Der Ozeanflug

Ozeanflug, Der, a play (Ein Radiolehrstück für Knaben und Mädchen, see LehrstÜck) in 17 short sections of irregular unrhymed verse for speech and chorus by B. Brecht, first published in the magazine Uhu in 1929 under the title Der Lindberghflug, which Brecht abandoned on the occasion of the play's production by the Süddeutscher Rundfunk in 1949 in order to express his disapprobation of Lindbergh's attitude to the National Socialist regime. Brecht saw the Lehrstück as an experiment using ‘Dichtung für Übungsstücke’ (Versuche, vol. 1). The musical accompaniment was composed by K. Weill and Hindemith. The theme is the first flight across the Atlantic by Captain Charles Lindbergh (then aged 25) on 20-1 May 1927. Lindbergh is the only character; Brecht uses him and his machine to praise a new technical age which conquers the elements (‘das Primitive’), erasing the belief in God.