Kurt Weill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Weill

Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900[1] – April 3, 1950[1]%29 was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his most well known work The Threepenny Opera, a Marxist critique of capitalism, which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill was a socialist[2] who held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose.[3] He also wrote a number of works for the concert hall, as well as several Judaism-themed pieces. Contents [show] [edit]Personal life

Kurt Julian Weill was born on March 2, 1900,[4] the third of four children to Albert Weill (1867–1950) and Emma Weill née Ackermann (1872–1955). He grew up in a religious Jewish family in the "Sandvorstadt", the Jewish quarter in Dessau, Germany, where his father was a cantor.[1] At the age of twelve, Kurt Weill started taking piano lessons and made his first attempts at writing music; his earliest preserved composition was written in 1913 and is titled Mi Addir. Jewish Wedding Song.[5] In 1915, Weill started taking private lessons with Albert Bing, Kapellmeister at the "Herzogliches Hoftheater zu Dessau", who taught him piano, composition, music theory, and conducting. Weill performed publicly on piano for the first time in 1915, both as an accompanist and soloist. The following years he composed numerous Lieder to the lyrics of poets such as Joseph von Eichendorff, Arno Holz, and Anna Ritter, as well as a cycle of five songs titled Ofrahs Lieder to a German translation of a text by Yehuda Halevi.[6] Weill graduated with an Abitur from the Oberrealschule of Dessau in 1918, and enrolled at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik at the age of 18, where he studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck,[1] conducting with Rudolf Krasselt, and counterpoint with Friedrich E. Koch, and also attended philosophy lectures by Max Dessoir and Ernst Cassirer. The same year, he wrote his first string quartet (in B minor).[7] [edit]Early work and compositions

Weill's family experienced financial hardship in the aftermath of World War I, and in July 1919, Weill abandoned his studies and returned to Dessau, where he was employed as a répétiteur at the Friedrich-Theater under the direction of the new Kapellmeister, Hans Knappertsbusch. During this time, he composed an orchestral suite in E-flat major, a symphonic poem of Rainer Maria Rilke's The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke as well as Schilflieder, a cycle of five songs to poems by Nikolaus Lenau. In December 1919, through the help of Humperdinck, Weill was appointed as Kapellmeister at the newly founded Stadttheater in Lüdenscheid, where he directed opera, operetta, and singspiel for five months, and also composed a cello sonata and Ninon de Lenclos, a now lost one-act operatic adaptation of a play by Ernst Hardt. From May to September 1920, Weill spent a couple of months in Leipzig, where his father had become the new director of a Jewish orphanage. Before he returned to Berlin, in September 1920, he composed Sulamith, a choral fantasy for soprano, female choir, and orchestra. [edit]Studies with Busoni

Back in Berlin, Weill had an interview with Ferruccio Busoni in December 1920. After examining some of Weill's compositions, Busoni accepted him as one of five master students in composition at the Preußische Akademie der Künste in Berlin.[8] From January 1921 to December 1923, Weill studied music composition with him and also counterpoint with Philipp Jarnach in Berlin. During his first year he composed his first symphony, Sinfonie in einem Satz, as well as the lieder Die Bekehrte (Goethe) and two Rilkelieder for voice and piano. In order to support his family in Leipzig, he also worked as a pianist in a Bierkeller tavern. In spring of 1922, Weill joined the November Group's music faction. That year he composed a psalm, a divertimento for orchestra, and Sinfonia Sacra: Fantasia, Passacaglia, and Hymnus for Orchestra. On November 18, 1922, his children's pantomime Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night) premiered at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm; it was the first public performance of any of Weill's works in the field of musical theatre.[9] Out of financial need, Weill taught music theory and composition to private students from 1923 to 1925. Among his students were Claudio Arrau, Maurice Abravanel, Henry (then known as Heinz) Jolles,[10] and Nikos Skalkottas. Arrau, Abravenel, and Jolles, at least, would remain members of Weill's circle of friends thereafter,[11] and Jolles's sole surviving composition predating the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933 is a fragment of a work for four pianos he and Weill wrote jointly.[10] Weill's compositions during his last year of studies included Quodlibet, an orchestral suite version of Die Zaubernacht, Frauentanz, seven medieval poems for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon, and Recordare for choir and children's choir to words from the Book of Lamentations. Further premieres that year included a performance of his Divertimento for Orchestra by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Heinz Unger on April 10, 1923, and the Hindemith-Amar Quartet's rendering of Weill's String Quartet, Op. 8, on June 24, 1923. In December 1923, Weill finished his studies with Busoni.[12] [edit]Success in the 1920s and early-1930s

Weill in the 1920s. In 1922 he joined the ‘Novembergruppe’, a group of leftist Berlin artists that included Hanns Eisler and Stefan Wolpe.[13] In February 1924 the conductor Fritz Busch introduced him to the dramatist Georg Kaiser, with whom Weill would have a long-lasting creative partnership resulting in several one-act operas. At Kaiser's house in Grünheide, Weill also first met the actress and future wife Lotte Lenya in summer 1924.[14] The couple got married twice: In 1926 and again in 1937 (following their divorce in 1933). Lenya took great care to support Weill's work, and after his death she took it upon herself to increase awareness of his music, forming the Kurt Weill Foundation. From November 1924 to May 1929, Weill wrote hundreds of reviews for the influential and comprehensive radio program guide Der deutsche Rundfunk. Hans Siebert von Heister had already worked with Weill in the November Group, and offered Weill the job shortly after becoming editor-in-chief.[15] Although he had some success with his first mature non-stage works (such as the String Quartet, Op. 8 or the Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12), which were influenced by Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, Weill tended more and more to vocal music and musical theatre. His musical theatre work and his songs were extremely popular with the wider public in Germany at the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. Weill's music was admired by composers such as Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Darius Milhaud and Stravinsky, but it was also criticised by others: by Schoenberg, who later revised his opinion, and by Anton Webern. His best-known work is The Threepenny Opera (1928), a reworking of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera written in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Engel directed the original production of The Threepenny Opera in 1928. It contains Weill's most famous song, "Mack the Knife" ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"). The stage success was filmed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst in two language versions: Die 3-Groschen-Oper and L'opéra de quat' sous. Weill and Brecht tried to stop the film adaptation through a well publicised lawsuit that Weill won and Brecht lost. Weill's working association with Brecht, although successful, came to an end over politics in 1930. Although Weill associated with socialism,[16] after Brecht tried to push the play even further into a left wing direction, Weill commented, according to his wife Lenya, that he was unable to "set the communist party manifesto to music."[17] [edit]Paris, London and New York

Weill fled Nazi Germany in March 1933.[18] A prominent and popular Jewish composer, Weill was officially denounced for his socialist views and populist sympathies,[19] and became a target of the Nazi authorities, who criticized and interfered with performances of his later stage works, such as Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, 1930), Die Bürgschaft (1932), and Der Silbersee (1933). With no option but to leave Germany, he went first to Paris, where he worked once more with Brecht (after a project with Jean Cocteau failed) on the ballet The Seven Deadly Sins. On April 13, 1933 his musical The Threepenny Opera was given its premiere on Broadway, but closed after 13 performances to mixed reviews.[4] In 1934 he completed his Symphony No.2, his last purely orchestral work, conducted in Amsterdam and New York by Bruno Walter, and also the music for Jacques Deval's play, Marie Galante.[18] A production of his operetta Der Kuhhandel (A Kingdom for a Cow) took him to London in 1935, and later that year he went to the United States in connection with The Eternal Road,[1] a "Biblical Drama" by Franz Werfel that had been commissioned by members of New York's Jewish community and was premiered in 1937 at the Manhattan Opera House, running for 153 performances. Weill and his wife rented a house during the summer near Pine Brook Country Club in Nichols, Connecticut, the summer home of the Group Theatre, while working on Johnny Johnson (musical). Some of the other artists who summered there were; Elia Kazan, Harry Morgan, John Garfield, Lee J. Cobb, Will Geer, Clifford Odets, Howard Da Silva and Irwin Shaw [20][21][22] He and his wife moved to New York City on September 10, 1935, living first at the St. Moritz Hotel before moving on to an apartment at 231 East 62nd Street between Third and Second Avenues.[4] Weill believed that most of his work had been destroyed.[citation needed] He seldom (and reluctantly) spoke or wrote German again, with rare exception[citation needed] (for example, letters to his parents who had escaped to Palestine[citation needed]). Rather than continue to write in the same style that had characterized his European compositions, Weill made a study of American popular and stage music, and his American output, though held by some to be inferior, nonetheless contains individual songs and entire shows that not only became highly respected and admired, but have been seen as seminal works in the development of the American musical. Unique among Broadway composers of the time, Weill insisted on writing his own orchestrations (with some very few exceptions, such as the dance music in Street Scene).[23] He worked with writers such as Maxwell Anderson and Ira Gershwin, and wrote a film score for Fritz Lang (You and Me, 1938). Weill himself strove to find a new way of creating an American opera that would be both commercially and artistically successful. The most interesting attempt in this direction is Street Scene, based on a play by Elmer Rice, with lyrics by Langston Hughes. For his work on Street Scene Weill was awarded the inaugural Tony Award for Best Original Score.[24] In the 1940s Weill lived in Downstate New York near the New Jersey border and made frequent trips both to New York City and to Hollywood for his work for theatre and film. Weill was active in political movements encouraging American entry into World War II, and after America joined the war in 1941, Weill enthusiastically collaborated in numerous artistic projects supporting the war effort both abroad and on the home front. He and Maxwell Anderson also joined the volunteer civil service by working as air raid wardens on High Tor Mountain between their homes in New City, New York and Haverstraw, New York in Rockland County. Weill became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1943.[1] Weill had ideals of writing music that served a socially useful purpose. In the US, he wrote Down in the Valley, an opera including the song of the same name and other American folk songs. He also wrote a number of songs in support of the American war effort, including the satirical "Schickelgruber" (with lyrics by Howard Dietz), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (with Oscar Hammerstein) and – with Brecht again as in his earlier career – the "Ballad of the Nazi Soldier's Wife" ("Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?"). Intended for broadcast to Germany, the song chronicled the progress of the Nazi war machine through the gifts sent to the proud wife at home by her man at the front: furs from Oslo, a silk dress from Paris etc., until finally, from Russia, she receives her widow's veil.[3] Apart from "Mack the Knife" and "Pirate Jenny" from The Threepenny Opera, his most famous songs include "Alabama Song" (from Mahagonny), "Surabaya Johnny" (from Happy End), "Speak Low" (from One Touch of Venus), "Lost in the Stars" (from the musical of that name), "My Ship" (from Lady in the Dark), and "September Song" (from Knickerbocker Holiday). [edit]Death

Weill suffered a heart attack shortly after his 50th birthday and died on April 3, 1950 in New York City.[18] He was buried in Mount Repose Cemetery in Haverstraw, New York. The text and music on his gravestone[25] come from the song "A Bird of Passage" from Lost in the Stars, itself adapted from a quotation from the Venerable Bede:[26] This is the life of men on earth: Out of darkness we come at birth Into a lamplit room, and then – Go forward into dark again. (lyric: Maxwell Anderson) An excerpt from Maxwell Anderson's eulogy for Weill read: "I wish, of course, that he had been lucky enough to have had a little more time for his work. I could wish the times in which he lived had been less troubled. But these things were as they were – and Kurt managed to make thousands of beautiful things during the short and troubled time he had…"[3] [edit]Influence

German stamp commemorating Weill. Sixty years after his death, Weill's music continues to be performed both in popular and classical contexts. In Weill's lifetime, his work was most associated with the voice of his wife, Lotte Lenya, but shortly after his death "Mack the Knife" was established by Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin as a jazz standard. His music has since been recorded by many performers, ranging from The Doors, Judy Collins, Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren, John Zorn, Dagmar Krause, Tom Waits and PJ Harvey to New York's Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Singers as varied as Teresa Stratas, Ute Lemper, Gisela May, Anne Sofie von Otter, Max Raabe, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Marianne Faithfull have recorded entire albums of his music. Amanda Palmer, singer/pianist of the 'Brechtian Punk Cabaret' duo The Dresden Dolls, has Kurt Weill's name on the front of her keyboard (a pun with the name of the instrument maker Kurzweil) as a tribute to the composer. In 1991, seminal Swiss Industrial music band The Young Gods released their album of Kurt Weill songs, The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill. In 2008, Weill's songs were performed by Canadian musicians (including Sarah Slean and Mary Margaret O'Hara) in a tribute concert as part of the first annual Canwest Cabaret Festival in Toronto. In 2009 Duke Special released an EP, entitled Huckleberry Finn, of five songs from an unfinished musical by Kurt Weill based on the novel by Mark Twain. [edit]Compositions

[edit]Stage works See List of works for the stage by Weill [edit]Concert works [edit]Cantatas 1920 : Sulamith, choral fantasy for soprano, female chorus and orchestra (lost) 1927 : Der neue Orpheus, cantata for soprano, solo violin and orchestra, op.16 (text: Yvan Goll) 1927 : Der Tod im Wald, cantata for bass and band (originally belonged to Das Berliner Requiem) 1928 : Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus (or three male voices) and wind orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht) 1929 : Der Lindberghflug, cantata for tenor, baritone and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht, first version with music by Paul Hindemith and Weill, second version, also 1929, with music exclusively by Weill) 1940 : The Ballad of Magna Carta, cantata for tenor and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: Maxwell Anderson) [edit]Chamber music 1918 : String Quartet in B minor (without opus number) 1923 : String Quartet op. 8 1919–1921 : Sonata for Cello and Piano [edit]Piano music 1917 : Intermezzo 1937 : Albumblatt for Erika (transcription of the pastorale from Der Weg der Verheissung) [edit]Orchestral works 1919 : Suite for orchestra 1919 : Die Weise von Liebe and Tod, symphonic poem for orchestra after Rainer Maria Rilke (lost) 1921 : Symphony No.1 in one movement for orchestra 1922 : Divertimento for orchestra, op.5 (unfinished, reconstructed by David Drew) 1922 : Sinfonia Sacra, Fantasia, Passacaglia and Hymnus for orchestra, op. 6 (unfinished) 1923 : Quodlibet, suite for orchestra from the pantomime Zaubernacht, op. 9 1925 : Concerto for violin and wind orchestra, op. 12 1927 : Bastille Musik, suite for wind orchestra (arranged by David Drew, 1975) from the stage music to Gustav III, by August Strindberg 1929 : Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite from Die Dreigroschenoper for wind orchestra, piano and percussion, (premiere conducted by Otto Klemperer) 1934 : Suite panaméenne for chamber orchestra, (from Marie Galante) 1934 : Symphony No. 2 in three movements for orchestra, (premiere by Royal Concertgebouw orchestra under Bruno Walter) 1947 : Hatikvah, arrangement of the Israeli National Anthem for orchestra [edit]Lieder, Lieder cycles, songs and chansons 1919 : Die stille Stadt, for voice and piano, text: Richard Dehmel 1923 : Frauentanz op.10, Lieder cycle for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon (after medieval poems) 1923 : Stundenbuch, Lieder cycle for baritone and orchestra, text: Rainer Maria Rilke 1925 : Klopslied, for high voice, two piccolos and bassoon ('Ick sitze da un' esse Klops'/Berliner Lied) 1927 : Vom Tod im Wald (Death in the Forest), Op. 23, ballad for bass solo and ten wind instruments, text: Bertolt Brecht 1928 : Berlin im Licht-Song, slow-fox, text: Kurt Weill; composed for the exhibition Berlin im Licht, first performance in Wittenbergplatz (with orchestra) on October 13, and on October 16 in the Kroll Opera (with voice and piano) 1928 : Die Muschel von Margate: Petroleum Song, slow-fox, text: Felix Gasbarra for the play by Leo Lania, Konjunktur 1928 : Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen (In Potsdam under the Oak Trees), song for voice and piano, alternatively male chorus a cappella, text: Bertolt Brecht 1928 : Das Lied von den braunen Inseln, text: Lion Feuchtwanger, from the play by same author, Petroleum Inseln 1933 : Der Abschiedsbrief, text: Erich Kästner, intended for Marlene Dietrich 1933 : La complainte de Fantômas, text: Robert Desnos; for a broadcast of Fantômas in November 1933 (the music was lost, and later reconstructed by Jacques Loussier for Catherine Sauvage) 1933 : Es regnet, text: Jean Cocteau (direct into German) 1934 : Je ne t'aime pas, text: Maurice Magre for the soprano Lys Gauty 1934 : J'attends un navire, text: Jacques Deval, from Marie Galante ; as an independent song for Lys Gauty; used for the Hymne der Resistance during the Second World War 1934 : Youkali (originally the Tango habanera, instrumental movement in Marie Galante), Text: Roger Fernay 1934 : Complainte de la Seine, text: Maurice Magre 1939 : Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, song for voice and piano, text: Robert Frost (unfinished) 1942 : Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, patriotic song arrangements for narrator, male chorus, and orchestra, of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (text: Julia Ward Howe), The Star-Spangled Banner (text: Francis Scott Key), America (text: Samuel Francis Smith) and Beat! Beat! Drums! (text: Walt Whitman) 1942–44 : Propaganda Songs, for voice and piano; written for the Lunch Hours Follies performed for the workers of a shipbuilding workshop in New York, then broadcast: 1942 : Buddy on the Nightshift, text: Oscar Hammerstein 1942 : Schickelgruber, text: Howard Dietz 1942 : Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib? (And what was sent to the soldier's wife?), ballad for voice and piano, text: Bertolt Brecht 1942–47 : Three Walt Whitman Songs, later Four Walt Whitman Songs for voice and piano (or orchestra), text: Walt Whitman 1944 : Wie lange noch?, text: Walter Mehring; premiere: Lotte Lenya [edit]Film music 1938 : You and Me 1945 : Where Do We Go From Here? text: Ira Gershwin [edit]Select discography

[edit]Orchestral, chamber, choral and other works Berliner Requiem / Violin Concerto op.12 / Vom Tod im Walde. Ensemble Musique Oblique/ Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi, 1997) Kleine Dreigroschenmusik / Mahagonny Songspiel / Happy End / Berliner Requiem / Violin Concerto op.12. /Ballade vom Tod im Walde op.23 /Pantomime I (from Der Protagonist op.14) London Sinfonietta, David Atherton, Nona Liddell (violin), Meriel Dickinson (mezzo-soprano), Mary Thomas (mezzo-soprano), Philip Langridge (tenor), Ian Partridge (tenor), Benjamin Luxon (baritone), Michael Rippon (bass), (Deutsche Grammophon 4594422, 1999) Kurt Weill à Paris, Marie Galante and other works. Loes Luca, Ensemble Dreigroschen, directed by Giorgio Bernasconi, assai, 2000 Melodie Kurta Weill'a i coś ponadto Kazik Staszewski (SP Records, 2001) Complete String Quartets. Leipziger Streichquartett (MDG 307 1071-2) Symphonies 1 & 2. BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gary Bertini (EMI, 1968) [edit]Song collections Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs (Sony 1997) Speak Low – Songs by Kurt Weill – Anne Sofie von Otter, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Deutsche Grammophon 1995) Youkali: Art Songs by Satie, Poulenc and Weill. Patricia O'Callaghan (Marquis, 2003) The Unknown Kurt Weill (Nonesuch LP D-79019, 1981) – Teresa Stratas, soprano, Richard Woitach, piano. Track list: "Nanna's Lied" (1939), "Complainte de la Seine" (1934), "Klops-Lied" (1925), "Berlin im Licht-song" (1928), "Und was Bekam des Soldaten Weib?" (1943), "Die Muschel von Margate: Petroleum Song" (1928), "Wie Lange Noch?" (1944), "Youkali: Tango Habanera" (1935?), "Der Abschiedsbrief" (1933?), "Es Regnet" (1933), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (1942), "Schickelgruber" (1942), "Je ne t'aime pas" (1934), "Das Lied von den Braunen Inseln" (1928) [edit]Tributes Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill – Produced by Hal Wilner, with performances by Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Sting, Marianne Faithfull, Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, John Zorn and others. (A&M Records, 1987) September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill – also produced by Wilner, with performances by Elvis Costello, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, William S. Burroughs, and others) (Sony Music, 1997) Gianluigi Trovesi/Gianni Coscia: Round About Weill (ECM, 2005) The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill (Pias, April 1991), Studio recording of the songs performed live in 1989. Ben Bagley's Kurt Weill Revisited and Kurt Weill Revisited, Vol. 2, with performances by Chita Rivera, Ann Miller, Estelle Parsons, John Reardon, Tammy Grimes, Nell Carter, Arthur Siegel, and Jo Sullivan, among others. (Painted Smiles) An Evening of Kurt Weill, starring Bebe Neuwirth, Roger Rees, and Larry Marshall, was performed in NYC at Alice Tully Hall. Rees directed the production. [edit]See also

Paul Hindemith A Kurt Weill Cabaret LoveMusik Bertolt Brecht [edit]Bibliography

David Drew. Kurt Weill: A Handbook (Berkeley, Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1987). ISBN 0-520-05839-9. Kim H. Kowalke. A New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1986). ISBN 0-300-03514-4. Ronald Sanders. The Days Grow Short: The Life and Music of Kurt Weill (New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980). ISBN 0-03-019411-3. Donald Spoto. Lenya A Life (Little, Brown and Company 1989) Lys Symonette & Kim H. Kowalke (ed. & trans.) Speak Low (When You Speak Love): The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya (University of California Press 1996) (German) David Drew (Editor), Über Kurt Weill (Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1975) Excellent collection of texts, including an introduction by David Drew and including texts by Theodor W. Adorno (German) Jürgen Schebera, Kurt Weill (Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2000) [edit]

קורט יוליאן וייל

' (בגרמנית: Kurt Julian Weill; ‏2 במרץ 1900, דסאו, גרמניה – 3 באפריל 1950, ניו יורק) היה מלחין יהודי-גרמני, שיצר משנות ה-20 ועד מותו. הוא היה בין חשובי המלחינים לבימה, ואף חיבר יצירות קונצרטנטיות.

תוכן עניינים 1 קורות חיים 2 מוזיקה 3 יחס לישראל 4 מיצירותיו 4.1 1920 - 1927 4.2 1928 - 1935 4.3 1936 - 1950 5 קישורים חיצוניים 6 הערות שוליים קורות חיים וייל נולד בדסאו, גרמניה, כשלישי בין ארבעת ילדיהם של החזן אלברט וייל (צאצא רחוק למהרי"ו[1]) ואשתו אמה לבית אקרמן. בגיל 12 התחיל וייל ללמוד נגינה בפסנתר וערך ניסיונות ראשונים בהלחנה; חיבורו הראשון ששרד נכתב בשנת 1913 ונקרא "מי אדיר, שיר לחתונה יהודית".

בשנת 1915 החל לקבל שיעורי פסנתר, הלחנה, תאוריית המוזיקה וניצוח אצל אלברט בינג. לראשונה הופיע בפומבי כפסנתרן בשנת 1915, הן כמלווה והן כסולן. בשנים הבאות חיבר מספר רב של לידר למילים של משוררים גרמנים וכן מחזור בן חמישה שירים בשם "שירי עופרה", לטקסט של יהודה הלוי בתרגום לגרמנית.

לאחר סיום לימודיו בדסאו בשנת 1918, נרשם וייל לבית הספר הגבוה למוזיקה בברלין, שם למד הלחנה אצל אנגלברט הומפרדינק. למד מוזיקה אצל פרוצ'ו בוזוני בברלין וכתב את הסימפוניה הראשונה שלו. בטרם מלאו לו 20 חיבר וייל מחזור שירים, רביעיית מיתרים וסוויטה לתזמורת. אף כי זכה בהצלחה מסוימת ביצירות הלא-בימתיות הראשונות שחיבר בבגרותו, שבהן ניכרה השפעתם של גוסטב מאהלר, ארנולד שנברג ואיגור סטרווינסקי (למשל, רביעיית המיתרים אופוס 8 או הקונצרט לכינור ולתזמורת כלי נשיפה, אופוס 12), נטה קורט יותר ויותר למוזיקה ווקאלית ולתיאטרון מוזיקלי (Singspiel). יצירותיו לתיאטרון מוזיקלי ושיריו זכו לפופולריות עצומה בקרב הקהל הרחב בגרמניה בסוף שנות ה-20 וראשית שנות ה-30. המוזיקה של וייל זכתה להתפעלות של מלחינים כמו אלבן ברג, אלכסנדר זמלינסקי, דריוס מיו וסטרווינסקי, אבל גם לביקורת מצד אחרים - שנברג, שחזר בו מדעתו בהמשך, ואנטון וברן.

הצלחתו הייתה לצנינים בעיני השלטונות הנאציים בגלל היותו מלחין יהודי חשוב. חברים במפלגה הנאצית ארגנו מהומות בשעת ביצועי יצירותיו החדשות. למעשה, ביצוע הבכורה של "עלייתה ונפילתה של העיר מהגוני" הופסק בגלל אלימות נאצית.

במרץ 1933, לאחר עליית הנאצים לשלטון, וייל נמלט מגרמניה הנאצית לפריז, שם חידש את עבודתו עם ברטולט ברכט (אחרי כישלון פרויקט עם ז'אן קוקטו על הבלט "שבעת החטאים"). בשנת 1934 השלים את הסימפוניה השנייה שלו, האחרונה ביצירותיו התזמורתיות הצרופות, והיא נוגנה באמסטרדם ובניו יורק בניצוח ברונו ולטר.

בשנת 1935 היגר לארצות הברית, שהייתה בשבילו ארץ החלומות, מחוז הדמוקרטיה והחופש. הוא היה לאזרח ארצות הברית בשנת 1943. עם כניסת האוניה אל נמל ניו יורק, הותיר וייל את חייו בגרמניה מאחוריו. הוא סבר, שעיקר עבודתו הושמדה ורק לעיתים רחוקות ובאי-רצון בולט דיבר או כתב שוב בגרמנית.

וייל פגש את הזמרת לוטה לניה לראשונה בשנת 1924 והתחתן עמה פעמיים: בשנת 1926 ושוב בשנת 1937, לאחר גירושיהם בשנת 1933. לניה הקפידה לתמוך במוזיקה של וייל ואחרי מותו קיבלה על עצמה להגביר את המודעות לה בהקמת מוסד קורט וייל.

מוזיקה יצירתו הנודעת ביותר היא "אופרה בגרוש" משנת 1928, שנכתבה בשיתוף פעולה עם ברטולט ברכט. היה זה עיבוד מחדש של "אופרת הקבצנים" מאת ג'ון גיי ויוהאן כריסטוף פפוש. ה"אופרה בגרוש" מכילה את שירו המפורסם ביותר של וייל, "מקי סכינאי" (Die Moritat von Mackie Messer). יחסי העבודה של וייל עם ברכט, על אף הצלחתם, הסתיימו בגלל חילוקי דעות פוליטיים בשנת 1930. לדברי לוטה לניה, וייל אמר, שאיננו יכול "לכתוב מוזיקה למניפסט הקומוניסטי".

אף כי יצירתו האמריקאית של וייל נחשבת נמוכה יותר ברמתה מהישגיו בגרמניה, בין היצירות שכתב לברודוויי יש מספר הצגות, שזכו לכבוד ולהתפעלות רבה. בין אלה "ג'וני ג'ונסון" האנטי-מלחמתי, "גברת באפלה" ו"חיי אהבה", הנחשבות ליצירות ראשוניות ומפרות בהתפתחות המוזיקל האמריקאי. הוא עבד עם מחזאים כמו מקסוול אנדרסון ואיירה גרשווין וכתב אפילו פסקול לסרט של הבמאי פריץ לאנג (את ואני, 1938). וייל עצמו שאף למצוא דרך חדשה ליצירת אופרה אמריקאית, שתנחל הצלחה מסחרית ואמנותית גם יחד. הניסיון המעניין ביותר בכיוון זה הוא המחזמר "תמונת רחוב", שנכתב על ידי המשורר לנגסטון יוז על בסיס מחזהו של אלמר רייס. גם "אבוד בין כוכבים" (בשיתוף מקסוול אנדרסון, על פי 'זעקי ארץ אהובה' של אלן פטון) נחשב ליצירה מרגשת וחשובה, המוצגת בתיאטראות עד היום.

מלבד "מקי סכינאי", שיריו המפורסמים ביותר הם "שיר אלבמה" (מתוך "מהגוני"), "סוראבאיה ג'וני" (מתוך "סוף טוב"), "יוקאלי" (מתוך "מארי גאלאנט") ו"שיר ספטמבר" (מתוך "חופשת ניקרבוקר") "דבר חרישית" (מתוך "מגע אחד של ונוס" ו"אבוד בין כוכבים" (מתוך המחזמר בשם זה). שירים אלה זכו למאות גרסאות כיסוי ומושמעים ללא הרף.

יחס לישראל קורט וייל היה מקורב לחוגים הרוויזיוניסטיים ולמשלחת האצ"ל בארצות הברית. וייל הלחין את המוזיקה למחזה שכתב בן הכט בשם "דגל נולד" (A Flag is Born), המחזה זכה להצלחה הן בברודוויי והן ברחבי ארצות הברית[2], ההכנסות מהמחזה הועברו ל"הוועד העברי לשחרור האומה" שייסד הלל קוק, הוועד מימן רכישת אונייה בשם Avril. אונייה זו שנרכשה בארצות הברית הפליגה בדצמבר 1946 לאירופה, במרץ 1947 יצאה כאוניית מעפילים מצרפת לארץ ישראל שעל סיפונה כ-600 מעפילים שמה של האונייה הוסב ל"בן הכט".

בשנת 1947 כתב וייל תזמור עבור תזמורת סימפונית להמנון הלאומי התקווה. התזמור הוזמן על ידי הוועדה האמריקנית למען מכון ויצמן למדע, ביצוע בכורה של התזמור על ידי התזמורת הסימפונית של בוסטון בניצוחו של סרגיי קוסביצקי היה בסעודה חגיגית לכבודו של חיים ויצמן[3]. הסעודה נערכה ב-25 בנובמבר 1947 במלון וולדורף-אסטוריה בניו יורק. כתב היד המקורי של התזמור נמצא בבית הספרים הלאומי והאוניברסיטאי[4].

מיצירותיו 1920 - 1927 סונאטה לצ'לו ופסנתר - 1920 סימפוניה מס' 1 לתזמורת - 1921 רביעיית מיתרים אופוס 8 - 1923 קוודליבט, סוויטה לתזמורת מתוך הפנטומימה "ליל קסם" - 1923 מחול נשים: שבעה שירים מימי הביניים לסופרן, חליל, ויולה, קלרנית, קרן ובסון, אופוס 10 - 1923 קונצ'רטו לכינור ותזמורת כלי נשיפה, אופוס 12 - 1924 "גיבור המחזה", אופוס 15 (אופרה במערכה אחת, לטקסט של גיאורג קייזר) - 1926 "מהגוני" (זינגשפיל) (ברטולט ברכט) - 1927 "אורפיאוס החדש", קנטטה לסופרו, כינור סולו ותזמורת, אופוס 16 (טקסט מאת איבן גול) - 1927 "ארמון מלכות", אופוס 17 (אופרה במערכה אחת, טקסט מאת איבן גול) - 1927 Der Zar lässt sich photographieren ("הצאר מניח שיצלמוהו") אופוס 21, (אופרה במערכה אחת לטקסט של גיאורג קייזר) - 1927 1928 - 1935 "ברלין באור". שיר לכת לתזמורת צבאית (הרכב כלי נשיפה) או קול ופסנתר - 1928 "אופרה בגרוש" Die Dreigroschenoper (השתתף בכתיבה, ברטולט ברכט) - 1928 "מוזיקה קטנה בגרוש", סוויטה לתזמורת כלי נשיפה, מבוססת על "אופרה בגרוש" - 1928 "אל פוטסדם תחת האלונים" למקהלה א-קאפלה או קול ופסנתר (ברטולט ברכט) - 1928 רקויאם ברלינאי, קנטטה לשלושה קולות גברים ותזמורת כלי נשיפה (ברטולט ברכט) - 1928 "טיסת לינדברג" (גרסה ראשונה), קנטטה לסולנים, מקהלה ותזמורת. מוזיקה מאת וייל ופאול הינדמית ומילים מאת ברטולט ברכט - 1929 "סוף טוב" (השתתפו בכתיבה אליזבט האופטמן וברטולט ברכט) - מועמד לפרס טוני לפסקול המקורי הטוב ביותר - 1929 "טיסת לינדברג" (הגרסה השנייה). קנטטה לטנור, בריטון ובס, מקהלה ותזמורת. המוזיקה כולה של וייל והמילים של ברטולט ברכט - 1929 "עלייתה ונפילתה של העיר מהגוני" (ברטולט ברכט) - 1930 "אומר ההן" (אליזבט האופטמן וברטולט ברכט) - 1930 "הנדר" (קספר נהר) - 1932 "אגם הכסף" - 1933 "שבעת החטאים", בלט מושר לקולות ותזמורת (ברטולט ברכט) - 1933 "מארי גאלאנט" לקולות ותזמורת קטנה (עלילה ושירים מאת ז'אק דוואל) - 1934 סימפוניה מס' 2 לתזמורת "מלכותי בעד פרה" (רוברט ואמברי (לא גמור) - 1935) 1936 - 1950 "ג'וני ג'ונסון" (פול גרין) - 1936 "הדרך הנצחית" (דזמונד קרטר, גרסה בלתי גמורה בגרמנית לטקסט של פרנץ ורפל, בבימוי מקס ריינהרדט - 1937 "חופשת ניקרבוקרס" (מקסוול אנדרסון) - 1938 "מסילות במצעד" (אדוארד האנגרפורד) - 1938 "באלאדה על מגנה כרטא", קנטטה לקריין ובאס סולו, מקהלה ותזמורת (מקסוול אנדרסון) - 1940 "גברת באפלה" (מוס הארט ואיירה גרשווין) - 1941 שירים שונים למילים של ברכט, איירה גרשווין, וולט ויטמן, אלמר רייס, לנגסטון יוז ואלן ג'יי לרנר 1941 - 1949 "תמונת רחוב" (על פי מחזה מאת אלמר רייס) אופרה אמריקאית, 1946 תזמור של המנון "התקווה" - 1947 "אבוד בין כוכבים" (מקסוול אנדרסון) (1949) לפי הספר זעקי ארץ אהובה קישורים חיצוניים Green globe.svg אתר האינטרנט הרשמי

של קורט וייל קורט וייל , באתר זמרשת קורט וייל , באתר Komponisten der Gegenwart Allmusic Favicon.png קורט וייל , באתר AllMusic (באנגלית) MusicBrainz Logo 2016.svg קורט וייל , באתר MusicBrainz (באנגלית) קורט וייל , באתר Discogs (באנגלית) Songkick logotype.svg קורט וייל , באתר Songkick (באנגלית) קורט וייל , באתר בית לזמר העברי קורט וייל , באתר DNCI IMDB Logo 2016.svg קורט וייל , במסד הנתונים הקולנועיים IMDb (באנגלית) רשימת הפרסומים של קורט וייל , בקטלוג הספרייה הלאומית עיבודו של קורט וייל ל"התקווה" , ביצוע: התזמורת הסימפונית ירושלים בניצוחו של מנדי רודן, הקלטה באתר הספרייה הלאומית קורט וייל , באתר "Find a Grave" (באנגלית) https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%98_%D7%95%D7%99...

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Weill

Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900[1] – April 3, 1950[1]%29 was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his most well known work The Threepenny Opera, a Marxist critique of capitalism, which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill was a socialist[2] who held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose.[3] He also wrote a number of works for the concert hall, as well as several Judaism-themed pieces. Contents [show] [edit]Personal life

Kurt Julian Weill was born on March 2, 1900,[4] the third of four children to Albert Weill (1867–1950) and Emma Weill née Ackermann (1872–1955). He grew up in a religious Jewish family in the "Sandvorstadt", the Jewish quarter in Dessau, Germany, where his father was a cantor.[1] At the age of twelve, Kurt Weill started taking piano lessons and made his first attempts at writing music; his earliest preserved composition was written in 1913 and is titled Mi Addir. Jewish Wedding Song.[5] In 1915, Weill started taking private lessons with Albert Bing, Kapellmeister at the "Herzogliches Hoftheater zu Dessau", who taught him piano, composition, music theory, and conducting. Weill performed publicly on piano for the first time in 1915, both as an accompanist and soloist. The following years he composed numerous Lieder to the lyrics of poets such as Joseph von Eichendorff, Arno Holz, and Anna Ritter, as well as a cycle of five songs titled Ofrahs Lieder to a German translation of a text by Yehuda Halevi.[6] Weill graduated with an Abitur from the Oberrealschule of Dessau in 1918, and enrolled at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik at the age of 18, where he studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck,[1] conducting with Rudolf Krasselt, and counterpoint with Friedrich E. Koch, and also attended philosophy lectures by Max Dessoir and Ernst Cassirer. The same year, he wrote his first string quartet (in B minor).[7] [edit]Early work and compositions

Weill's family experienced financial hardship in the aftermath of World War I, and in July 1919, Weill abandoned his studies and returned to Dessau, where he was employed as a répétiteur at the Friedrich-Theater under the direction of the new Kapellmeister, Hans Knappertsbusch. During this time, he composed an orchestral suite in E-flat major, a symphonic poem of Rainer Maria Rilke's The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke as well as Schilflieder, a cycle of five songs to poems by Nikolaus Lenau. In December 1919, through the help of Humperdinck, Weill was appointed as Kapellmeister at the newly founded Stadttheater in Lüdenscheid, where he directed opera, operetta, and singspiel for five months, and also composed a cello sonata and Ninon de Lenclos, a now lost one-act operatic adaptation of a play by Ernst Hardt. From May to September 1920, Weill spent a couple of months in Leipzig, where his father had become the new director of a Jewish orphanage. Before he returned to Berlin, in September 1920, he composed Sulamith, a choral fantasy for soprano, female choir, and orchestra. [edit]Studies with Busoni

Back in Berlin, Weill had an interview with Ferruccio Busoni in December 1920. After examining some of Weill's compositions, Busoni accepted him as one of five master students in composition at the Preußische Akademie der Künste in Berlin.[8] From January 1921 to December 1923, Weill studied music composition with him and also counterpoint with Philipp Jarnach in Berlin. During his first year he composed his first symphony, Sinfonie in einem Satz, as well as the lieder Die Bekehrte (Goethe) and two Rilkelieder for voice and piano. In order to support his family in Leipzig, he also worked as a pianist in a Bierkeller tavern. In spring of 1922, Weill joined the November Group's music faction. That year he composed a psalm, a divertimento for orchestra, and Sinfonia Sacra: Fantasia, Passacaglia, and Hymnus for Orchestra. On November 18, 1922, his children's pantomime Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night) premiered at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm; it was the first public performance of any of Weill's works in the field of musical theatre.[9] Out of financial need, Weill taught music theory and composition to private students from 1923 to 1925. Among his students were Claudio Arrau, Maurice Abravanel, Henry (then known as Heinz) Jolles,[10] and Nikos Skalkottas. Arrau, Abravenel, and Jolles, at least, would remain members of Weill's circle of friends thereafter,[11] and Jolles's sole surviving composition predating the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933 is a fragment of a work for four pianos he and Weill wrote jointly.[10] Weill's compositions during his last year of studies included Quodlibet, an orchestral suite version of Die Zaubernacht, Frauentanz, seven medieval poems for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon, and Recordare for choir and children's choir to words from the Book of Lamentations. Further premieres that year included a performance of his Divertimento for Orchestra by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Heinz Unger on April 10, 1923, and the Hindemith-Amar Quartet's rendering of Weill's String Quartet, Op. 8, on June 24, 1923. In December 1923, Weill finished his studies with Busoni.[12] [edit]Success in the 1920s and early-1930s

Weill in the 1920s. In 1922 he joined the ‘Novembergruppe’, a group of leftist Berlin artists that included Hanns Eisler and Stefan Wolpe.[13] In February 1924 the conductor Fritz Busch introduced him to the dramatist Georg Kaiser, with whom Weill would have a long-lasting creative partnership resulting in several one-act operas. At Kaiser's house in Grünheide, Weill also first met the actress and future wife Lotte Lenya in summer 1924.[14] The couple got married twice: In 1926 and again in 1937 (following their divorce in 1933). Lenya took great care to support Weill's work, and after his death she took it upon herself to increase awareness of his music, forming the Kurt Weill Foundation. From November 1924 to May 1929, Weill wrote hundreds of reviews for the influential and comprehensive radio program guide Der deutsche Rundfunk. Hans Siebert von Heister had already worked with Weill in the November Group, and offered Weill the job shortly after becoming editor-in-chief.[15] Although he had some success with his first mature non-stage works (such as the String Quartet, Op. 8 or the Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12), which were influenced by Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, Weill tended more and more to vocal music and musical theatre. His musical theatre work and his songs were extremely popular with the wider public in Germany at the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. Weill's music was admired by composers such as Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Darius Milhaud and Stravinsky, but it was also criticised by others: by Schoenberg, who later revised his opinion, and by Anton Webern. His best-known work is The Threepenny Opera (1928), a reworking of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera written in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Engel directed the original production of The Threepenny Opera in 1928. It contains Weill's most famous song, "Mack the Knife" ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"). The stage success was filmed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst in two language versions: Die 3-Groschen-Oper and L'opéra de quat' sous. Weill and Brecht tried to stop the film adaptation through a well publicised lawsuit that Weill won and Brecht lost. Weill's working association with Brecht, although successful, came to an end over politics in 1930. Although Weill associated with socialism,[16] after Brecht tried to push the play even further into a left wing direction, Weill commented, according to his wife Lenya, that he was unable to "set the communist party manifesto to music."[17] [edit]Paris, London and New York

Weill fled Nazi Germany in March 1933.[18] A prominent and popular Jewish composer, Weill was officially denounced for his socialist views and populist sympathies,[19] and became a target of the Nazi authorities, who criticized and interfered with performances of his later stage works, such as Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, 1930), Die Bürgschaft (1932), and Der Silbersee (1933). With no option but to leave Germany, he went first to Paris, where he worked once more with Brecht (after a project with Jean Cocteau failed) on the ballet The Seven Deadly Sins. On April 13, 1933 his musical The Threepenny Opera was given its premiere on Broadway, but closed after 13 performances to mixed reviews.[4] In 1934 he completed his Symphony No.2, his last purely orchestral work, conducted in Amsterdam and New York by Bruno Walter, and also the music for Jacques Deval's play, Marie Galante.[18] A production of his operetta Der Kuhhandel (A Kingdom for a Cow) took him to London in 1935, and later that year he went to the United States in connection with The Eternal Road,[1] a "Biblical Drama" by Franz Werfel that had been commissioned by members of New York's Jewish community and was premiered in 1937 at the Manhattan Opera House, running for 153 performances. Weill and his wife rented a house during the summer near Pine Brook Country Club in Nichols, Connecticut, the summer home of the Group Theatre, while working on Johnny Johnson (musical). Some of the other artists who summered there were; Elia Kazan, Harry Morgan, John Garfield, Lee J. Cobb, Will Geer, Clifford Odets, Howard Da Silva and Irwin Shaw [20][21][22] He and his wife moved to New York City on September 10, 1935, living first at the St. Moritz Hotel before moving on to an apartment at 231 East 62nd Street between Third and Second Avenues.[4] Weill believed that most of his work had been destroyed.[citation needed] He seldom (and reluctantly) spoke or wrote German again, with rare exception[citation needed] (for example, letters to his parents who had escaped to Palestine[citation needed]). Rather than continue to write in the same style that had characterized his European compositions, Weill made a study of American popular and stage music, and his American output, though held by some to be inferior, nonetheless contains individual songs and entire shows that not only became highly respected and admired, but have been seen as seminal works in the development of the American musical. Unique among Broadway composers of the time, Weill insisted on writing his own orchestrations (with some very few exceptions, such as the dance music in Street Scene).[23] He worked with writers such as Maxwell Anderson and Ira Gershwin, and wrote a film score for Fritz Lang (You and Me, 1938). Weill himself strove to find a new way of creating an American opera that would be both commercially and artistically successful. The most interesting attempt in this direction is Street Scene, based on a play by Elmer Rice, with lyrics by Langston Hughes. For his work on Street Scene Weill was awarded the inaugural Tony Award for Best Original Score.[24] In the 1940s Weill lived in Downstate New York near the New Jersey border and made frequent trips both to New York City and to Hollywood for his work for theatre and film. Weill was active in political movements encouraging American entry into World War II, and after America joined the war in 1941, Weill enthusiastically collaborated in numerous artistic projects supporting the war effort both abroad and on the home front. He and Maxwell Anderson also joined the volunteer civil service by working as air raid wardens on High Tor Mountain between their homes in New City, New York and Haverstraw, New York in Rockland County. Weill became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1943.[1] Weill had ideals of writing music that served a socially useful purpose. In the US, he wrote Down in the Valley, an opera including the song of the same name and other American folk songs. He also wrote a number of songs in support of the American war effort, including the satirical "Schickelgruber" (with lyrics by Howard Dietz), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (with Oscar Hammerstein) and – with Brecht again as in his earlier career – the "Ballad of the Nazi Soldier's Wife" ("Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?"). Intended for broadcast to Germany, the song chronicled the progress of the Nazi war machine through the gifts sent to the proud wife at home by her man at the front: furs from Oslo, a silk dress from Paris etc., until finally, from Russia, she receives her widow's veil.[3] Apart from "Mack the Knife" and "Pirate Jenny" from The Threepenny Opera, his most famous songs include "Alabama Song" (from Mahagonny), "Surabaya Johnny" (from Happy End), "Speak Low" (from One Touch of Venus), "Lost in the Stars" (from the musical of that name), "My Ship" (from Lady in the Dark), and "September Song" (from Knickerbocker Holiday). [edit]Death

Weill suffered a heart attack shortly after his 50th birthday and died on April 3, 1950 in New York City.[18] He was buried in Mount Repose Cemetery in Haverstraw, New York. The text and music on his gravestone[25] come from the song "A Bird of Passage" from Lost in the Stars, itself adapted from a quotation from the Venerable Bede:[26] This is the life of men on earth: Out of darkness we come at birth Into a lamplit room, and then – Go forward into dark again. (lyric: Maxwell Anderson) An excerpt from Maxwell Anderson's eulogy for Weill read: "I wish, of course, that he had been lucky enough to have had a little more time for his work. I could wish the times in which he lived had been less troubled. But these things were as they were – and Kurt managed to make thousands of beautiful things during the short and troubled time he had…"[3] [edit]Influence

German stamp commemorating Weill. Sixty years after his death, Weill's music continues to be performed both in popular and classical contexts. In Weill's lifetime, his work was most associated with the voice of his wife, Lotte Lenya, but shortly after his death "Mack the Knife" was established by Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin as a jazz standard. His music has since been recorded by many performers, ranging from The Doors, Judy Collins, Lou Reed, Todd Rundgren, John Zorn, Dagmar Krause, Tom Waits and PJ Harvey to New York's Metropolitan Opera and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Singers as varied as Teresa Stratas, Ute Lemper, Gisela May, Anne Sofie von Otter, Max Raabe, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Marianne Faithfull have recorded entire albums of his music. Amanda Palmer, singer/pianist of the 'Brechtian Punk Cabaret' duo The Dresden Dolls, has Kurt Weill's name on the front of her keyboard (a pun with the name of the instrument maker Kurzweil) as a tribute to the composer. In 1991, seminal Swiss Industrial music band The Young Gods released their album of Kurt Weill songs, The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill. In 2008, Weill's songs were performed by Canadian musicians (including Sarah Slean and Mary Margaret O'Hara) in a tribute concert as part of the first annual Canwest Cabaret Festival in Toronto. In 2009 Duke Special released an EP, entitled Huckleberry Finn, of five songs from an unfinished musical by Kurt Weill based on the novel by Mark Twain. [edit]Compositions

[edit]Stage works See List of works for the stage by Weill [edit]Concert works [edit]Cantatas 1920 : Sulamith, choral fantasy for soprano, female chorus and orchestra (lost) 1927 : Der neue Orpheus, cantata for soprano, solo violin and orchestra, op.16 (text: Yvan Goll) 1927 : Der Tod im Wald, cantata for bass and band (originally belonged to Das Berliner Requiem) 1928 : Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus (or three male voices) and wind orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht) 1929 : Der Lindberghflug, cantata for tenor, baritone and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht, first version with music by Paul Hindemith and Weill, second version, also 1929, with music exclusively by Weill) 1940 : The Ballad of Magna Carta, cantata for tenor and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: Maxwell Anderson) [edit]Chamber music 1918 : String Quartet in B minor (without opus number) 1923 : String Quartet op. 8 1919–1921 : Sonata for Cello and Piano [edit]Piano music 1917 : Intermezzo 1937 : Albumblatt for Erika (transcription of the pastorale from Der Weg der Verheissung) [edit]Orchestral works 1919 : Suite for orchestra 1919 : Die Weise von Liebe and Tod, symphonic poem for orchestra after Rainer Maria Rilke (lost) 1921 : Symphony No.1 in one movement for orchestra 1922 : Divertimento for orchestra, op.5 (unfinished, reconstructed by David Drew) 1922 : Sinfonia Sacra, Fantasia, Passacaglia and Hymnus for orchestra, op. 6 (unfinished) 1923 : Quodlibet, suite for orchestra from the pantomime Zaubernacht, op. 9 1925 : Concerto for violin and wind orchestra, op. 12 1927 : Bastille Musik, suite for wind orchestra (arranged by David Drew, 1975) from the stage music to Gustav III, by August Strindberg 1929 : Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite from Die Dreigroschenoper for wind orchestra, piano and percussion, (premiere conducted by Otto Klemperer) 1934 : Suite panaméenne for chamber orchestra, (from Marie Galante) 1934 : Symphony No. 2 in three movements for orchestra, (premiere by Royal Concertgebouw orchestra under Bruno Walter) 1947 : Hatikvah, arrangement of the Israeli National Anthem for orchestra [edit]Lieder, Lieder cycles, songs and chansons 1919 : Die stille Stadt, for voice and piano, text: Richard Dehmel 1923 : Frauentanz op.10, Lieder cycle for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon (after medieval poems) 1923 : Stundenbuch, Lieder cycle for baritone and orchestra, text: Rainer Maria Rilke 1925 : Klopslied, for high voice, two piccolos and bassoon ('Ick sitze da un' esse Klops'/Berliner Lied) 1927 : Vom Tod im Wald (Death in the Forest), Op. 23, ballad for bass solo and ten wind instruments, text: Bertolt Brecht 1928 : Berlin im Licht-Song, slow-fox, text: Kurt Weill; composed for the exhibition Berlin im Licht, first performance in Wittenbergplatz (with orchestra) on October 13, and on October 16 in the Kroll Opera (with voice and piano) 1928 : Die Muschel von Margate: Petroleum Song, slow-fox, text: Felix Gasbarra for the play by Leo Lania, Konjunktur 1928 : Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen (In Potsdam under the Oak Trees), song for voice and piano, alternatively male chorus a cappella, text: Bertolt Brecht 1928 : Das Lied von den braunen Inseln, text: Lion Feuchtwanger, from the play by same author, Petroleum Inseln 1933 : Der Abschiedsbrief, text: Erich Kästner, intended for Marlene Dietrich 1933 : La complainte de Fantômas, text: Robert Desnos; for a broadcast of Fantômas in November 1933 (the music was lost, and later reconstructed by Jacques Loussier for Catherine Sauvage) 1933 : Es regnet, text: Jean Cocteau (direct into German) 1934 : Je ne t'aime pas, text: Maurice Magre for the soprano Lys Gauty 1934 : J'attends un navire, text: Jacques Deval, from Marie Galante ; as an independent song for Lys Gauty; used for the Hymne der Resistance during the Second World War 1934 : Youkali (originally the Tango habanera, instrumental movement in Marie Galante), Text: Roger Fernay 1934 : Complainte de la Seine, text: Maurice Magre 1939 : Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, song for voice and piano, text: Robert Frost (unfinished) 1942 : Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, patriotic song arrangements for narrator, male chorus, and orchestra, of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (text: Julia Ward Howe), The Star-Spangled Banner (text: Francis Scott Key), America (text: Samuel Francis Smith) and Beat! Beat! Drums! (text: Walt Whitman) 1942–44 : Propaganda Songs, for voice and piano; written for the Lunch Hours Follies performed for the workers of a shipbuilding workshop in New York, then broadcast: 1942 : Buddy on the Nightshift, text: Oscar Hammerstein 1942 : Schickelgruber, text: Howard Dietz 1942 : Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib? (And what was sent to the soldier's wife?), ballad for voice and piano, text: Bertolt Brecht 1942–47 : Three Walt Whitman Songs, later Four Walt Whitman Songs for voice and piano (or orchestra), text: Walt Whitman 1944 : Wie lange noch?, text: Walter Mehring; premiere: Lotte Lenya [edit]Film music 1938 : You and Me 1945 : Where Do We Go From Here? text: Ira Gershwin [edit]Select discography

[edit]Orchestral, chamber, choral and other works Berliner Requiem / Violin Concerto op.12 / Vom Tod im Walde. Ensemble Musique Oblique/ Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi, 1997) Kleine Dreigroschenmusik / Mahagonny Songspiel / Happy End / Berliner Requiem / Violin Concerto op.12. /Ballade vom Tod im Walde op.23 /Pantomime I (from Der Protagonist op.14) London Sinfonietta, David Atherton, Nona Liddell (violin), Meriel Dickinson (mezzo-soprano), Mary Thomas (mezzo-soprano), Philip Langridge (tenor), Ian Partridge (tenor), Benjamin Luxon (baritone), Michael Rippon (bass), (Deutsche Grammophon 4594422, 1999) Kurt Weill à Paris, Marie Galante and other works. Loes Luca, Ensemble Dreigroschen, directed by Giorgio Bernasconi, assai, 2000 Melodie Kurta Weill'a i coś ponadto Kazik Staszewski (SP Records, 2001) Complete String Quartets. Leipziger Streichquartett (MDG 307 1071-2) Symphonies 1 & 2. BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gary Bertini (EMI, 1968) [edit]Song collections Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs (Sony 1997) Speak Low – Songs by Kurt Weill – Anne Sofie von Otter, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Deutsche Grammophon 1995) Youkali: Art Songs by Satie, Poulenc and Weill. Patricia O'Callaghan (Marquis, 2003) The Unknown Kurt Weill (Nonesuch LP D-79019, 1981) – Teresa Stratas, soprano, Richard Woitach, piano. Track list: "Nanna's Lied" (1939), "Complainte de la Seine" (1934), "Klops-Lied" (1925), "Berlin im Licht-song" (1928), "Und was Bekam des Soldaten Weib?" (1943), "Die Muschel von Margate: Petroleum Song" (1928), "Wie Lange Noch?" (1944), "Youkali: Tango Habanera" (1935?), "Der Abschiedsbrief" (1933?), "Es Regnet" (1933), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (1942), "Schickelgruber" (1942), "Je ne t'aime pas" (1934), "Das Lied von den Braunen Inseln" (1928) [edit]Tributes Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill – Produced by Hal Wilner, with performances by Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Sting, Marianne Faithfull, Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, John Zorn and others. (A&M Records, 1987) September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill – also produced by Wilner, with performances by Elvis Costello, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, William S. Burroughs, and others) (Sony Music, 1997) Gianluigi Trovesi/Gianni Coscia: Round About Weill (ECM, 2005) The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill (Pias, April 1991), Studio recording of the songs performed live in 1989. Ben Bagley's Kurt Weill Revisited and Kurt Weill Revisited, Vol. 2, with performances by Chita Rivera, Ann Miller, Estelle Parsons, John Reardon, Tammy Grimes, Nell Carter, Arthur Siegel, and Jo Sullivan, among others. (Painted Smiles) An Evening of Kurt Weill, starring Bebe Neuwirth, Roger Rees, and Larry Marshall, was performed in NYC at Alice Tully Hall. Rees directed the production. [edit]See also

Paul Hindemith A Kurt Weill Cabaret LoveMusik Bertolt Brecht [edit]Bibliography

David Drew. Kurt Weill: A Handbook (Berkeley, Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1987). ISBN 0-520-05839-9. Kim H. Kowalke. A New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1986). ISBN 0-300-03514-4. Ronald Sanders. The Days Grow Short: The Life and Music of Kurt Weill (New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980). ISBN 0-03-019411-3. Donald Spoto. Lenya A Life (Little, Brown and Company 1989) Lys Symonette & Kim H. Kowalke (ed. & trans.) Speak Low (When You Speak Love): The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya (University of California Press 1996) (German) David Drew (Editor), Über Kurt Weill (Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1975) Excellent collection of texts, including an introduction by David Drew and including texts by Theodor W. Adorno (German) Jürgen Schebera, Kurt Weill (Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2000) [edit]