Brecht, Bertolt

(b Augsburg, 10 Feb 1898; d Berlin, 14 Aug 1956). German playwright. His career divides into three periods. The first is the pre-Marxist period, whose two landmarks were the premières of his play Trommeln in die Nacht (1922), which made his name generally known in literary circles, and of his and Weill’s Die Dreigroschenoper (1928), which was and remains an outstanding popular success. The second period began in 1930 with his wholehearted commitment to Marxism. It included 16 years of exile and relative obscurity, and saw the creation of most of his finest plays. The third period began with...

(b Augsburg, 10 Feb 1898; d Berlin, 14 Aug 1956). German playwright. His career divides into three periods. The first is the pre-Marxist period, whose two landmarks were the premières of his play Trommeln in die Nacht (1922), which made his name generally known in literary circles, and of his and Weill’s Die Dreigroschenoper (1928), which was and remains an outstanding popular success. The second period began in 1930 with his wholehearted commitment to Marxism. It included 16 years of exile and relative obscurity, and saw the creation of most of his finest plays. The third period began with his return to East Berlin in 1949 and culminated in the triumphs of 1954 and 1955, when his company, the Berliner Ensemble, was acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest, and he was recognized internationally as a major figure in 20th-century theatre. Since then his international reputation, like his influence, has far outstripped that of any other playwright of his generation.