Babylon-Berlin, a highly recommended TV-series, shown in many different countries.
Episode 4 of season
2 : a
rainy afternoon in a grey Berlin. Because
Berlin, always busy,
always hectic,
has also its moments of melancholy.
The
wife of Bruno Wolter, Chief Inspector of the Berlin Police, is smoking at her window, gazing
absentmindedly at the street. The gramophone plays a song, sung by a
woman’s voice.
Its
name is « Jede
Frau Hat Irgendeine Sehnsucht »
(In
every woman there is a yearning ) and the singer is Fritzi
Massary, accompanied by an
orchestra directed by Hans
Schindler. The song is from
the operette Eine Frau,
die weiß, was sie will (A
woman who knows what she wants)
with text by Alfred
Grünwald and music by the well known Oscar Straus. The operette was
based on a comedy written by Louis Verneuil in 1923 :
Le Fauteuil 47 and
it had its premiere
in
September 1932 at
Berlin’s Metropol-Theater.
Alfred
Grünwald, an Austrian playwright and journalist had written the text
of the successful operett Countess
Maritza, with
music by Emmerich Kálmán.
Being a Jew, he emigrated to
the US when the nazis came to power in Austria. As did Oscar Straus,
an Austrian too. Straus had deliberately omitted the last « s »
in his name, not to be mixed up with all other musical Strauss. He is
the author of Cleopatra’s
pearl, an operett which
had recently a re-premiere in Berlin. He
also wrote the musical theme of La
Ronde, a film by Max
Ophüls based on Arthur Schnitzler’s play.
As
for Fritzi Massary, she was born in the Austro-Hungarian empire too,
and, being of Jewish extraction, she had to leave her country too,
already in 1932.
The
lyrics :
Jede Frau hat irgendeine Sehnsucht
Und einen Wunsch im Herzen ganz geheim
Jede sucht das Glück in ihren Träumen
Und auf das Wörtchen Liebe einen Reim
Jede Frau träumt einmal von der Sünde
Von der schönsten Nacht, die kommen muss
Jede Frau hat irgendeine Sehnsucht
Nach einem süßen und verbot'nen Kuss
Wer weiß, was eine Frau sich denkt
Wenn sie den Blick auch züchtig senkt
Wenn auch so wunderbar von fern sie dir erscheint
Und ist sie noch so tugendrein
Und sagt sie immer wieder: "Nein!"
Wer weiß ob sie's vielleicht nicht doch ganz anders meint
Jede Frau hat irgendeine Sehnsucht
Und einen Wunsch im Herzen ganz geheim
Jede sucht das Glück in ihren Träumen
Und auf das Wörtchen Liebe eine Reim
Jede Frau träumt einmal von der Sünde
Von der schönsten Nacht, die kommen muss
Jede Frau hat irgendeine Sehnsucht
Nach einem süßen und verbot'nen Kuss
Every woman has a yearning
and a secret desire in her heart
Everyone looks for happiness in their dreams
and a rhyme for the word « love ».
Every woman dreams of sin
From the most beautiful night that must come
Every woman has a longing
After a sweet and forbidden kiss.
Who knows what a woman thinks
Even if she looks downwards
Even if she seems to be so wonderful from afar
And is so virtuous
And keeps saying, "No!"
Who knows if she does not feel quite the opposite.
Every woman has a yearning
and a secret desire in her heart
Everyone looks for happiness in their dreams
and a rhyme for the word « love ».
Every woman dreams of sin
From the most beautiful night that must come
Every woman has a longing
After a sweet and forbidden kiss.
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To be picky again: "Und auf das Wörtchen Liebe eine Reim" should be "Und auf das Wörtchen Liebe einen Reim" (der Reim). Now I found out what to do when I cannot add a comment to a post: leave the page, then return, and it works.
ReplyDeleteCorrected. Thanks.
DeleteBruno Wolter seems to be a complex character, in a way. He treats his wife nicely (yet excludes her from his "real life"), he pays for the funerals of Charlotte's mother and he finally give her the curriculum vitae she needs for her application for the training to be an assistant detective. He wouldn't have to do so. He could also easily have killed Moritz when he gets hold of him in the basement where he has discovered the weapons... does he feel some sort of relationship with him, both bein "weapon freaks"? - Of course, his dark side is strong: He lies to Charlotte about having murdered Stephan Jänicke, he is the head of "Operation Prangertag", he tries to kill Gereon... All aftereffects of his time in WWI, his personal experiences and the Treaty of Versailles? Another way of posttraumatic disorder? Is that why he mocks former soldiers suffering from effects of their time in the army like Krajewski or Gereon?
ReplyDeleteWolter's character is of course far from simple. In a novel, simple characters are best avoided, and the same goes for a really good TV-series. In BB, most -if not all- of the main characters are two or three faced. Gereon, though attracting our sympathy, is sometimes brutal as a detective and his relationship with his brother's wife is also a bit ambiguous. As for Lotte, being at the same time an ambitious and determined would-be detective and a whore doesn't seem wholly compatible either. But such were the times I suppose, and people couldn't afford to be coherent always.
ReplyDeleteGereon is a blackbox to me. I see him in danger to become an addict to this "human-machine-idea" Dr. Schmidt is spreading and thus depending more and more on him instead of drugs like in the beginning; did I get that wrong or did Dr. Schmidt forbid him to talk to Helga about having met him (there is a scene where Dr. Schmidt slaps Gereon in the face, remember? This one.)? This makes the relationship between Helga and him so complicated. - As to Charlotte, however, I don't see prostitution as a black spot of her character - she needs the money (that's what she tells Wolter when he gives her the curriculum vitae; she even goes to club Luxor to earn money for Ilse's operation) to support her family, it's a sacrifice in my eyes, not a pleasure. More than all the other characters I see her as a heroine; much tragedy, loss of her mother and three close peers. We see her cry several times, why not Gereon? His feelings seem locked in to me.
ReplyDeleteNo, it is not a black spot on Lotte. In her situation, she does the right thing, and she was not the only one, in those days.
ReplyDelete