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. Grantee selection criteria will include: 1) relevance 1985, when a new licensing agent will be and value of the proposed project to the Foundation's purposes: 2) quality of the project; 3) evi named). Also in the new year, for the first time, other English translations may be availa dence of the applicant's potential, motivation, and ability to carry out the project successfully; and 4) evidence of the applicant's prior record of achievement in the field covered by the project. Appli ble, with agents to be announced. Stage per cants will be informed of awards by 1 February 1985. formances of the original German version are licensed by European American Music on be Funding Priorities half of the Foundation. First-class professional Although the Foundation does not have a long funding history from which to determine explicit productions can be authorized only by the funding priorities, two general inclinations may be observed: heirs of the a1,1thors. Mechanical and synchro 1. Stock and amateur productions of The Threepenny Opera and cabaret performances of Weill's nization rights and publication rights for indi songs probably do not need Foundation support. vidual songs in popular versions (and other 2. Proposals for local productions or performances should demonstrate a previous record of "small" rights) are assigned to Weill-Brecht artistic excellence, evidence of community support, and a potential for influence beyond the Harms. a company administered by Warner immediate area. Bros. Music. ASCAP licenses performances Application Information of excerpts on many concert programs and ra dio and television broadcasts, but, ofcourse, it Preliminary applications for the 1985 awards must be received by 15 December 1985, and should provides no performance materials. Sale in the contain the following information: U.S. of the original piano-vocal and full score 1. A detailed description of the project. of the German version published by Universal 2. An up-to-date curriculum vita or resume for individuals; or a profile of purposes, activities, Edition is technically illegal, since U.E. lost its and past achievements of organizations. rights in 1958 at the time ofcopyright renewal, 3. An itemized statement of how the amount requested would be used. but the Foundation has permitted the practice All applications and correspondence should be addressed to: Mr. David Farneth, Director of Pro to continue unW new formal arrangements can grams, Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. Inc.. 142 West End Avenue. Suite 1-R, New York, New be worked out. No piano-vocal score with York 10023. Telephone: (212) 873-1465 KURT WEI LL NEWSLETTER PAGE 2 Sinatra and King Kurt AROUND THE WORLD Record "Mack the Knife'' New albums by Frank Sinatra and the Brit ish punk band King Kurt offer novel interpre German Democratic Republic tations of "Mack the Knife." · Sinatra's album, "LA Is My Lady" (Qwest By Jurgen Schebera 25145-1), aims at a more youthful audience than has been the singer's custom. MTV, the rock music television channel. regularly fea tures a star-studded video of the title track; the album's producer, Quincy Jones. is a fix ture in the popular music industry, having tai Let me begin this informal survey by re sich photograph.ieren was staged at the Staat lored hits for Michael Jackson, among others. porting on some of the "Weill-marks" in the soper Berlin in 1977, billed together with two Sinatra lends some of his own improvised lyr G.D.R. Dessau was almost totally destroyed other modem operas: .Rufen Sie Herm Plim ics to "Mack the Knife," for a jazzy, upbeat in World War ll and therefore most of the Jew by Spoliansky and Hindemith's Hin ·und effect. ish quarter was lost, including Weill's birth zuriick. The production was revived every King Kurt's Stiff Records release (Stiff place (Leipziger Strasse No. 59), the season until 1981 and reached 42 perform SEEZ 52) has taken ''Mack the Knife" to the synagogue, Weill's father's house (Stein ances. For the first time in this country, the top of the British pop charts for the sixth time, strasse ll-14), Weill's school (Fridericianum), aters in Karl-Marx-Stadt and Gera (where according to press reports, and the album is and the palace of the Count of Anhalt. Only the Maurice Abravanel was conductor until 1933) now available in some U.S. stores. The group former Friedrichstheater,now known as Lan have announced productions of Der Silberse.e takes a fairly lighthearted approach to punk destheater Dessau, has survived, and you can for 1984. Some important productions of Die (lead singer Kurt sports Lederhosen and an still imagine the importance of this "Northern sieben Todsunden were staged following Gi upright coiffe), and it 's not known if the Bayreuth" as you stand in front of its imposing sela May's 1967 recording: 1972 at the Berlin group's name is an homage to Weill. fa1,ade. · 1n 1968, the city council of Dessau Staatsoper and in 1974 at the Landesbuhnen named a street after Kurt Weill and it is, to the Dresden. Naturally Weill's theater songs are best of my knowledge, the only " Kurt Weill often performed in all Brecht Recitals by Gi FROM THE EDITOR Street" in the world today. sela May, Ekk.ehard Schall and Roswitha Trex The Newsletter provides an open fo In Berlin, the former Theater am Schiff ler. among others. bauerdamm (home of the triumphant premiere rum wherein interested readers may ex of Die Dreigroschenoper) is now the world fa Concert Performance press a variety of ideas and opinions. The mous Brecht theater, Berliner Ensemble. lo Concert performances of Der Jasager and opinions expressed herein do not neces the suburbs of Berlin you can find Georg Kai Der Lindberghjlugwere intitiated by the Radio sarily reflect the Foundation's official ser's house in Griinheide, (Waldeck No. 7), Orchestra Leipzig and the University Chorus viewpoint and the Editor welcomes the and the house in Kleinmachow which \¼!ill Leipzig in 1978. When the new Leipzig Ge opportunity to publish opposing points of bought with earnings fi:om Die Dreigroscheno wandhaus was opened in 1981, one of the first view. We encourage the submission of ar per (Kiithe-Kollwitz-Strasse 7, formerly Wiss concerts featured Das Berliner Requiem with ticles, reviews, and news items for inclu mannstrasse). Both houses display commem Orffs Carmina burana in an excellent per sion in future issues. Letters to the orative plaques which pay tribute to their cele formance with the University Chorus con brated inhabitants of the past. ducted by Max Pommer. On the occasion of Editor are also welcomed. The submis ln Leipzig, many important landmarks also WeiU's 80th birthday, the Berlin Staatsoper sion deadline for the next issue is 15 Feb fell victim to the war. The Neues Theater presented an all-Weill concert with "Three ruary 1985. (Where Der Zar liisst sich photographieren and Pieces from Der Silbersee," Vom Tod im Wald The Kurt Weill Newsletter Aufstaig und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny were and Der neue Orpheus. At the same time the Volume 2, Number 2, Fall 1984 staged for the first time) and the dramatic play Berliner Rundfunk produced Frauenlanz, the house Altes Tbeater (whereDer Silbersee pre Diverlimento and the String Quartet in b-mi David Fameth, Editor miered) are lost, as well as the Jewish orphan nor. The last three years have also seen a few age which ,Weill's father directed from 1921 special radio programs on Weill: a four-part bi William Madison, Assistant Editor (Pontiatowskistrasse No, 12). ographical program written by Jurgen Sche ©Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. 1984 bera, and a special program on Weill and the Major Performances radio written by Stefan Amzoll. Lenya's re 142 West End Ave. -Suite lR Weill's European works are often performed cordings continue to be aired on major radio New York, NY 10023 1n this country but his American works remain stations throughout the country. U.S.A. virtually undiscovered. There are quite natu Finally, there have been two television pro (212) 873-1465 rally, many productions of Die Dreigrosclwno ductions in recent years. Manfred Wekwerth, per in various theaters ranging from the director of the Berliner Ensemble, produced a Board of Trustees Berliner Ensemble to small provincial tbe production of Happy End for the GDR-televi Kim Kowalke, President sion in 1976. In 1981, the television also re aters. In the last five years, productions have Lys Symonette, Vice-President been mounted in Leipzig, Dessau, Greifswald, leased the Komische Oper production of Henry Marx, Vice-President Bautzen and Altenburg. Schwerin and Karl Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny di Guy Stem , Secretary Marx-Stadt (formerly Chemnitz) have an rected by Joachim Herz. Millon Coleman, Treasurer nounced new productions for the fall of 1984. When 1985 brings the celebration of Kurt Harold Prince Berlin's Komische Oper staged a fascinating Weill's 85th birthday, we look forward to many Julius .Rudel production of Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Ma new performances. In addition, our national hagonny, directed by Joachim Herz (who had library, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek Berlin, will previously staged it in Leipzig in 1967), con present a large exhibition entitled: " Kurt Foundation Staff Weill: Leben und Werk" in March. The exhibi ducted by Robert Hanell, and featuring Ta Kim Kowalke, Presiden t mara Lund as Jenny. This production was in tion will feature a representative survey in Lys Symonette, Musical Executive repertory for five years and had 78 perform cluding photos, documents, music and David Fam eth, Archivist/Director of Pro ances between 1977 and 1982. Der Zar liisst recorcii'ngs. grams William Madison, Program Assistan t
KURT WEILL NE WSLET T E R PAGE 3 Life's "Progress": Love Life Revisited
By Charles Willard
In 194 7 Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner col worthy- musicals have lived on in a glow of in the South Pacific as one great and grand laborated on "A Dish for the Gods," a vehicle wider appreciation simply by virtue of their romantic adventure ? intended for Gertrude Lawrence. A year later, original cast albums. Love Life certainly may have looked as if it it became love life. a Broadway musical. lndeed, the cast recording is at the root of were cut from this same voguish cloth. Its Nanette Fabray and Ray Middleton starred in the entire cult musical phenomenon. No mat opening scene depicts a perfect American idyU the production which was directed by Elia Ka ter how grim the failure- 200 performances. crammed with music which could underscore zan, choreographed by Michael Kidd, and de 80 performances, 9 performances-a musical any Currier and Ives print, the brimming confi signed by Boris Aronson. Produced by Cheryl with a provocative collection of songs entic dence of "My Name Is Samuel Cooper" fol Crawford, it played for 252 performances at ingly packaged in an album with production lowed at once by WeiU 's caressing melody, the 46th Street Theater. photographs and generous liner notes will bringing comforting assurance to the lyric of I introduce this article as baldly as I do be soon develop an almost mythic reputation. In " Here I'U Stay": cause relatively little is known about this deed the grimmer the failure ("bigger " For that land is a sandy illusion work. Certainly the record is more complete names, shorter run). the more grandiose the It's the theme of a dream gone astray on One Touch of \lemts (1943) which, in addi cult-whicl1 then inflates beyond usefulness And the world others woo tion to its recently anthologized text [Stanley any sense of the true merits of the work. And I can find loving you Richards, ed. Great Musicals ofthe American woe to those perennial re-producers of A Tree So here I'll stay Theatre, vol. 1 (Radnor. Pa.: Chilton, 1973)) Grows in Brooklyn, House of Flowers, and But soon the colors darken, the insinuating and its reissued cast album [AEI 1136], re Anyone Can Whistle, just three of those musi tones of "Progress' ' drift into the orchestra ceives generous space in a quartet of autobi cals whose albums of fine songs have created tion, the painted drop of the first scene re ographies by ladies of the theater no less the mistaken impression that the shows in turns. belching factories now cover the luminous than Mary Martin, Agnes de Mille. which they are entwined are unappreciated. Connecticut greens and glades. The flags slip Sano Osato, and Miss Crawford. These fasci workable gems. to half-mast and it becomes apparent that, al nating reflections of precisely the same saga Love Life, I hasten to add, is not such an though We ill and Lerner may be trading in intertwine in a kind of joyful Rasliomon that artifact. Although it does have problems of its Americana, they do not intend to glory in it. By greatly enriches one's appreciation of \lem'5 as own. these are related more to its time than its the time we have heard "Economics."' "Wom a superbly crafted musical comedy. techniques or, more precisely. the timing of its en's Club Blues,'' "Is It Him or Me?", met the Even though Love Life was a major produc techniques. Hobo and Mr. Cynic, and watched a major bal tion (forcing Dealh ofa Salesman to postpone Tainted Americana let called "Punch and Judy Get a Divorce," we rehearsals in order to accommodate Kazan 's are drinking from a very different cup of tea, wish to do the new Weill-Lerner work), In the heady rush of optimism and confi more Edward Hopper than Currier and Ives. mounted every bit as prestigiously as lkm'5 or dence that swept over post-war America, the uire life's stars may have come over from Lady in /he Dark (1941). no such record re Americana musical, which Rodgers and Ham High Button Shoes and Annie Get lvur Gu11 mains. It receives a single-if perceptive merstein had patented dtm'ng the war with the and it may have its cheery springtime echoes paragraph in Crawford's memoirs and one highly chauvinistic Oklahoma! (the exclama of Carousel ("Green-Up Time"). but Love Life terse sentence in Lemer's. Most of us can tion point in the title is as significant to an un is absolutely none of the above. Indeed by place three of Weill's popular standards, derstanding of the cultural phenomenon of their own admission (Mr. Lerner in TIie New "Here I'll Stay;' " Mister Right;' and "Green Oklalwma! as anything in the text itself), be York Times [7 October 1948J), the authors up Time," with this score. But how many came all the rage, holding, as popular enter sought to illuminate the "decline of American other song titles can you recall? And actual tainments do, a mirror up to a national homelife in the past century or so and the re melodies? What about the narrative line-care sensibility swollen with patriotism. sultant unhappiness and confusions of the av to take a stab at that? It is hardly surprising if Such musicals were essentially Currier and erage family." Does this sound like popular your knowledge of love Life is scant, because Ives lithographs embellished with all the post-war America, those Baby Boom days the afterlife of this show-that network of re pretty colors and conceits of the musical that Norman RockweU brought home to us cordings, tours, stock productions that truly stage: lilting melody and jazzy rhythm, grace every week on the cover of the Saturday Eve imprints most musicals on the public con ful ballet and fancy hoofing. easy humor, warm ning Post? sciousness-simply never happened for love sentiments, handsome people, extravagant Life. There was no lour, no London produc period costumes, and lavishly painted picture Conceptual Innovation tion, no movie; the stock and amateur rights postcard drops. These musicals earnestly re J would be the first to move that the phrase went unlicensed, and the libretto was never flected a nation prideful of a victory that was "ahead of its time" be slruck from the lexicon published, not even in Theatre Arts. nothing less than the natural outcome of a glo of acceptable critical terminology. Far too of But more than any of these ill fortunes. rious past. That past could now be celebrated ten the critical community offers this shop what cast love life into obscurity was the fact with the same gusto that enlivened the worn catch-all as a nod of appreciation to that the superior Weill/Lerner score was present and fired belief in the future. If Annie deficient works which belong to the oeuvre of never recorded, due to the prolonged ASCAP Get 1'vur Gun could make something swell and artists who have moved up to the heights of strike of 1948, during which ASCAP members boisterous out of a somewhat questionable ex acceptance and acclaim. And so one finds out sat on all recording rights. Thereby, love Life ploitation of the Old West. then Bloomer Girl right failures graciously excused with the was deprived of the chance to enjoy, at the could certainly concoct something sweetly proclamation that they were ahead of their re very least, the status of a cult musical. For nostalgic from the American Civil War. ls it any spective times. More often than not, they while it is true that love life achieved only wonder then, that at the end of the decade a were not ahead of anything, just plain. old modest Broadway success, many considera rather modest new musical could ride higher fashioned "no good." bly less successful- and certainly less note- than the rest on its depiction of the recent war Having set this down, let me move boldly to claim that Kurt Vreill and Alan Jay Lemer's Charles Willard teaches Musical Comedy Dramaturgy at Carnegie-Mellon University love life was quite literaUy ahead of its time. The dark colors and bitter tonalities of Love KURT WEILL NEWSLETTER PAGE 4 Life are not rooted in character or beavy Rodgers and Hammerstein methods so hand technique-witness a kind of Platonic dialogue footed narrative, but in tbe actual theatrical ily supplied. The comment song by its very na the authors conducted in The New York Times scheme by which the show makes its way ture is .... alytical, introspective. and dis [3 October 1948] as a pre-opening feature-at across the stage. The technique that Weill and tanced, and Love life, with its two-p~rt score the considerable expense of character. Love Lerner pioneered to shape their concept fea shrewdly finding precisely these tonalities, Life is truly about getting itself told, more tured for the first time what has come to be emerged as no valentine to the· institution of about the theater as theater than it is about known as the comment song: musical se• marriage or to American values at large. On Sam and Susan Cooper. And since what lasts in quences, vocaJ or choreographic, which do not those terms alone. it was a truly modern the theater, what truly endures, is character, advance action or express charncter directly work. that's an unlucky spot for Love life to be in. (as per the dictum of the Rodgers and Ham Fractured Ideals Writing in retrospect, producer Cheryl Craw merstein ••integrated" musical), but comment ford echoed this truth: "fts theme was fresh, from odd angles to create a musical profile The critical comments were predominantly the form unusual. .. but it had no heart, no pas having more to do with tone and point than love songs for the originality of Lerner and sion. The audience could not get emotionally emotion and character. This technique has Weill's technique, counterpointed in some involved with the marital problems of the now, ofcou rse, become part and parcel ofcon quarters by disaffection for the inteUectual couple." And technique by itself, unharnessed temporary musical comedy and practiced by coolness it produced. Brooks Atkinson, how from the service of character, can only drive a such conceptualists as Stephen Sondheim, ever, found little to love even in the authors' show so long as it is fresh; once imitated or Harold Prince, and Bob Fosse. innovations. Aside from positive comments simply employed elsewhere, its strength is about the music, he told readers of The New greatly reduced. But in 1948 this was an innovation. Writing York Times [8 October 1948) that the show about the show during its Boston tryout [Bos was not only "joyless, a general gripe mas The Missing Link ton Post, 19 September 1948), a somewhat querading as entertainment:' but also that its Love Life's technique and conjoined con awed Eliot Norton proclaimed that: self-styled vaudeville was a "pose" because ceits have certainly. been employed else Only a young man could have written " Vaudeville is not pale and wan but hearty." where. The comment song was exploited with Love Life. An old fellow of 30 would have Clearly the colors of Love Life did not match notable effectin Cabaret, Company, and a host swooned away at the very thought of a Mr. Atkinson's rose-tinted views of American of lesser works. Hallelujah, Baby! marched a musical play which dramatizes the Ameri love-life circa 1948. couple blissfully free from the restraints of ag can dream o{ romance from 1791 to the Nor, as it turned out, did they match the ing through a hundred-year cavalcade of Black present. .. and if you told him it must all be America; the exorcism sequence set to a quar done gaily in a series of vaudeville turns public's perceptions. After an initial rush of solid attendance. audiences dwindled sharply tet of Ziegfeld-esque routines climaxing no from m,igicians to minstrels, he would less a wor:k than Follies perhaps owes not a have cried, ''Hold, enough!" ... Alan Jay and the show's 252-performance run fell far short of early expectations. Theater-goers ap little something to the minstrel show exorcism Lerner is only 29 and that makes all the that brings the Coopers face to face with their difference in the world ... to aidm the exe parenUy did not take to having their ideals fractured, their institutions sniped at, their be illusions at the eleventh hour of Love Life. As cution he has composer Kurt Weill whose for the vaudeville frames, Chicago set them to mind is young though his talents are ma lief in "Progress" and "Mister Right" ques tioned. In 1948 the possibility of "Mister the task of its even darker social commentary. ture and director Elia Kazan, an old No doubt about it, Love Life has been done and codger of 36, who understands youth and Right" was no illusion to be pursued haplessly for 150 years. Indeed, not two blocks and six done again, which would not affect the work's appreciates talent. durability a whit if only the character of Sam Indeed so innovative were the methods of months from Love Life audiences could see ex actly such a "Wonderful Guy" easily won by a and Susan were a bit more substantial. De love Life that its youthful craftsmen felt spite the richness of ''This ls the Life," "Is It obliged to package their invention with precise knucklehead named Nellie Forbush: all it took was a good heart and a willingness to do a little Him Or Me?" and the lovely " I Remember It instrtJctions and to include on the title page of Well," the Coopers stubbornly remain at the all programs a careful note of explanation, not growing up. But if Love Life failed to reach the American service of the concept, never quite corning usually found in musical comedies. ln Boston into focus as people we can care about. that note read: sensibility circa 1948, it was only a matter of Love Life is a vaudeville. It is presented in time before a connection would be made. Not A comfortable claim can certainly be made two parts, each consisting of a series of surprisingly, when the upheavals of the 1960s that Love Life is a vastly important artifact of acts. The sketches, which start in 1791 unraveled the national fiber on just about the American musical theater, indeed tJte and come up to the present day, are pre every front, the popular musical stage brought "missing link" in the evolution of the modern sented in the physical style of the various forth a number of extravagantly praised works concept musical. Moreover, it is clear that its periods. The vaudeville acts which come that capitalized on the techniques pioneered in stagecraft was valid, workable theatrical ma between each sketch are presented be Love Life and featured many of its same con chinery, only awaiting a time when it was at fore a vaudeville drop and are styled and ceits. Gymnastic displays of fractured Ameri one with the popular audience's self-percep costumed in a set vaudeville pattern. can dreams now flew high on glistening sinews tions. Even now, in text, the show projects a By the time the show arrived in New York, the of irony and ambiguity; vaults ofangst and cyn sharp contemporary texture. But even with note had been expanded to include ti)e follow icism hit self-absorbed audiences where they these acknowledgements, as heady as they ing: "The four main characters, Susan and lived. The irony here is that the work that may sound, love Life would emerge on the Sam Cooper, and their children Johnny and traded in Love Life's techniques with the most stage today, I suspect, a work on which, ironi Elizabeth, who present the story, do not assured hand was the Sondheim/Prince collab cally, "Progress' has played a few of its own change in appearance as the time moves on." oration Company, also a distinctly unsenti tricks. Irony itself. Clearly, in dealing with new machinery, one mental exploration of marriage. Is there a possible fix, a way to invest the could not be too careful. And so. the question lingers: would Love show with additional character? Perhaps the What remained unexplained were the ef Life, if offered today alongside the works vaudeville/comment sequences could be gath fects created by this new technique of musical whose techniques it pioneered, finally achieve ei:ed around a character, a kind of ''Mr. Prog ress" figure. The Coopers might then seem to dramaturgy. For in intercutting traditional a greater measure oJ critical and popular ac scenes with vaudeville comments, the authors claim than it did nearly four decades ago? do battle with a presence, something of human dimension, thereby sparking the fires of emo brazenly short-circuited the foursquare ener Tough to say, but without adjustments, proba gies of the Americana musical. They offered bly not. Time has not only caught up with Love tional involvement that only blaze in the the instead a crosspatch of electrical energies that life, it has passed it by, leaving it shy of fresh ater when character meets character. ln short, such an adjustment would make pre were acerbic and dry, cool, and satirical. ness and urgency, l suspect, at least on the These methods placed detached observation commercial stage. Yes, there is a bit of para cisely the advance that Cabaret made over before heartfelt involvement and mocking hu dox at work here: Love life is one of those Ca11tinued on page 8 mor before the rushes of sentiment that the musicals that invest absolutely everything in KURT WEILL NEWS LETTER PAGE 5 Nor In th~ Singer Let the Song Be Lost
,(~~ \\ By Michael Morley
~~ ';;:: , tralia when she first turned to Weill's songs, turbing flaws. Shakespeare might well have ~ I I and her familiarity with the more popular been thinking of them when in As You Like ll '\:.~ forms has left its mark on ber approach to he has Jaques observe, "I can suck melan WeiU's music. And the performances of the choly out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs." Italians, Milva and Laura Betti, swing from the (For ''melancholy" read "joy," "e>.'J)ressive smoky intimacy of the cabaret to the declama ness," "sweetness," or whatever.) Even tion of the political platform. In a very real Teresa Stratas, for all the persuasiveness of sense, each of these approaches is partly suit her advocacy on The Unknown Kurt Weill, able for some of Weill's theater songs, but does not entirely avoid the implications of none is by itself wholly appropriate. Shakespeare's words, although she goes fur Too often the cabareUtheatrical approach ther than many a singer one might name in leads to an over-stressing of the text's fornm eschewing the Voice Beautiful in favor of the lations at the expense of the music's own, less Song Sensible. Occasionally however, she vo obvious emphases. Any performance of calizes more than the simplicity of the vocal Weill's songs which ignores the notes and de line might suggest, and a slight tendency to livers the text as a type of Sprechgesang over-emote (as in "Nanna's Lied" and "Wie against a distant, often doctored, orchestral Lange Noch") suggests the world of Puccini obligato will always miss the irony which is so rather than that of the Weill who is here hover crucial to the balance of words and music in the ing between the French cabaret and the Ger settings and will disregard the dialectic of man Lied. But these are minor criticisms. tough text and seductive strains. Yet is this not Compared with, for example. two other classi the established and sanctioned Brechtian style cally-trained sopranos-Elise Ross(Seven where the word takes primacy over all else? Deadly Sins) and Meriel Dickinson (on the It is high time this particular chestnut was DGG set), Stratas' textual clarity and fidelity consigned to the flames once and for all. First to the music are admirable. of all, the Song-style itself is only one compo Perhaps the major disappointment of the nent in Weill 's musical array, and singing actors recent Weill recordings is the EM! version of the appropriate performers for a very limited The Seven Deadly Sins. The quartet of men portion of the Brecht-Weill repertory. Of acquit themselves well, and Simon Rattle's course Brecht insisted on the audibility and shaping of the rhythms and attention to tex inteligibility of the text; of course he de tures suggest a sensitive hand. But Elise manded that the music's shape follow the flow Ross. though she sings the numbers at the and stress patterns of the text. not vice versa. correct pitch, sounds uncomfortable and often But the Good Brechtian Seal of Approval forced, with the textual nuances lost because should no longer be reserved for and stamped of clouded delivery. Even though Gisela May's on all those renditions of pieces from the recording for Eterna shows its age in places Brecht/Weill repertoire which sound as if the and is, of course, transposed down through perfonner needs either a radar set to find the out, she is more in command of both text and melody or a remedial course in voice produc music than Ms. Ross. tion. It is false historically and aesthetically to seek to justify musical inadequacies by refer ring to some mythical imprimature of Brecht's Diseuse for unmusical singing. One has only to listen to But with May, the "Socialist Nightingale'' his own rendition of two songs from The as she is sometimes known, we are a long way Threepenny Opera to realize that though he from the world of sound of the previous per would not win any competition with McCor Some twenty years ago one might have formers. If they might be said to approach mack or Josef Schmidt for Golden Voice of the Weill· s music from the "higher" levels of musi found two types of Weill singers: those with Century, he does pay close attention to note both feet in the Brechtian camp and those with cal culture, May comes to it from the "lower," values, melody, and musical as well as te>.tual more popular, more immediately and openly their feet on Broadway and their hearts and phrasing. And although many of the original voices in Musical-or Cabaret-land. (Lenya, of theatrical. The classically-trained singer's performers had a background in cabaret and tendencies to linger on notes or to seek to em course, was a special case, combining as she popular performance, some were also skilled phasize nuances of meaning through vibrato did stylistic elements Crom both worlds.) Now perlormers in operetta and related forms of adays the range is more international, and the vowels and discarded consonants are not for popular musical theater. In 1928 "singing ac her. Like all the adherents of a Brechtian or musical approaches are at times an uneasy tors" were considerably more skilled in sing Berliner Ensemble house-style, she delivers mixture of the New World and the Old. Gisela ing than their present-day counterparts. May, for example, was trained as an actress the text so directly, with such clearly enunci and her performances of Weill are very much Diva ated consonants, that one might almost take in the Berliner Ensemble vein; direct, no-non If singers from the theatrical side of the dictation from her delivery. sense, even aggressive. Robyn Archer, on the tracks leave themselves open to criticism for a And yet. .. and yet. Or, as Mahagonny puts it, '1\ber etwas fehlt." other hand, had a considerable career as a sometimes cavalier and approximate attitude rock and country-western performer in Aus- to the music, those with operatic or classical The earlier reference to a Berliner Ensem training often display different yet equally dis- ble house-style is not arbitrary. What was
Michael Morley is Professor ofDrama at the Flinders University in South Australia.
KURT WEILL NEWSLETTER P AGE 6 once a departure from and a reaction against This is a real problem in performances of character in his rendition of "Das Lied von der conventional cabaret-type performance and Weill and clearly relates to the tough, female Unzulanglichkeit menschlichen Strebens." the crooning of songs through a haze of smoke macho (facho?) mien of some of the per If, however, one moves to the present, and sentimentality has now become "the ac formers. After all. you can't really sing Weill's where should one look for possible alterna cepted mode of discourse.'' One has only to songs in their original higher keys if you culti tives and models? Well, not, I would suggest, look at the record sleeves-not only of May's vate a manner of leather and leaden impassiv in Sarah Walker's rather arch drawing room recordings, but also those of Archer, Betti, ity. Toughness, especially if it hovers around versions of the Auden/Britten cabaret songs. and Milva-to find that the images are there to middle C, with a top note of A a sixth above To these she brings all the vocal equipment of a help us judge the book by its cover. What do and an occasional dark bottom E, sounds more fine singer but little of the personality and the we see? Black leather Uackets, not under convincing in a higher key which makes more atrical immediacy the songs demand. Every wear) (May); a deliberately androgynous man demands on the singer's vocal flexibility. nuance of phrasing is realized, every note ex nequin in top hat and tails, with Brecht in black Although Weill, in his Broadway period, amined for its potential yield, and yet along the leather for good measure (Archer); a head was prepared to transpose his songs to suit a way the songs get lost. Weill's European the shot of a performer with eyes in shadow performer's vocal timbre, surely he would ater songs call for a clear voice with character against an austere black background (Betti); a have hesitated before approving the practices and color. well focused and preferably without black-clad vamp astride a suitcase, aggres of Gisela May, who often sings his numbers a a wide vibrato. Clear diction is important, as is sively presenting two reasonable lengths of sixth below their true pitch, and Sonja Kehler a feel for the cadences of speech, and the thigh to the viewer (Milva); Brecht's name in (sometimes as much as an octave below). singer should sing when necessary and tell the large capital letters on a black background Such transpositions inevitably cloud the musi story when the song calls for it. Above all, the over a scene depicting episodes from cal texture and obscure the relationship be need to project character and personality "Seerauber-Jenny" in a style combining_Alice tween melody and accompaniment; the voice through the song should not prompt the per in Wonderland with Bosch and Grosz (Sonja hangs heavy or plods along underneath the ac former to overblown characterizations where Kehler). The style in all these cases may well companiment instead of floating on top of it. the music is milked or the words wrung for be the woman, but is it the composer? This practice too frequently goes hand in hand every last drop of significance. Although it may sound heretical to some with an interpretative approach which accepts Are such requirements too difficult? Brechtians, I must confess that after listening the primacy of the message over the musical Where are the singers who might fill them? en bloc to these emphatic and direct ladies, I vehicle for conveying it, instead of insisting on WeU, f would suggest that Roberta Alexander, began to long for a little subtlety, an ability to the interdependence of the two. Taken to its for one, comes close. In her recent recording use the text as a scalpel rather than a broad logical conclusion, it leads to a semi-rhythmi of some Charles Tves' songs, she displays all sword, a departure from the frontal address to cal speaking of the verses over an instrumen the above qualities as weU as a clear under the listener which all too readily slides into an tal accompaniment which often highlights the standing of the implications of lves' subtitle to ossified pattern of hectoring and aggressive melody as well. This surely cannot be what his song "In the Alley": 'Mer a session at insistence. It may seem odd in this context to Weill or Brecht envisioned. Poli's-not sung by Caruso, Jenny Lind, John McCormack, Harry Lauder, George Chappell quote Wagner, but one of his observations on Early Models performance sprang to mind: •~ singer who is or the Village Nightingale." lt is hardly coinci not able to recite his part according to the in So, in Roy Campbell's words, "Where's dental that she has an outstanding reputation tention of the poet cannot possibly sing it ac the bloody horse?" For a start, performers in, and affinity for Mozart; for there too, less is cording to the intention of the composer." Too contemplating singing ~ill might well go back often more-though it never means singing or often it sounds as if each of these singers. in to the early Dreigroschenoj)er recording and playing only fifty per cent of the notes. The their different ways, has decided in advance the Pabst film just to rinse out their ears. What Weill who was such an admirer of Mozart's that the text must be declaimed in a style strikes one most of aU about the youn_g clarity and precision is surely entitled to ex which combines blank objectivity with an insis Lenya's rendition of "Seerauber Jenny," for pect something similar from performers of his tent challenge to the listener; and too often, example, is its lightness, its deftness, its songs. Such concerns, far from being equated the objectivity slides into facelessness, the grace. Odd terms perhaps, but instead of the with musical pedantry or academic over-scru challenge into empty agressiveness. unrelieved sombemess of so many renditions pulousness, are simply an attention to the ba This is not to say that individual numbers of the song, we have here an interpretation sics. do not come off well: Archer's "Epitaph 1919" which accentuates the youthful, almost fairy with its beautifully shaped instrumental ac tale optimism of the "they'll get their come list ofrecordings companiment nearly catches both the song's uppance one day." Listen to how she sings the elegiac and cautionary mood. So too, Milva's refrain: the first two times almost crisply and Roberta Alexander. Charles Jues Songs. Et rendition of the "Tango-Ballade" allows the matter-of-factly, with a slight portamente, the cetera 1020. ironic nostalgia in the music to color the dia last time legato with the notes held to their full Robyn Archer. Robyn Archer sings Brecht. logue between the two partners as they view value . The effect is one of innocent, not know EMI ASD 4166. the past through black-tinted spectacles. ing menace, and aU the more disturbing for Robyn Archer. Robyn Archer sings Brecht, vol. Laura Betti's choice ofWeill's Broadway songs that. The voice itself recedes with the ship as 2. EMl DS 38062. is praiseworthy and her singing persuasive; it sails off towards an ambiguous, even nega Laura Betti. Kurt Weill 1933-50. Orizzonte but there are also moments-especially in tive, Utopia, and, like the Song of the Sirens, ORL8020. "September Song" -when the overall effect invites the listener along for the trip. Documente. Die Dreigroschenoper. Tolefunken is odd to say the least: a little like a Mafioso This is a long way from all those per 6.419U AJ. moll seeking to get the lead in a show by mak formers who deliver it as a throaty and gut Sonja Kehler. Brecht Portraz't. Wergo WER ing the Broadway producer an offer he daren't tural statement of intent and attack on 60078. refuse. anything appropriate-society, male chauvin Gisela May. Breehl/Weill. Philips 843783 PY. There is a similar unevenness about Sonja ism, exploitation of the working class, etc. Gisela May. Die seiben Thdsunden. Eterna Kehler's interpretations of Weill's songs: for And singers who feel that a totally dispassion 825732; Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft example, in the case of "Bilbao Song,'' it's as if ate, undifferentiated and untheatrical delivery DGG 139308. it's being sung by a barmaid who has a nodding ofthe songs is a sine qua 1um for the conveying Milva. Brecht, vol. 2 RCA PL 37423. acquaintance with a downmarket German of their message should listen again to Ernst Elise Ross. The Seven Deadly Sins. EMI ASD equivalent of Bette Midler. Weill's careful mu Busch's ballad singer in the film, Brecht's own 4402; Angel DS-37981. sical pointing of the text is here nullified by an rendition of "Mackie Messer;' and Erich Pon Teresa Stratas. The Unknown Kurt r#iill. expanded dance-band-derived accompani to's wonderfully blase and world-weary Pea Nonesuch D-79019. ment which is itselfblousy and coarse without chum who combines the toughness of the Sarah Walker. Cabaret Songs. Meridian the necessary humor or sharpness. -performer with the engaging cynicism of the E77056. K URT WEILL NEWSLETTER PAGE 7 Love Life, con't. if and when Weill realized that Love life would of a minstrel show reach the stage (minstrel Love Life in the use of the vaudeville/comment result not so much in a slice of Americana show sequences had been outlined for Ulysses technique. served alongside, say, one of tbe great and actually completed for Lady in the Dark), l Rodgers and Hammerstein works, but in a imagine Love Life left his passion for Ameri Pursuing the Dream kind of sliced Americana of a texture and taste cana still unsatisfied. Perhaps it was this frus But the final irony of Love life remains with that would not find its adherents for another tration that eventually led him to that most Weill. From all accounts, Weill was immedi two decades. It is interesting to watch him, in American of American works, The Adventures ately drawn to Lemer's idea, for it seemed to the adjoining Platonic dialogue, clinging a bit ofHuckleberry Finn. One has only to listen to offer him at last the opportunity to compose a anxiously to the Americana col ors of the work: the easy, joyful strains of Huckleberry Finn's full-scale piece of Americana. This abiding, "Come in Momin' " (actually a kind of com deeply felt ambition had some expression in Man:Vaudeville? panion piece to Love Life's "My Kind of Knickerbocker Holiday, thesettings of the four Weill:Why not? If you want to tell an Night") to know that one has found a com Whitman poems, and for Railroads on Parade, American story, isn't that the most typi poser doing what, as far as his work in the but had remained frustrated since the Ulysses cal form of American theatre? Broadway musical is concerned, he did best: Africanus project failed to reach fruition. Man:I suppose so. setting character and situation, time and Lemer's concept sounded ideal. One wonders Even though Weill finally got to see his notion place, to music of the heart. Collaborators Stage a Scene Aimed at ARCHIVES NYU Intern Program Explaining Their Musical Play Five students in the New York University Musical Theater Program are serving as By KURT WEILL and ALANJAY LERNER interns in the Weill-Lenya Research Center. Composer and Librettist, respectively, of "Looe Life" The program is being coordinated by Deena SCENE: In front of1hc Shubert Theatre, Bos- MAN: But how is that possible? Rosenberg, Chairman, and Robert Chapel, ton. Lerner and Weill are standing breathing in the LERNER: With vaudeville. morning air. A man comes by and stares at the the- WEILL: Isn't that simple? Coordinating Director. Working in conjunction atrc marquee. MAN: (Wiping his forehead) I don' t know. ls it with the Foundation staff, Sarah Ackerman. MAN: Pardon me. Do uither of you know any- like a lot oflittlc plays strung together? David Fletcher, Erik Haagensen, Richard ihing about this show? WEILL: Not exactly. One sketch is a music
Kurt Weiltaower right, front) and his classmates on a field trip to Anhaltian Salt Mines near Stassfurt, 1915.
composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Dr. Max Spielmeyer, Physician By Jurgen Schebera Theile arranged for him to speak for a whole hour before the entire student body. Every Yes-, it is true that Weill composed war cho one was very impressed with Kurt's lecture ruses. As you know, World War I inspired a After the March 1984 publication of his and his perlormance of Mendelssohn's music great nationalist wave in Germany. As boys of book Kurl Weill: Leben und Werk (Leipzig: at the piano. It was at this time, about 1916, fourteen, we were strongly influenced by the VEB Deutscher Verlag fiir Musik, 1983), that Kurt sent his first compositions to a music surge and wanted to do anything we could to Jurgen. Schebera received correspondence publisher in Leipzig. The publisher (I don't re be involved. All of our studies in school were from two of Weill's high school classmates who call his name) responded that the music was focused on nationalist themes. Everything still reside in Dessau. Dr. Schebera shares ex very interesting but suggested that, because German was emphasized: language, litera cerpts from his interviews with them: of his young age, it would be better to wait a ture, art, and even nationalistic music. We few years before publication. were being prepared to serve the Emperor Dr. Willy Krueger, Chemist Kurt was also very knowledgeable on the and the army. subject of literature and knew most of the We all joined the Dessauer Feldkorps, the Our school was the Herzogliche Friedrich books in his father's library. One literature German equivalertt of the Boy Scouts. We Oberrealschule, located in the Dessau teacher was an avid collector of rare books and were issued uniforms and assigned rankings Friedericianum. I attended classes with Kurt we used to encourage Kurt to divert the such as Hilfskornett (Flag carrier), Feldwarl Weill from 1909 to 1917. He was a very talented teacher's attention when we had a scheduled (Field Lookout), and Kundschafter (scout). boy, but he never pushed himself. He was sat exam. When class began, Kurt would rise and Kurt Weill was a KundschajJer. In addition to isfied with his class rank, which was usually innocently ask a question about rare editions. weekend exercises, we organized public eve between fourth and sixth in the class. Most of The teacher would launch into a long discus nings where we presented special sketches, the boys played sports after school, but not sion with Kurt, and we didn't have to worry songs, and recitations. In January of 1915, we Kurt. He would practice for hours at the piano about the exam! held one of these programs at the Zentrale, a or at the organ in his synagogue. Kurt was Sometimes Kurt would invite us to the syn Dessau restaurant. Kurt Weill played the pi already a musical expert at school, and the mu agogue and I remember spending many hours ano for one of the war songs "Fur uns." This sic teacher, August Theile, quickly recognized listening to him practice the organ. One visit in certainly must be one of the earliest programs his talent. I remember a school concert in 1916 particular impressed me very much. We ob to include the musician Weill. when the choir sang some war choruses which tained permission to attend a Jewish festival, In 1915 or 1916, the boys from our school Kurt had composed. His brother Nathan con the Laubhutten-fest (Succoth). Another vivid had to join the army, and soon we received ducted. impression I h;ive is that of the entire Weill word that some of our schoolmates had been In the 10th grade we all had to participate in family together in one ofDessau's large parks. killed in action. At the school commemoration public speaking (Rede-Akt) where we would It was a very peaceful scene: the cantor-he services, Kurt Weill usually spoke on behalf of address the class for about 30 minutes on a always wore his hat- his wife, and four chil the students. He always found the right selected topic. Kurt chose to speak about the dren walking and talking together. words.
KURT WEILL NEWSLETTER PAGE 9 NEW PUBLICATIONS
.ARTICLES Ooh Wallah Wallah. King Kurt. (Stiff Records SEEZ 52, stereo) . (Includes "Mack the Knife") Corleonis. Adrian. "Ferruccio Busoni: historia abscondita." Fan fare Oanuary-February 1984): 90-116. Two lo Tango; The Tango Project II. William Schimmel, accordian; Michael Sahl, piano; Stan Kurtis, piano. (Nonesuch 79057, digital). Kowalke, Kim. " Kurt Weill's First Stage." Keynote (August 1984) 6- (Includes "Matrosenlied" from Happy End] l 13. RESEARCH Rorem, Ned. "Notes on Weill:' Opera News (21 January 1984): 12- 19. Huber, Eugene R. "Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince: The Development of the Concept Musical:' Ph.D. dissertation, New BOOKS York University, [In progress]. Drew, David. A Kurt Weill Handbook. London: Faber & Faber, Hinton, Stephen. "The Idea of Gebrauchsmusik: A Study of Musi [Forthcoming in 1985). cal Aesthetics in the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) with Particular Reference to the Works of Paul Hindemith:' Ph.D. dissertation, Jarman, Douglas. Kurt Weill: An Illustrated Biography. University ofBirmingham, 1984. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1983 [Citation for Ameri can publisher omitted in last issue]. Schilling, Taro. "Kurt Weill und seine beiden Sinfonien: 1hr Charakter als Selbsterkenntnis und Zeitdokument." Ph.D. disser Nesnow, Adrienne, comp. Register of the Weillllenya Papers. tation, Universitiit Koln. [In progress as of 1982). New Haven: Yale University Music Library, [Forthcoming in De cemeber 1984). Lecture: John Fuegi will deliver a lecture on the contractual ar rangements between Brecht and Weill in Berlin at the Brecht RECORDINGS Zentrum, October 1984.
Kleine Dreigroschenmusik. (Album title: "Music from Berlin in the Lecture: Gottfried Wagner will deliver two lectures at the Brecht 1920's" .) Canadian Chamber Ensemble; Raffi Armenian, conduc sulla Scena conference in Bergamo, Italy in February 1985. The tor. (CBC SM 5010, hall speed mastered). first will be on Kurt Weill and the second on the relationship be tween Brecht and Weill. lady in the Dark. Gertrude Lawrence, MacDonald Carey, with supporting cast. (AEI 1146, mono). [Theater Guild of the Air, SCORES 1950). Hennenberg, Fritz, ed. Das grosse Brecht-Liederbuch. 3 vols. Die sieben 1bdsunden. Milva; Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin: Henschelverlag: Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1984. Berlin; Bruno Weil, conductor. (Metronome 0060.558, stereo). One Touch oflknus, New York: TRO. [Vocal selections forthcom String Quartet in B minor. String Quartet No. 1, Op. 8. Sequoia ing in December, 1984. Distributed by Songways Service, 170 NE String Quartet. (Nonesuch 79071, digital). 33rd St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334; $6.95 +$1.00 handling).
Robyn Archer sings Brecht, \,bi. 11. Robyn Archer, voice; London Berlin to Broadway. New York: Hal Leonard. [Collection of popu Sinfonietta; Dominic Muldowney, conductor. (EMl DS 38062, lar Weill songs forthcoming in December, 1984. Hal Leonard Pub digital). - lishing Corp., 8112 WestBluemound Rd., Milwaukee, WI 53213).
Mack the Knife and Other Berlin Theatre Songs of Kurt Weill. Threepenny Opera. English Adaptation by Marc Blitzstein. New Sextet of Orchestra U.S.A. (European reissue; RCA PL 42413). York: Warner Bros. [Forthcoming in December, 1984. First collec tion with English lyrics). L.A. Is My lady. Frank Sinatra with Quincy Jones and orchestra. (Qwest 25145-1). Ho, Billy, O! [Madrigal from Love Life S.A.T.B. with divisi].New [Includes "Mack the Knife"] York: TRO, 1984. [Distributed by Songways Service, 170 NE 33rd St., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334).
WNCN Spotlights Weill Yale Displays Manuscripts WNCN-FM, a New York City radio station Yale University's Music Library displayed a Victor Cardell and Adrienne Nesnow, ar specializing in "concert music," featured the selection of papers from the Weill/Lenya Ar ranged the materials chronologically, to allow work of Kurt Weill in its programming for the chive at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manu viewers an opportunity to reconstruct a com ~onth of August. Keynote, the station's script Library from 30 May to 16 September prehensive view of the lives and careers of monthly magazine, devoted its cover and lead 1984. Entitled "Melodious Tears,'' the exhibit Weill and Lenya. Museum personnel report story to Weill with "Kurt Weill's First Stage," occupied twenty cases and offered a wide se that the exhibit has been one of the most popu an article by Kim H. Kowalke, President of the lection of holograph music, librettos, corre lar evet presented at Beinecke. Weill Foundation, and a generous sampling of spondence, photographs, programs, and photographs of the composer and his family. memorabilia. The curators, Harold Samuel,
KURT WEILL NEWSLETTER PAGE 10 too, left behind a widow who was to become a VIEWPOINT cult figure, a model performer of his music and high priestess of his art. However, unlike Cos ima or Helene, Lenya hesitated to assume that role. It was her second husband, George 4 ' Sprechen Sie Brecht" or "Singen Sie Weill" Davis, who fought her every inch of the way to bring her back to the stage at all, and who con tracted the now legendary recordings for her. ''Prima la musica - dopo le parole," re At the time of these recordings, Lenya was in torts the composer. her fifties and no longer able to sing in the orig By Lys Symonette Strauss himself subtly settled the impasse inal keys; certain mannerisms and musical lib· both on stage and off by having the Countess erties crept in- all of which remain fascinating l This past July, the White Barn Theatre in hum the composer's melody as she leaves the because of her own personal charisma. Yet Westport, Connecticut, presented an evening stage. When Brecht called Weill "a phony Ri as in the case of the entire Seven Deadly Sins of cabaret entiUed Sprechen Sie Brecht. froni chard Strauss" during their arguments over recording or the Malzagonny "Crane Duet'' - cally, given the tiUe, Brecht's poetry and dia the music's primacy over text in Mahagonny, the lowered keys rob the pieces of orchestral logue are supplemented only by music of Kurt he unwittingly encapsulated the issue. 1n fact, brilliance and proper balances. Weill, omitting the Dessau and Eisler settings Weill had functioned much like a Strauss during Contrary to common perception, Weill did that might indeed have been appropriately the creation of Mahagomzy. He wrote to his not write the part of Jenny in Mahagom1y for subsumed under the tiUe. The lion's share of publisher, Universal Edition in Vienna, on 18 Lenya. He conceived it for opera singers; al the evening was given over to the best known Nove mber 1927: "Every single day I am though he didn't want the drama sacrificed to songs from Threepenny Opera and Happy End, working with Brecht on the libretto, whicb is the delicate vocal chords of the prima donna. with "The Soldier·s Wife" and "Nannas Lied" being shaped entirely according to my direc In initiating a new operatic style, as he told his (the latter sung-spoken by a male dancer!) tions. This type of collaboration, whereby the publisher, "I am r eplacing the former bravura thrown in for good measure. libretto is being molded totally according to aria with a new kind of 'popular song'." Notwithstanding the fact that Weill never musical points of view, opens up entirely new And here we come to the crux of the mat wrote a single note expressly for a German possibilities." ter: the words versus the music. What opera cabaret, presentations such as Spreche11 Sie Richard Wagner, of course, solved the singer would like to replace the fireworks of Brecht are constantly being patched together. problem in the only possible way: he was both the bravura aria with a "popular song"? One Like Ole Man River, they just keep rolling poet and composer. And there is more than a notes here the very few operatic stars who along-ever since Brecht on Brecht achieved little evidence that Brecht at least hoped to perform with equal brilliance in Lieder re success at the Theatre de Lys in the Sixties. approach that same control over text and mu citals, and the Lied is the closest to Weill's con But it has been rare for any of these "paste-up sic. ln fact, he often acted both contractually cept of "popular song," which in itself evolved jobs" to achieve a ·theatrical impact commen and artistically as if he had written both text from the German Singspiel (to be modernized surate with the raw materials themselves. and music. A case might be argued in support as Songspie[). It is this basic Lied form, with Sadly, Sprechen Sie Brecht reflected the Lower of a few other parallels: the same popular infusions found in Schubert, end of these efforts: petiom1ers unable to deal 1. Both established their own theaters to that characterizes much of Weill's theater mu with the demands of the material, embarass produce revolutionary works that were sic and which-as in the case of all great Lie ing musical renditions, worn-out staging cli intended to change society as much as der-is based on superior poetry. "Surabaya ches, and no overall conceptual thread. contemporary theatre. Johnny;• "Barbara Song," "My Ship," or "The The poet usually fares better than the com 2. Both were total men of the theater, Little Gray House" seem simple; yes, they poser in such a context since words badly spo insistent on U1eir will to the smallest de can be sung by singing actors, if their names ken can seldom be as painful as songs badly tail of production. are Lenya. Gertrude Lawrence, Mary Martin, sung. 3. Both expounded their theories, prin or Todd Dun.can. But they simply cannot and Revues such as Sprechen Sie Bree/it raise ciples, and systematic views in volumi should not be sung by actors who think they much larger issues, including the one which nous discussions, lectures, and essays. can sing and certainly not by the legion of nourished the demise of the collaboration be 4. Both surrounded themselves with "Brechtians" who believe they are serving tween Brecht and Weill: the struggle between worshipping disciples who were to carry their master by giving the words such pre text and music for supre macy in musical the on the Meister's intentions-the Wagneri dominance that they not only destroy the mu ater. Although virtually every major com ans and the Brechtians. sic in the process-and this is the irony- the poser-from Monteverdi to Puccini- has 5. Botl1 left behind widows to accomplish poetry as well. lamented his lrustrations with librettists for their unfulfilled visions (in fact. Helene A significant breakthrough in the question their generaJ lack of understanding of the Weigel was even dubbed "Cosima of words and music in Weill's performance has structural requirements of a libretto, I can Brecht" in Germany). been Teresa Stratas' recording, The Un think of no collaboration in which botb creators 6. Both men now have been mytholo known Kurt Weill. Not only were audiences were individually as prominent in their own gized to the point that ofJiciaUy sanc made aware of a new dimension to Weill's out right as Weill and Brecht. Indeed, Brecht's re tioned "performance traditions·• often put, but here for the first time a famous opera nown has at times even elevated him to "co subvert the original intent of the author singer, who combined vocal beauty and musi composer" status : witness the Metropolitan himself. cianship with high intelligence and understand Opera's billing of M(lhaganny which listed the And what about Weill? 1n his correspon• ing of the proper mixture of tone and word. composers as " Brecht-Weill'' with Brecht's dence with Lenya we find evidence that he, really sang. The great international success of name printed first! Certainly neither Metasta too, had thoughts about a theater of his own. this recording points the way to a new forum sio nor da Ponte could claim Brecht 's inde He actually came close to this goal when he for Weill's music outside the theater: namely pendent stature as either dramatist or poet joined the Playwrights' Company, a producing the concert hall, far removed from cabaret and nor could Boito nor even Hofmannsthal. Yet body which hardly would have dared to cabaret singers. the Strauss-Hofmannsthal correspondence present eithe.r Street Scene or Lost in the Stars Already some of Weill's "Lieder'' are be documents analogous disputes that achieved as a commercial venture on Broadway if it had gjnning to appear in recitals next to Schubert, immortality in Strauss's Capn'ccio, where the not been for Weill's determined efforts. These Brahms, Ravel, and Poulenc, and we look for plot centers on the resolution of the funda efforts took a heavy toll on Weill 's emotional ward to an evening someday of Singen Sie mental rivalry between ~rt und Ton. and physical well-being, and he never Weill at Tully Hall, which will also illuminate ''Prima le parole -doppo la musica." says achieved the artistic control necessary to sur poetry of Brecht far better than amateurish the poet. mount all the commercial compromises. Weill, attempts like Sprechen Sie Brecht. KURT WEILL NEWSLETTER PAGE 11