Weill K
COMMON NAME: Weill, Kurt
ACHIEVEMENT(S): A key figure in the development of modern forms of musical theater and recognized as one of the most important post-WW1 composers.
ALIAS: none
DATE OF BIRTH: 2 March 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH: Dessau, Germany
DATE OF DEATH: 3 April 1950
PLACE OF DEATH: New York, NY
DISCIPLINE: Composer
FIELD: Musical theater
LANGUAGE/S: German, English
EDUCATION: Berlin Hochschule für Musik
MAJOR-WORK/S: “The Threepenny Opera” (“Die Dreigroschenoper”)
PARENTS: Father: Albert Weill
SPOUSE: Lotte Lenya
SIBLINGS: Three, Weill was the third child.
CHILDREN: none
LIFE AND TIMES/DETAILS: Weill’s father was not only the chief cantor for a synagogue but he also composed music. When Weill showed an interest in composition, his father arranged for him to study with Albert Bing, the assistant conductor of Hoftheatre, a well known opera
stage.
After studying in Berlin for a year in 1918, Weill returned to Dessau to work for Bing. Soon, he took a job conducting a tiny municipal opera. In 1921, Weill seized the opportunity to study privately with <studied under> Busoni* in Berlin. His first success as a composer of ballet and concert works in the 1922-23 season was during his three years of
study with Busoni.
In 1926, Weill married singer Lotte Lenya. Also in 1926, Weill began a successful collaboration with George Kaiser that resulted in the opera “Der Protagonist”. The success of this opera led to an invitation to write a short opera for <invited to write for> Hindemith’s* chamber music festival in Baden-Baden. The resulting piece was a setting of Brecht’s verse collection “Die Hauspostille” to music – the songspiel “Mahagonny”. Weill enjoyed working with Kaiser more than with Brecht, with whom he had a stormy relationship. However, the collaboration between <collaboration with> Brecht* and Kurt Weill has been called the “most fruitful in 20th century music.”
His second opera with Brecht became his most famous work, “The Threepenny Opera” (1928). The work was a modernization of “The Beggar’s Opera” (1728) written by <adapted work by> John Gay*. The most popular song from this opera, “Mack the Knife”, is based on the lead
character’s charm and vitality. Other pieces written with Brecht include: “Das Berliner Requiem” (1928), “Der Lindberghflug” (1929), “Happy End” (1929), and “Der Jasager” (1930).
At this point, Weill was “the most successful theater composer to have emerged in the Weimar Republic” (Grove, 222). But the political changes in Germany in 1930 began troubles that would eventually force Weill out of his country. With the rise of Hitler and the end of the Weimar
Republic came inevitable difficulties for this Jewish composer with leftist political associations. A campaign to ban his works from state-subsidized theaters made Weill realize that he should attempt to show his work outside of Germany.
After another successful Kaiser collaboration in February of 1933, Weill was forced to flee to Paris. The situation in Germany had become violent. Censorship and the emergency situations caused by the Reichstag fire imposed on Weill the decision to leave.
His stay in Paris was short lived. A pro-Nazi demonstration at a performance of his music caused Weill to withdraw from Paris to the countryside. In 1935 he left France for New York to work on a production of “The Eternal Road”. At this time, he emigrated to NewYork with his wife. While in New York he became part of an influential left-wing drama company called “Group Theatre”. He also renewed his relationship with Brecht which had dissolved years earlier.
His first American stage work was an anti-war piece called “Johnny Johnson” written with playwright Paul Green. The popular piece, “September Song”, from the political satire “Knickerbocker Holiday” brought Weill the recognition he needed from American audiences.
In the 1940’s, Weill had two big successes on Broadway: Lady in the Dark (1940), a collaboration with <collaborated with> Ira Gershwin*, and One Touch of Venus (1943), based on a book by <collaborated with> Perelman* and with lyrics by <collaborated with> Nash*. He continued to write popular musicals after the war. “Lost in the Stars” (1949) was a successful adaption of Alan Paton’s “Cry, the Beloved Country”.
ASSESSMENT: Weill is remembered and imitated because of his ability to cross over stylistic boundaries. He began a movement that encouraged crossover of art and commercial music that is still popular today. The way that Weill structured his musical theater pieces was complex and innovative. Many consider Weill the most influential German composer of his generation.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: He studied under <studied under> Humperdink*
ONELINER: Kurt Weill, modern German theater composer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Grout, D.J. and Palisea, C.V. (Eds.). (1988). A History of Western Music (4th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton.
Larkin, C. (Ed.). (1998). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (3rd ed.) Vol. 7 (pp. 5754-55). New York: Muze.
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John (Eds.). (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.) Vol. 27 (pp. 220-232). London: MacMillan.