It is neither plague nor cholera
Yet we call it: Mackie in town
An'nem schönen blauen Sonntag
Liegt ein toter Mann am Strand
Und ein Mensch geht um die Ecke
Den man Mackie Messer nennt.
On a lovely, bright blue Sunday
Lies a man dead on the ground
And a man comes round the corner
Where Mackie Messer can be found
Und Schmul Meier bleibt verschwunden
Und so mancher reiche Mann
Und sein Geld hat Mackie Messer
Dem man nichts beweisen kann.
And Schmul Meier he is missing
And so many rich have gone
And his money is with Mackie
And proof, of course there’s none
Jenny Towler ward gefunden
Mit, nem Messer in der Brust
Und am Kai geht Mackie Messer
Der von allem nichts gewußt.
Jenny Towler, she was found there
With a knife wound in her breast
On the quay walks Mackie Messer
Knowing nothing, as you’ve guessed
Wo ist Alfons Glite, der Fuhrherr?
Kommt das je ans Sonnenlicht?
Wer es immer wissen könnte
Mackie Messer weiß es nicht
Where is Alfons Glite the carter
When the sunlight starts to glow
Who could always know the answer
Mackie Messer doesn’t know
Und das große Feuer in Soho
Sieben Kinder und ein Greis
In der Menge Mackie Messer, den
Man nichts fragt und der nichts weiß.
And the fire that raged in Soho
Seven children so it goes
In the crowd is Mackie Messer
No one asks and no one knows
Und die minderjährige Witwe
Deren Namen jeder weiß
Wachte auf und war geschändet
Mackie, welches war dein Preis?
And the little teenage widow
Whose name was spoken twice
She was raped after awaking
Oh Mackie, what was your price.
We don’t get Frank singing about the murder of children or raping underage girls.
Modern productions often update the setting to modern times, but the 1931 film gives it Brecht’s original setting to give you no idea what was originally intended. Unfortunately the film mangled the plot so badly that Brecht and Weil actually sued the film company. However it is a good film and worth watching. Here is a snatch of the Moritat as it was originally intended. Macheath is the man who appears at 23 seconds.
A film of The Threepenny opera can be seen here:
[media=https://youtu.be/zDRtK_3JrMY?is=WzJYTJy83S2WyQLb]
And the 1931 film is here:
[media=https://youtu.be/xX883eqLBKE?is=8nACYnMht6MwIh6H]
The idea originated with Elisabeth Hauptmann who was Brecht’s longtime collaborator, assistant, and lover. In 1927 she learned of the hugely successful London revival of Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera. She obtained a modern edition and began translating it into German in the winter of 1927 - 28. Gay’s work, satirical “anti-opera” featuring underworld rogues, political and social satire, and popular ballads rather than grand Italian-style arias, aligned well with Brecht’s developing Marxist outlook and interest in non-Aristotelian, “epic” theatre techniques that aimed to provoke critical thought rather than emotional identification.
Brecht brought in Weill for a completely new score. The final title Die Dreigroschenoper was chosen shortly before the premiere.
The text diverged significantly from Gay’s original. The setting shifted to London around the time of Queen Victoria’s 1838 coronation. Brecht interpolated ballads by the 15th century French poet François Villon and Rudyard Kipling. Weill retained only one original melody (Peachum’s “Morgenchoral”) and composed the rest in a distinctive, accessible style drawing on cabaret, jazz, and popular idioms, written for actors who could sing rather than trained opera singers.
The original program credited Hauptmann with the translation, Brecht with the adaptation, and Weill with the music.
The plot, which I won’t describe in detail to avoid spoilers centres round the criminal underworld and police corruption, but more widely attacks bourgeois and capitalist values. The lead character Macheath is nicknamed Mackie Messer (usually translated as Mack the Knife). The famous “Moritat von Mackie Messer” (“Ballad of Mack the Knife”) was added just days before the premiere at the insistence of Harald Paulsen (the original Macheath), who wanted an introductory number for his character. Mackie isn’t a rough uncouth thief, he is a suave Victorian gentleman, he wears a well cut suit and a bowler hat, he has a clipped moustache and he carries a gold tipped ivory cane. He moves in the best society like a Moriarty figure at the centre of a web of intrigue and criminality.
The Ballad at the start of the piece is sung by a street singer accompanied on a barrel organ. It is a ‘Moritat’ a ballad describing the misdeeds of a criminal about to be hanged. If you’ve only heard the Bobby Darin version or the Frank Sinatra version prepare to be surprised. The original is much more gruesome. Here are the original lyrics with my translation:
Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne
Und die trägt er im Gesicht
Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer
Doch das Messer sieht man nicht.
And the shark fish, who has white teeth
And he shows them open free
And Macheath, who has a flick knife
Yet the knife, no one can see
Und, es sind des Haifischs Flossen
Rot, wenn dieser Blut vergießt.
Mackie Messer trägt ,nen Handschuh
Drauf man keine Untat liest.
And there are fins there, that the shark has
Red, if all this blood can flow
Mackie Messer wears his kid gloves
So the deed no one can know
An der Themse grünem Wasser
Fallen plötzlich Leute um
Es ist weder Pest noch Cholera
Doch es heißt: Mackie geht um.
In the Thames where flows green water
Falling swiftly people drown
It is neither plague nor cholera
Yet we call it: Mackie in town
An'nem schönen blauen Sonntag
Liegt ein toter Mann am Strand
Und ein Mensch geht um die Ecke
Den man Mackie Messer nennt.
On a lovely, bright blue Sunday
Lies a man dead on the ground
And a man comes round the corner
Where Mackie Messer can be found
Und Schmul Meier bleibt verschwunden
Und so mancher reiche Mann
Und sein Geld hat Mackie Messer
Dem man nichts beweisen kann.
And Schmul Meier he is missing
And so many rich have gone
And his money is with Mackie
And proof, of course there’s none
Jenny Towler ward gefunden
Mit, nem Messer in der Brust
Und am Kai geht Mackie Messer
Der von allem nichts gewußt.
Jenny Towler, she was found there
With a knife wound in her breast
On the quay walks Mackie Messer
Knowing nothing, as you’ve guessed
Wo ist Alfons Glite, der Fuhrherr?
Kommt das je ans Sonnenlicht?
Wer es immer wissen könnte
Mackie Messer weiß es nicht
Where is Alfons Glite the carter
When the sunlight starts to glow
Who could always know the answer
Mackie Messer doesn’t know
Und das große Feuer in Soho
Sieben Kinder und ein Greis
In der Menge Mackie Messer, den
Man nichts fragt und der nichts weiß.
And the fire that raged in Soho
Seven children so it goes
In the crowd is Mackie Messer
No one asks and no one knows
Und die minderjährige Witwe
Deren Namen jeder weiß
Wachte auf und war geschändet
Mackie, welches war dein Preis?
And the little teenage widow
Whose name was spoken twice
She was raped after awaking
Oh Mackie, what was your price.
We don’t get Frank singing about the murder of children or raping underage girls.
Modern productions often update the setting to modern times, but the 1931 film gives it Brecht’s original setting to give you no idea what was originally intended. Unfortunately the film mangled the plot so badly that Brecht and Weil actually sued the film company. However it is a good film and worth watching. Here is a snatch of the Moritat as it was originally intended. Macheath is the man who appears at 23 seconds.
[image/video - please log in to see this content]
A film of The Threepenny opera can be seen here:
[media=https://youtu.be/zDRtK_3JrMY?is=WzJYTJy83S2WyQLb]
And the 1931 film is here:
[media=https://youtu.be/xX883eqLBKE?is=8nACYnMht6MwIh6H]
