Welches war dein Preis? (Bertolt Brecht) | WordReference Forums

Welches war dein Preis? (Bertolt Brecht)

F

fdb

Senior Member
Cambridge, UK
French (France)
The final stanza of Brecht’s “Moritat von Mackie Messer” in the Dreigroschenoper reads:

Und die minderjährige Witwe,
Deren Namen jeder weiss,
Wachte auf und war geschändet.
Mackie, welches war dein Preis?

Literally: And the underaged widow/ whose name everyone knows/ woke up and was violated./ Mackie, what was your price?

I understand the words, but I do not understand what he is saying. Did someone pay Mackie to violate the widow? Or did she pay him? Or something different?
 
    • I'm not much of an opera fan, so I had to read up on it and I found this interpretation that makes sense (chapter 3.4 and 3.5).
    Description of the visuals while the song is being performed:
    Er [Mackie Messer] erscheint fast unbemerkt während der Moritat in einer Gruppe von Huren und genießt deren Begleitung. Gegen Ende tritt die besungene Figur leibhaftig aus der Menge der Huren heraus und verschwindet während der Frage nach dem Preise der Schändung (Die Moritat in Punkt 3.3: Zeile 35f.) wieder in der Menge.
    Click to expand...
    It's the Moritat-singer that asks (as a figure of speech): Mackie, welches war dein Preis?

    I doubt that he really paid anything considering that "Wachte auf und war geschändet" clearly points to rape. Just like the other stanzas, it describes yet another crime that Mackie gets away with unscathed. Everybody knows that he committed all those crimes, but there's no proof, hence no harm or punishment for Mackie.

    JClaudeK said:
    * the reward for all his crimes (the murder of the widow being just one of it them).
    Click to expand...
    :thank you: Interesting thought! And yes, that's quite possible, even probable.
     
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    JClaudeK said:
    IMO, it should read "Mackie, what was your prize/ reward*?"

    * the reward for all his crimes (the murder of the widow being just one of it them).

    <Deleted long quote; see rule 4>
    Click to expand...
    Blitzstein's translation is price. There was probably nobody except Brecht himself who knew the libretto text better.

    On the other hand, Blitzstein's translation is at times quite free but at this point it is literal.
     
    I understand: the singer of the "Moritat" is asking:
    What does it cost humanity or society, that you, Mackie, are alive as the cruel criminal that you are.
    All those victims of Mackie's crimes, they had to pay the price for him being a reckless criminal.
     
    nescit said:
    I understand: the singer of the "Moritat" is asking:
    What does it cost humanity or society, that you, Mackie, are alive as the cruel criminal that you are.
    All those victims of Mackie's crimes, they had to pay the price for him being a reckless criminal.
    Click to expand...
    This makes the most sense for me.
     
    nescit said:
    I understand: the singer of the "Moritat" is asking:
    What does it cost humanity or society, that you, Mackie, are alive as the cruel criminal that you are.
    Click to expand...
    But the question is "Was war dein Preis?"

    If "Preis" = prize, reward, this means "Was haben all diese Verbrechen dir (= Macki) gebracht? (außer viel Geld) / Wozu das alles?/ Kannst du stolz sein auf deine Taten?"
     
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    JClaudeK said:
    But the question is "Was war dein Preis?"

    If "Preis" = prize, reward, this means "Was haben all diese Verbrechen dir (= Macki) gebracht? (außer viel Geld) / Wozu das alles?/ Kannst du stolz sein auf deine Taten?"
    Click to expand...
    Well, yes all those deeds were done in the past. Let it it be: what did it cost ...,
    I understand Preis, Kosten, nicht prize, reward.
     
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