Life of Galileo

Life of Galileo (Leben des Galilei)

    Alternative Title: Galileo

    Author: Bertolt Brecht (with Margarete Steffin)

    First Performance: 1943, Zurich

    Published: 1955; rev. 1957

    First English Translation: 1953

    Genre: Hist. drama in 15 scenes; German prose with 1 song

    Setting: Padua, Venice, Florence, Rome, 1609–37

    Cast: 42m, 10f, extras

Galileo scrapes a living, teaching students in Padua. When he learns of a new Dutch invention, the telescope, he sells the idea to the Venetian senate and then uses the new instrument to prove the Copernican system: that the earth revolves around the sun. Although warned of the dangers of disseminating his views, Galileo places his faith in human reason. He even leaves the liberal regime of Venice to earn a higher salary at...

[The entire page is 518 words long]

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