Login      
Elisabeth Hauptmann
Librettist

Biography
Elisabeth Hauptmann was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht.

She got to know Brecht in 1922, the same year she came to Berlin. She worked as a secretary for the German-American poet and writer, Herman George Scheffauer. She began collaborating with Brecht in 1924, and is listed as co-author of The Threepenny Opera (1928).

She purportedly wrote the majority of the text as well as providing a German translation of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, on which the musical play is based, as working material for Brecht and Kurt Weill, the composer. She reportedly wrote at least half of the Mahagonny-Songspiel, but was not credited. She was the main text author of the musical comedy Happy End (1929).

Because of the rise of Nazism, Hauptmann went into exile in the United States from 1934–49, marrying German composer and conductor Paul Dessau in 1943. After Brecht's death in 1956, she published works of his at Suhrkamp Verlag, a German publishing house, and worked as a dramaturg for the Berlin Ensemble.

In 1977, a collection of her works was published under the name Julia ohne Romeo (Julia without Romeo). In 1961, she received the Lessing Award, which the Ministry for Culture (East Germany) awarded every year. She made a German version of He hanshan (The Confronted undershirt), a Yuan Dynasty-era Chinese play.

Productions
Click company name to view productions details.
COMPANYTITLEDATES
Curtis Institute of MusicHappy End4/1/1992 - 5/1/1992


Artist Information

All information is derived from OPERA America's Season Schedule of Performances and titles databases which date back to 1991. OPERA America is constantly updating this data. If you feel that a work or an artist has been omitted or that information is incorrect, please use the linked forms below.
Title Information Form
Artist Information Form

Works by Artist
Happy End

 
STORED ADMIN COOKIE *
actor id: 0
name:
company:
email
ind id: 0
memb level: 0
expiration date: 12:00:00 AM
current url: /Applications/NAWD/people.aspx
Login As
* Visible only to OPERA America Administrators for testing purposes. Shows security cookie contents.
 
 
————
National Opera Center
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001
212.796.8620   •   Info@operamerica.com
CONNECT WITH US
                 

PARTNERS
 
Terms of Service   •   Privacy Policy   •   Copyright Policy   © Copyright 1995–2024 OPERA America Inc.