“Yes, to nothingness!”The Condemnation of Lucullus—An opera of peace by Bertolt Brecht and Paul Dessau

In his fight against Nazism, Brecht often used subjects of Roman antiquity. In 1939, he wrote the novelThe Affairs of Julius Caesar, the short story “The Trophies of Lucullus”, and the musical radio play “The Trial of Lucullus”. The last he finished very quickly to counteract the military success of Hitler’s Germany. But surprisingly the radio play could not be broadcast: before the Swede Hildung Rosenberg could even start composing the music, Stockholm Radio cancelled the contract. It would take another 12 years until, with the score of Paul Dessau, the play could be staged at theStaatsoper in Berlin. But even then, in 1951, the author and his composer had to fight for the opera. The cultural functionaries of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) accused Brecht’s text and Dessau’s music of being “formalistic”, the most devastating criticism under Stalinist cultural policy.