Der Jasager und Der Neinsager

Jasager und Der Neinsager, Der, two short plays (see Lehrstück) by B. Brecht, written in 1929 (Der Jasager, first version) and 1930 in the form of plays with music (Schulopern). They are adaptations of Taniko, from The Nō Plays of Japan (1921), translations by Arthur Waley. The music is by Kurt Weill, and both plays, consisting of mixed prose and free verse, are intended to be sung together with orchestra and six soloists: the teacher (Der Lehrer), the boy (Der Knabe), his mother (Die Mutter), and three students (Die 3 Studenten). The commentary is provided by a chorus (Der große Chor).

The two plays, consisting of ten scenes, have identical parts with contrasting conclusions. In Der Jasager the boy crosses the mountains with the other characters in order to fetch medicine for his sick mother from the city. He does not accomplish the feat and falls ill on the way. As it is impossible for the students to carry him along the perilous path to the town, he is, according to custom, to be thrown to his death in the valley to save him a slow and lonely death in the mountains. Custom also prescribes that he should first be asked, and that he should say yes. The boy conforms to the custom.

In Der Neinsager the boy refuses to conform to the custom on the grounds that new situations require new actions (‘customs’). The students agree to carry him back to his mother, and in this they succeed. It is no disgrace to defy traditional laws if it is reasonable to do so in a given situation as Brecht then perceived it.