Brecht, Music and Culture

Notes to the German edition by Hans BungeTranslator's noteConversation 1 14 Ways of Describing Rain - Meetings between Brecht and Arnold Schoenberg, Charlie Chaplin and Thomas Mann - Brecht and MusicConversation 2 Galileo - Hollywood Elegies - Brecht and Feuchtwanger - Brecht and Music for the Theatre - Schweyk in the Second World WarConversation 3 Brecht on Arnold Schoenberg - Gestic Music - The Caucasian Chalk Circle - Döblin's 65th Birthday PartyConversation 4 Music for The Private Life of the Master Race - Prologue to Galileo - Eisler and the House Committee on Un-American Activities - The Mother in New York - Brecht and Stefan Zweig - BajazzoConversation 5 Brecht's Hexameters for the Communist Manifesto - Was Brecht a Marxist? - Brecht's Method of VerfremdungConversation 6 'To Those Born Later' - Boogie-Woogie - Eisler on Religion - GalileoConversation 7 'Hotel Room 1942' - HölderlinConversation 8 On Stupidity in Music I - HölderlinConversation 9 Hans Mayer's book on Brecht - Brecht and Georg LukácsConversation 10 The Music to Schweyk in the Second World War - On Stupidity in Music IIConversation 11 Hölderlin Poems - On Stupidity in Music IIIConversation 12 Eisler on Classical Literature, on the Function of Art, on Cybernetics and on NapoleonConversation 13 Serious Songs - Eisler's Plans for a SymphonyConversation 14 Eisler and Bunge Compare Their Experiences as SoldiersAfterword: For the First Edition of the 'Conversations' by Stephan HermlinNotesAppendixIndex

Hanns Eisler was an Austrian composer. A Schoenberg pupil and committed Marxist, he was one of the great distinctive musical personalities of the twentieth century. Hans Bunge was assistant director and dramaturg at the Berliner Ensemble in Germany in the 1950s and later became first director of the Brecht Archive. He published his conversations with Eisler in Germany under the title Gespr che mit Hans Bunge - Fragen Sie mehr ber Brecht. Sabine Berendse, the daughter of the late Hans Bunge, is a Librarian and Information Specialist in Cardiff, Wales, and a freelance translator. Paul Clements was Principal of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, UK, for twelve years until his retirement in July 2008. He has taught, acted and directed in the UK, Canada and Scandinavia.