KURT WEILL NEWSLETTER Vol. 2 No. 2 Fall 1984 PBS Films "Happy End" This spring, the Public Broadcasting Serv­ ice will air Happy End on "Great Perform­ ances" as part of the •~rnerica's Musical Theater" series. Happy End has been di­ rected for television by Greg Harney from the stage production by Garland Wright at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and fea­ tures the same cast. (See review in this is­ sue.) Producers of the broadcast are Greg Har­ ney and Bunny Olnick of WGBH, the Boston affiliate of PBS. •~rnerica's Musical Theater" is underwritten by the National Endowment for the Arts, Mars Bars candy, and PBS. Ac­ cording to Olnick, the production will air sometime after May, 1985. Yale Produces Archive Register The Yale University Music Library has an­ nounced the publication of a formal register of VIDEO BOUND: Casey Biggs (Bill Cracker) and Richard Bauer (Dr. Nakamura) in Arena the papers in their Weill/Lenya Archive. The Stage's production of Happy End, to be broadcast on PBS this spring. Photo by Joan register, compiled and edited by Adrienne Marcus. Nesnow. was made possible by a 15-month grant funded by the National Endowment for Fonndation Awards Grants EAMMoves the Humanities. The register contains biblio­ graphic citations and inventory listings de­ Upon the recommendation of the Advisory European American Music Distributors Panel for Grant Evaluations, the Board of Corporation recently relocated to an all-new scribing the contents and organization of the Trustees is pleased to announce the award of facility near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, out­ papers. An alphabetical index of works refers the following 1984 grants: side Philadelphia. "This new facility," says the researcher to the proper location within the register and includes extensive cross-ref­ New .l0rk University Musical Theatre Pro­ Ronald Freed, President of EAM, "with its state-of-the-art technology, will make EAM erences for individual sections of larger works gram-To establish a Kurt Weill Fellow in the and variants in titles. Lys Syrnonette and Kirn graduate program- tuition and partial living the leader among serious music publishers in the United States." Kowalke served as consultants in the project. expenses. The Weill/Lenya Archive was established Prof John Fuegi, University of Maryland­ EAM is the sole U.S. representative of Universal Edition and B. Schotts Soehne, the at Yale by Lotte Lenya and the Kurt Weill Travel and research grant- topic: the per­ major publishers ofWeill's European composi­ Foundation in 1981. The table of contents of sonal and contractual relationships between the register reflects the types of materials in­ Weill, Lenya, and Brecht. tions. In addition, EAM publishes several of Weill's works in its own right (including the cluded in the collection and their subsequent Rutgers University, Mason Gross School ofthe Cello Sonata, Recordare, and The Unknown organization: Music by Weill, Music by Oth­ Arts, Department of Music-Production Kurt Weill, the collection of songs featured on ers, Correspondence, Programs, Clippings, grant- assistance in mounting a university the recording by 1eresa Stratas), also serves Photographs, Interviews, Writings, Biograph­ production of Street Scene. as the Foundation's American agent for stage ical Material, Financial and Legal Items. Prior to this first award of grants under for­ rights in many of Weill's works. EAM also fea­ All of the holograph music has now been mal procedures, the Board had awarded in tures works by Berio, Boulez, Henze, Hin­ microfilmed, the clippings have been copied 1983 a publishing subvention to Faber and Fa­ demith, Orff, Penderecki, Paulus, Rands, onto acid-free paper, and items which are in ber to assist in the publication of David Drew's Schwantner, Stravinsky, Takernitsu, and a poor condition have been earmarked for con­ forthcoming Kurt Weill Handbook. number of outstanding young American com­ servation. The papers are stored in acid-free The application schedule for 1985 grants posers. folders and boxes which are housed in a tem­ has been changed in an effort to conform to the Correspondence should be addressed to perature and humidity controlled environment calendar year. Applications are due by 15 De­ European American Music Distributors Cor­ at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript cember 1984 and awards will be made by 1 poration, P.O. Box 850, Valley Forge, PA Library, conveniently located across the February 1985. Please see the Grant Guide­ 19482. Their telephone number is (215) 648- street from the Music Library. lines published in this issue for further infor­ 0506. The register will be published and made mation. available for purchase in the near future. PRESIDENT'S COLUMN By Kim Kowalke any English translation of the entire work has straightforward guide to Weill 's music, specifi­ My essay in the last issue of the Newsletter. ever been published because of legal entangle­ cally for performers, conductors, and pro­ "The Motto of Mabagonny: Du darfst! ", con­ ments. All of this will change in 1985 because, ducers. We' re also encouraging revivals of centrated on only one facet of the Founda­ under the termination provision of the new Weill's American shows, and soon we hope to tion's mission, the protection of the integrity U.S. copyright law, the Foundation will re­ have all of the musica.ls available again through of Weill's music. This responsibility must be cover all publication rights for the music (not licensing agencies and reprints of piano-vocal balanced with our other chartered goals: the the text) in the U.S. for the 19-year extension scores. promotion and perpetuation of Weill's and period. We are then free to re-assign, in col­ Meanwhile, however, anyone who wants Lenya 's artistic legacies through support of laboration with Brecht's heirs, any and all to perform the Ballad ofthe Magna Carta, The productions, performances. publications, and rights to different publishers and agents. Firebrand of Florence, the Walt Whitman research projects. AJthot1go our grants pro­ This labyrinth is enough to discourage any Songs. Der Protagonist, or even excerpts gram addresses these areas directly. the innocent soul at East Overshoe State College from The Eternal Road, not to mention One Foundation is undertaking other means to ac­ from pursuing hopes of mounting a production Touch of 141nitS in Tibetan, should just call or complish these goals on a wider basis. of the Mannheim-Willett version with Weill's write the Foundation. We'll find a way to clear Our staff is eager to assist performers, original orchestrations. Only the most daunt­ performance rights and to obtain the neces­ conductors, directors, producers, and publi­ less producer could be expected to penetrate sary performance materials. Our attempts at cists by supplying information and materials the maze surrounding the piece. which all too assembling a complete research archive in relevant to their performances of Weill's mu­ often derails performances in the planning New York would be irresponsible were we to sic. One of the most frustrating situations for stage. The Foundation, however, stands ignore the pressing need to assist performers anyone planning a perfonnance of a Weill work ready to direct inquiries to the proper vendor, in perpetuating Weill's legacy in the manner he is the seemingly mundane, but often perplex­ clarify the legalities of the license for the per­ would have most encouraged-current per­ ing and arduous task of obtaining published former, and assist with program notes, photo­ formances and productions which address scores, rental materials, translations, and graphs, and historical information. Next year new audiences and demonstrate that, despite clearance of rights from assorted publishers we plan to publish, in cooperation with Euro­ his own disclaimers to the contrary, his music and agents. When a composer's career pean American Music, a complete but has much to offer posterity. spanned two continents geographically as well as the two increasingly disparate stylistic and marketing worlds of ''popular" and ''serious" 1985 GRANT GUIDELINES music-and given the complicated and diverse The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc., is a not-for-profit corporation which promotes laws governing "split" copyrights, renewals, public understanding and appreciation of the musical works by Kurt Weill. To this end. the Founda­ extensions, and reversions throughout the tion solicits proposals from individuals and non-pro.fit organizations for funding of projects related to world-it is not surprising that today more the perpetuation of Kurt Weill's artistic legacy. For the 1985 funding period, the Foundation is than 35 publishers and agents (not including accepting proposals in one or more of the following categories: any of their own foreign sub-agents) control or 1. Research Grants administer Weill's works in various territories. 2. Publication Assistance Re-assignments, reversions, and contract ex­ 3. Performance and Production Grants pirations create a constantly shifting maze for 4. Dissertation Fellowships anyone on the elusive trail of performance ma­ 5. Travel Grants terials for a given work. 6. Translations/ Adaptations The Threepenny Opera, perhaps the most Evaluation Procedures often performed of Weill's major works, is a After applications have been reviewed by the Foundation's staff, additional supporting materi­ telling example. Restricting our discussion to als, including recordings, recommendations, and samples of previous work may be requested for the situation in the United States alone, stock and amateur stage performances of the Blitz­ consideration by the Advisory Panel on Grant Evaluations, which will make recommendations to the Board of Trustees. Tbe Advisory Panel on Grant Evaluations shall be composed of independent, stein adaptations are exclusively licensed by prominent members from the musical, theatrical and scholarly communities. Grants will be.awarded Tams-Witmark Music Library (until 1 January on an objective and non-discriminatory basis.