About the work
Opera by Paul Dessau to a libretto by Bertolt Brecht, based on his radio play 'The Trial of Lucullus' (1939/40). Dessau composed the score in 1949/50 in close collaboration with Brecht; a closed preview took place on 17 March 1951 at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, and after revisions the public premiere under the present title followed on 12 October 1951.
Plot
After his death, the Roman general Lucullus is put on trial in the underworld. Victims of his wars of conquest – a defeated king, a slave, a fisherman's wife – appear as witnesses and describe what his campaigns cost them. In the end, the judges of the underworld pass sentence on him.
Cultural significance
The premiere triggered one of early East Germany's fiercest cultural controversies: the SED Central Committee condemned Dessau's score as 'formalism', prompting Brecht and Dessau to revise the work. After its reinstatement, 'Die Verurteilung des Lukullus' became Dessau's most frequently performed opera.