About the work
Schwergewicht oder Die Ehre der Nation is a burlesque operetta in one act by Ernst Krenek, to his own libretto, composed in 1926/27 as the third piece of his opera triptych. Its premiere was conducted by Joseph Rosenstock on 6 May 1928 at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden alongside "Der Diktator" and "Das geheime Königreich"; it was prompted by a German diplomat's remark in the United States that top athletes did more for the nation's standing than artists.
Plot
In the training room of boxing champion Adam Ochsenschwanz, he catches his wife Evelyne with the dance teacher Gaston; in the ensuing confusion a medical student, also hiding in the room, is injured. A professor wants to award Ochsenschwanz an honorary doctorate for his sporting achievements, while a training dummy keeps driving the boxer relentlessly onward; in the end Gaston and Evelyne use the general chaos to make their escape.
Cultural significance
With the name of its title character Ochsenschwanz, Krenek recognisably alludes to the contemporary world boxing champion Max Schmeling. Catchy dance rhythms drawn from blues, tango and foxtrot make the shortest of the three Wiesbaden one-actors the most entertaining counterpoint to the earnest "Der Diktator" to this day, while its mockery of the cult of sport and sensationalist journalism still feels current.