New PUBLICATIONS
ARTICLES Adorno, Theodor W. "On Jazz." Discourse:journal ofTheoretical Studies in Media and Culture ,.rn I Y81 wE IL L t:= 12 (Fall-Winter, 1989-90): 39-69. [Introductory comments by Jamie Owen Daniel, pp. 39-44.] Bassi, Adriano. "Kurt Weill e ii Lied." Rassegna musicale curci 43(Gennaio, 1990): 22-25. Krabbe, Niels. "Beggar's Opera gennem 250 fir - fra John Gay til Alan Ayckbourn." Musik & Forskning 14 (1988-89): 5-93. Petazzi, Paolo. "Mahagonny, una favola anticapitalistica." La rivista illustrata del Museo ~KONJUNKTUR ?Lom.~~~ LENYA •KURT WEILL - PIANO - HAPPY END ERNST BUSCH· THEO MAW.BEN teatrale alla Scala 3, no. 6 (Primavera, 1990): 38-43. SIL8£RSEE MAURICE DE ABRAVANEL m BOOKS Hayes, Helen, with Katherine Hatch. My Life i11 Three Acts. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jova novich, 1990. Hinton, Stephen, ed. Kurt Weill: The Threepenny Opera. The Cambridge Opera Handbook Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. 10~. Swain.Joseph P. The Broadway Musical; a Critical and Musical Survey.New York: Oxford Uni versity Press, 1990. Weill, Kurt Musik und T11eater; Gesammelte Schriften. Edited by Stephen Hinton and Jiirgen Schebera. Berlin: Henschelverlag, 1990.
DISSERTATIONS ,.,.. KU B.J WE I Ll cgccr~ Citron, Atay. "Pageantry and Theatre in the Service of}ewish Nationalism in the United States, 1933-1946." Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1989. [Available from UMI Dissertation Serv DIE DREIGR0SCHENOPER ice.] THE THREEPENNYOPERA Huynh, Pascal. "Kurt Weill et la republique de Weimar: Une vision de !'avant-garde dans la LOTTE UNYA•CAROLA NEHER•LYS GAUTY·ODffiE FLORELLE HARALD PAUL5EN ·KURT CERRON•LEWIS RUTH BAND press (1923-1933)." Ph.D. diss., l'Universite Franyois Rabelais de Tours and the Conserva OTTO KUMPERER THEO MACKEBEN toire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, 1990. Lareau, Alan Hartland. ''An Unhappy Love:The Struggle for a Literary Cabaret in Berlin, 1919- 1933." Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1990. [Available from UMI Disserta tion Service.]
RECORDINGS Berlin im Licht. Ensemble Modem, H.K. Gruber, conductor. Largo 5114. ["Berlin im Licht'': "Slow Fox and Algi-Song"; "Klopslied"; "Ach, ware mein Lieb ein Brtinnlein kalt"; "Frauen tanz"; "Bastille Musil("; "bl- Musik"; "Suite Panameene" from Marie Galante; "Cowboy Song"; "Captain Valentine's Song"; "Die stille Stadt."] Mahagonny Songspiel/ Die sieben Todsunden. Ute Lemper, Susanne Tremper, Helmut Wild haber, Peter Haage, Thomas Mohr, Manfred Jungwirth, Berlin-RIAS Chamber Ensemble, John Mauceri, conductor. Decca 430 168-2 LH. 0 Moon ofAlabama: Historic Original Recordings (1928-1944). Lotte Lenya, Kurt Weill, Ernst Busch, Theo Mackeben, Maurice Abravanel. Capriccio 10 347. [Includes songs from Ma Jzagonny, Konjunktur, Happy End, Der Silbersee, Der Zar liisst sich photographiere11, and re kurt weill issues of the 1943 BOST recordings.) bu l i n i m l i cht Radio Classics ofthe '50s Louis Armstrong and his All-Stars. CBS, CK45017. [includes "Mack the Knife"] The Threepenny Opera: Historic Original Recordings (1928-1931) Lotte Lenya, Carola Neher, Lys Gauty, Odette Florelle, Harald Paulsen, Kurt Gerron, Lewis Ruth Band, Otto Klem perer, Theo Mackeben. Capriccio 10 346. The Threepenny Opera. Lotte Lenya, Kurt Gerron, Erich Ponto, Erika Helmke, Willi Trenk Trebitsch. TeId ec 72025. [Includes selections from historical recordings as weU as cabaret tnJun blt modtn1 songs by Nelson, Hollaender, and Grosz sung by Marlene Dietrich and others. ,.u.,,, .. ,,, u ,,..,, VIDEOTAPES Mack the Knife. Raul Julia, Rachel Richardson, Richard Harris, Julia Migenes, Roger Daltrey, ~ ...... Julie Walters. 21stCentury. RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video 77003. (VHS, Hi-Fi For mat)
Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 14 BOOKS
Hinton·s opening essay also underlines a Weill's music for the individual songs was. point already familiar to students of Brecht, Yet, if Drew is correct, one of Stephen "'irtWeill but worth repeating to any readership Hinton's generalizations is puzzling. Drew The Threepenny Opera interested in theatrical history, namely that points, for example, to a motivic link between the opera which enjoyed such astonishing Polly's line ''lch bin sehr glilcklich" and success in Germany in 1928 is not the one Macheath's cynical remarks in the presented to audiences nowadays. lb.is is "Zuhalterballade" about the plurality of be<--ause Brecht made a number of smallbut amorous relationships. This does not seem significant changes to the libretto in 1931. to me to support Hinton's assertion, at least and this revised text then formed the basis in this very general forn1, "that the music 1 for a "standard" version. The changes were does not contribute towards dramatic mostly intended to give tl1e work a slant characterization in any general or substantia1 J which would be more compatible with the way." Rather. Drew's analysis seems to Marxist analysis of society Brecht had indicate subtle musical character-drawing, adopted in the interim, but the rough and since the obvious cynicism and self-interest ready manner of their incorporation into the in Macheath's ''lyrical" song are actually text (the new passages, Hinton informs us, also present so the music reveals, under the were simply stuck into a copy ofthe original surface of Polly's seeming naivete. Polly's 1928 version) resulted in the confusion of capacity for play-acting, which so perturbs any message the wotk was supposed to Maclleath when she sings aboutthe hidden convey (not that it had an entirely clear depths of "Seerauberjenny'' at her wedding message in the first place) and in the reception, is then confirmed when the "sweet suppression of at least one important element young bride" transforms herself almost in its appeal, namely the conception of the instantaneously into the hard-beaded male lead, Macheath. Even ifHarald Paulsen businesswoman perfectly capable ofrunning (the first Mackie Messer) did play the part the gang in Macheath's absence (however rather too suavely for Brecht's taste, the long this might last!). The fact that these Kurt Weill. The Threepenny choice of this particular actor-singer, with characters are devious, and the manner of Opera. Edited by Stephen Hinton. his background in popular musical theater musical cllaracterization (aptly) ironic, surely (Cambridge, Cambridge University did at least match the original conception of does notmean thatthey do not possess "true Press, 1990), 229 p. the character as a debonair ladies' man. To character or emotions," but rather that the bring this out, Hinton has included in his characters and emotions areas "gebrochen'' In accordancewith thegeneral guidelines selection ofmaterial a translation ofan essay in their expression as the music with its for the series to which it belongs (Cambr by Brecht from 1928, in which Macheath is allusions, parodies, and ambiguities. To take idge Opera Handbooks), Stephen Hinton's introduced to the public as "a gentleman another example, does not the relation of volume on The 17ireepenny Opera contains idolized by all the girls." In his 1931 notes on music to words in Peachum's essays on the history of the work - both its the opera (which Hinton has not reproduced, "Morgenchoral" correspond precisely to the genesis and its reception at home and abroad possibly because they are so much at odds way Peachum cynically exploits religious - analyses of its musical structures, and with the original conception) Brecht insisted and moral sentiments to earn his living, and interpretations. It is also supplied with a thatMacheath's appeal to the ladies is that of does he not run his business with the grim thorough bibliography and a discography. the well-heeled ("gutsituiert"), rather than determination of the Protestant ethic - Given that this is a series devoted to op good-looking man. The difference between Weber's "innerworldly asceticism" - that era, it is in a sense not surprising for the the 1931 and 1928 conceptions would, inspired the chorales to which Weill's music work to be credited to the composer. In this however. have been made even clearer if alludes? One last illustr.ition: a stage direction case, however, that assignation takes on a Hinton's translation had not omitted the in the original libretto (one of a number particular piquancy when seen against the important word "young" from Brecht's essay which, as Hinton notes with regret, background of the increasingly strained of 1928 ("der jimge, von den Diimclum disappeared in the revised versions) relations between Weill and Brecht (contin vergotterte Gentleman MacJ1eath"); I presume indicates that Polly and Frau Peachum dance ued, reputedly, in the relations between their this is a slip in copying which can be corrected an "albernen Step" while singing the refrain respective estates). ln the first ofh is essays, in any reprint, since Hinton's translations of the first finale, a gesture which, like the "Matters of Intellectual Property: The are generally reliable as well as lively. mockingly over-pointed rhythms in text and Sources and Genesis of Die DreigroscJten 1n any such volume, the balance between music, underscores their cynical lack of oper," Stephen Hinton makes the point sim historical, analytic, and interpretative essays concern for the moral state of the world. ply and effectively by detailing the contrac will always be a matter ofjudgment. Here, I Hinton is quite right in observing that, 'The tual distribution of royalties (62.5% to Brecht, feel that rather more space could have been words put into the mouths of the singers are 25%to WeiJl, the remaining 12.5%to Brecht's devoted to analysis and less to history. frequently in quotation marks," but what assistant, Elisabeth Hauptmann), surely one Although the fate of the work in America is and how they quote is surely as much a of the most unfair arrangements in theatri of some interest, I do not think this should revelation ofcharacter as a naive outpouring cal history, when one considers how much have been allowed to take up so much of the of emotion. ofWeill's music has contributed to the suc volume. On the other hand, what we are I imagine that this type of volume will cess of the work from the very outset. Kirn offered by way of analysis is often fascinating. generally appeal to anyone - director, singer, Kowalke's essay on The Threepenny Opera Hans Keller's compact but illuminating piece musician, actor - intending to stage the in America illustrates further bow little from 1956 sets a standard for operatk-musical work concerned. Such readers will find their Brecbt's self-styled "fundamental laxity in reviewing which bis colleagues seldom needs well served not only by the sections matters of intellectual property" governed attain. David Drew's essay on "Motifs, Tags on musical analysis, but also by GeoffreyAb his attitude with respect to any gains to be and Related Matters" revealsjusthowsubtly bott's essay on the re-construction of the derived from his own intellectual property. (and often ironically) "durchkomponiert'' Dreigroscl1en sound, which derives from his
Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 15 BOOKS
own practical work in the theater, and also Leipzig and Dresden. But Schebera's re (p. 78), the rehearsals for johnny Johnson by Stephen Hinton's concluding essay on search has taken him far beyond the bor began in October 1936, not1935 (p.197), the the pervasive ambiguity and openness ofthe ders of Germany, and his most recent biog attack on Pearl Harbor is given as December work, which delivers a well-considered re raphy reflects extensive investigation of 6th (p. 237), and Davy Crockett, who died at buff to Adomo's high-brow dismissal of any sources in Western Europe and the United the Alamo in 1836, was a Congressman from popular appeal in Weill's music as sheer States, as well. Tennessee, not Texas, which did not be "misunderstanding" and invites a realiza come a state until 1845. tion of the unsettling qualities which give This new book, Schebera's third onWeill the songs of 77,e Threepenny Opera their Misinfonnation about American history enduring vitality. within the span of ten years. provides a spills over into confusion about American striking example of the expanding base and life an
Kurt Welll Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 16 PERFORMANCES
Mahagonny Songspiel. Bremer Theater. Elmar Gehlens, dir.; Anthony Beaumont, cond.; 26 May 1990 (Premiere). Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. Hamburgisc~er Staatsoper. Gunter Kramer, d1r.; Bruno Weil, cond.; 9-10, 12-17, 19- 20 June, 19-20 September 1990.
ln Gennany there has been no lack of scholarly efforts or of artistic ventures per taining to Kurt WeiH and his oeuvre du:ing this 1990 anniversary year. It was espeCJally instructive to have the opportunity to enjoy productions of the Songspiel an~ the opei:a in close proximity to one another m the neigh• boring Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Hamburg. The Widow Begblck (Eva Gilhofer), Jim (William Pell), Joe (Hans . Joachim Porc.hu), Bill (J ohannes Martin Kriinde), ru,d J akob Sc:hm,~I (Peter Galliarci) consider the '1ove'' mnrKet in Bamburg Opera's Aufatu.g The production of the Songspiel in Bre und Fall d~r S tadt Mahagonn:,. l'J,oto: Htlga K11eJ°dl men concluded an enthusiastic series of "Five Little Operas of the Twenties," which also included EmstToch's Egon und Emilie, and white suits and wearing Mickey Mouse Die sieben Todsunden. DOssel Darius Milhaud's Die Entfiihrung der Eu• masks that gave them a disturbing anonym• ropa, George Gershwin's Blue Monday, and dorfer Schauspielhaus; Henning ity. They sat in neat rows of rocking chairs, Brockhaus. drr.; Mark Andreas Paul Hindemith's Hin undZuriick. Thanks rocked in unison, and "consumed" the music to the staging and set designs of Elmar about which Trinity Moses asserts: 'That is Schlingensiepen, cond.; Ute Lempe_r, Gehlen, the Bremen Theater was able to eternal art!" All of this great fun was taken in vocalist; Dusseldorf; 12, 15, 16 April, offer these :five one-acters as a coherent set wide-eyed by the entire audience; but, of 1990. in a single multifaceted cycle. Weill's Maha• course. such a display also serves to unmask gonny Songspiel stood out from the others, its own malicious intentions. It is uniortu• This important production in the context however, in two ways. Firstly, it represent~d nate that in this scene the musical produc of the Kurt Weill Festival in North Rhine the artistic pinnacle of a preferred genre m tion left something to be desired. Appar Westphalia created quite a sensation: the the twenties. Secondly, the production was ently young pianists-perhaps because they ballet was supposed to have been paired proof that the piece had lost nothing of its no longer grow up in households in which with the early Brecht one-act play Die socio-political actuality as a Lelirstiick. Since this "Prayer of a V1Tgin" was a tradition - Kleinbiirgerhochzeit, and Ute Lemper had it took place shortly before the union of the seem hardly capable of playing this number been designated for the leading role in both two currencies ofEast and West, the produc• with the kitschy sentiment which is required; stage works. However, after the first few tion coincided with widespread debates in in Hamburg one heard a sort ofetude with a rehearsals, the director of the play replaced the two Germanies about the "money is few too many mistakes. Ms. Lemper, reportedly because she was sue."The Songspiel alluded to this issue, but unable to master the role ofthe bride. There the audience would surely have noticed its However, the rest of the musical produc upon the original coupling idea was dis relevance, even if placards had not been tion offered an entirely enjoyable feast for carded, and in its place a Weill song pro carried across the stage that read, 'With the ears. not least of all due to the fact that gram, staning Ms. Lemper (a program which Kohl we've got it made!" the original instruments were used: banjo, this reviewer was unable to attend), followed guitar. bandoneon. and zither. The produc the performance of Die sieben Todsiinden. The Hamburg production, under the tion went far toward bringing Weill's rich The performance of the ballet obtained musical direction of Bruno Weil, with the score to the test. That Mahagonny, inspite of additional publicity through thecoopera tion staging ofGilnter Kramer, and the costumes being structured into numbers, is still grand of Germany's most prominent prostitute, and set designs ofAndreas Reinhardt, had a opera became convincingly evident in Madame Domenica. whom management had very different impact. It was grand culinary Hamburg, especially because the entire work imported straight from the Reeperbahn in opera! Indeed il began as "epic theater"; the was perlormed without intermission, thereby Hamburg for a small entrance in the ballet's director himself functioned at first as narra• allowing the greatness of the finale to come third scene, "Pride." Lots of hurly-burly in tor. But from the very beginning the culi vividly to fruition. It should also be men the foreground; and the result? nary aspectof th e production was a veritable tioned that the Hamburg program, with its feast for the eyes: in the foreground of the The result was one ofth e most successful essays by Walter Massmann and Andreas stage stood three empty music stands, be productions of Die sieben Todst'inden to have Hauff, is the sort of document that one only been given in Germany in the last few years. hind them three men in black tails and top reluctantly lends to a friend for fear that he hat. The interplay of black and white domi This is true - however unlikely that may might forget to return iL nated the broad, well-lit space of the stage. seem - in two respects: musical and dra• matic. Because the Dilsseldorfer Schauspiel• The staging then intensified to make an HEINRICH W. SCHWAB unforgettable scene as about a hundred or haus has no house orchestra and an University of Kiel more citizens of the city of Mahagonny anticipated cooperation with the Deutsche stepped out on stage, decked out in black Translated by Peggy Sherry Oper am Rhein never materialized (with the
Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 17 PERFORMANCES
interrupted the plot and demanded attracted immigrants from Turkey, Italy, money and services from Anna. Greece, and Yugoslavia. and. with the open ing of the border, there are increasing The staging drew many con numbers of Rumanians, Poles, and refugees nections to the German reality of from virtually every other country in the 1990. And the plot, dominated by world. Street Scene's New York ethnic micro Weill's unique music, unfolded in cosm could easily be transferred to the a most concentrated fashion, in metropolis of Berlin. and it is therefore deed sometimes with breathless especially felicitous that Lys Symonette's suspense. The response? WeU-de translation makes use of Berlin dialect. served and stormy applause for an The theme of Street Scene, like that of impressive piece of ensemble play Mahagom1y, explores the influence of big ing! city life on its inhabitants. Unlike Malia gom1y, however. Street Scene is not epic JORGEN SCHEBERA theater; likewise, the role ofthe music is also Berlin different Weill himself speaks of the con Translated b_v Margaret M.Sherry nection between drama and music, accord ing to which "song continues in a natural fashion, where speaking leaves off, and the spoken word is as much incorporated into the musical structure as the dramatic ac Ute Lemper as Anna I., forcgroU.Dd. and various i.ncarnations of Anna II in lhe D ilsseldorfer Schn~pielhaus production o! Die tion." The technique of constructing an 1ieben Tod•iind,m. Pltuto: B,m1bach/Rothw,iltr. imperceptible transition from dialogue, through melodrama, to song represents a special challenge: on the one hand, Street Scene is a naturalistic play; on the other, it exception of "borrowed" singers for the Street Scene. Bohnen der Stadt family roles). conductor Mark-Andreas Bielefeld; J6rg Fallheier, dir.; Rainer moves - as in opera - over and over again onto a higher, more symbolic plane. The Schlingensiepen organized an orchestra of Koch, cond.; 3 March 1990 great challenge for the director ofthis work young musicians, the Sinfonietta Diissel (premiere), continuing April-June. is to find plausible transitions, instead of- as dorf, expressly for this production. an would have been appropriate to the Weill orchestra which prepared Weill's score in a Der Jasager and Down in the Brecht tradition- making the separate parts series ofintense weeksofrehearsal and with Valley. "Campus Cantat," as distinct as possible. model commitment, fulJ of enthusiasm, and Universitat Dortmund; Dr. Willi ln the Bielefeld production the music removed from any sense of dull routine. Gundlach, cond.; 8 June (Hamm); 10 outshone the drama, The orchestra deliv Schlingensiepen inspired the ensemble to June (Dortmund); 11 June ered a bravura perfonnance under the direc make splendid music. Equally e.xiraordinary (Recklinghausen) 1990. tion of Ewald Hesse (alternating with gen were the four soloists who sang the family eral music director Rainer Koch). It was a (Martin Peters. Wilhelm Richter, E. Lee The production of Street Scene under the pleasure to witness song, dance, and accom Davis, Peter-Nikolaus Kante) and - title Eine Strasse in New York at the munici paniment so well integrated as in "Moon discounting a few lapses in vocal intensity pal theater in Bielefeld deserves special in Faced, Starry-Eyed." Here, Heike Iimmer Ute Lemper as Anna I, also. Because Lemper terest in the context of the reception of the (Mae Jones) and Mkhael Lawrence (Dick has dance training, shewas able to integrate American Weill on the Gem1an stage. for McGann) played the only entirely convinc her role fully into the production. Rather Street Scene may be more difficult to trans ing scene of the evening. On the whole, the than positioning herself on the apron of the plant to foreign soils than works such as performers functioned with varying convic stage (like Gisela May or Milva). Lemper's Lady in the Dark or Love Life. What was for tion, amazingly independent of whether they Anna I entered the stage dancing, lhus 1947 Broadway audiences an example of were soloists, members of the chorus singled providing the role an entirely new dimension. progress toward the larger musical ex.pres out to sing solos, or actors; whether guest s.ion of opera is viewed today by Germany's The house was "built'' in the middle of the artists or regular members of the company; traditional theater audience as a regression. whether American or German. stage by means of super-imposed projections, Although the country has a Jong and varied Monika Mayer (Emma Jones) and Ion and the rest of the stage action revolved tradition of opera, the public knows lhe Bric (Carl Olsen) understood best how to around it The renowned set designer from Broadway musical only as a firushed Anglo play their roles without embarrassing exag Prague, Josef Svoboda, placed the dancers American import. To them, Street Scene gerations. Gidon Saks gave a convincing appears to be an opera which has descended upon the open cars of a railroad train; lhe portrayal of Frank Maurrant as a man char to the status of a musical, instead of a musi trc1ck encircled the house and the running acterized by authoritarian and xenophobic cal which has opened itself to the possibili speed was synchronized precisely with the views and a helpless brutality in human ties ofopera. Thus thework is used bycritics music. Concentrated within such a limited relations. Maike Pansegrau was a lyrically to re-enforce the European notion thatWeill space, the choreography achieved satisfying Anna Mawrdllt, without, however, succumbed to cultural degeneration in the equally convincing acting. Richard Panzner compelling metaphors. Anna Il is presented U.S. in each new scene by a different dancer, so and Freia Marten (Abraham Kaplan and the that in the end. Anna I is surrounded by her The setting of Street Scene does, however, role of his daughter, Shirley) played their address a social issue relevant to Germany sister sevenfold. In the inteivening scenes roles wilh exaggerated hysteria, while Drum in 1990 - that of searching for peaceful co mond Walker (Lippo Fiorentino) reduced the family - dressed in Alaskan fur coats like existence in a multi-cultural society. Berlin his part to a caricature of a gigolo. John men from Mahagonny - unabashedly especially, but other cities as well. have Pflieger as the blackjanitor Henry Davis did
Kurt Welll Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 18 PERFORMANCES
not speak a single intelligible word and ''When does singing become a convincing ing ensemble delivered uniformly convinc managed to ignore the blues atmosphere and, beyond that, necessary and basic ex ing performances. which is so clearly present in the score. pression of a human being? Not when the In Down in tlze Valley, Ilana Davidson Rose Maurrant undergoes the greatest situation is so unreal that one no longer Gennie Parsons) and Marc Acito (Brack inner development, when she decides to minds the separation from reality, butrather Weaver) - both young professional singers leave New York City alone - without Sam, when it is so full of life, so purged of all whom she loves - because she has learned from the U.S. - demonstrated more vocal artifice, so directly brought down to the sldll and natural expression than this re from the tragedy of her parents the deadly lowest common denominator and to the consequences of trying to possess another viewer experienced in the whole of the Bie human being. Werner Schwarz (whose voice innermost nerve of an active and involved lefeld production. Donald Collup (the is entirely appropriate for his role) and Rose human being, that such an individual can no Leader), Donald P. Lang Oennie's Father), Marie Flynn tried to suggest youthfulness longer express himself except in singing and)ames Mabry-who took over the role of by squirming a great deal; the role of Rose and making music." Thomas Bouche at the last minute- and the never acquired the most rudimentary, es chorus (with individual soloists for small sential outlines. parts) rounded out the collective achieve The stage sets of Dorothea Jaumann are ment. The chorus sang with pure intonation largely to blame for thefact that the majority and correct accent, both irJ English and Ger of the actors took refuge in man. antiquated, operatic gestures. She transformed In Der jasager, Tobias Sch the street (as called for in the meiEert (the Boy), Hilke stage directions) into a Helling (the Mother), Ulrich courtyard: as a result, the Schutte (the Teacher) and audience was shown too Thomas Brautigam, Thomas literally what is supposed to Fischer, and Michael Kntippel have happened "in passing." How coincidental can it seem (the three Students) captured when Anna Maurrant's lover the even and penetrating tone Sankey "just happens to pass of the work remarkably well. by" in a courtyard? And what Some of the musical sections justifies the action of a pack ended rather bluntly, butitwas of children swarming in. and unclear whether this reflected out of a courtyard? In tl1e director's intentions. addition, the set forced the singers to sing from the Arnold Sundgaard (who apron of the stage, along with Robert Vambery reinforcing another opera represent Weill's surviving house cliche. librettists) compiled a When the text and music retrospective glance at his needed space to take effect, collaboration with Kurt Weill Director Jorg Fallheier neu for the program notes and tralized them with stage an honored thep erformance with tics. For instance, the cast his presence. A printed danced around a Statue of interview between Lys Liberty during the ice-cream Gido n Saks, M.oo.iks Mayer, John PO.iegcr, Drummond Walker, Suzanne Thorp, fon .Bric, Dagmar Obermark and Alexander SchllschcCaky celebrate t.he glories of ice cream on a hot Symonetteand Willi Gundlach sextet In another place, the day for Bielefeld's Ei,u, Stru/1,; i11 New York, Photo: Frit, Stocllmtier. two nursemaids drew focus illuminated the origin and away from the cynicism of their lullaby as In directcontrastto the Bielefeld staging, meaning ofDown i11 the Valley. they played catch with a newspaper that one the production of Der jasager and Down in Symonette's remarks addressed the different of the babies had soiled. Perhaps it's not the Valley in the University of Dortmund's attitudes with which Germans and surprising then that the chorus stood around "Campus Cantat'' project had two advan Americans approach their folk songs. In Anna Maurrant's bier at the end of the show tages. First, the entire cast prepared both America, folk music is appreciated and as if they were a herd of sheep. Clearly the di works in a single cycle of rehearsals. Sec preserved as a reminder of the human rector left to the actors the responsibility for experience - it is seldom used as dull, giving life to their roles. ond, the concert venue spared the organiz ers the difficulties of mounting a stage pro commercialized music to accompany local Unfortunately, the Bielefeld production duction. Professor Willi Gundlach of the beer festivals. Taken in this context, the did little to refute the shopwom rumor that German audience better understood how Weill sold out to Broadway's commercial University ofDortmund cultivated the coop erative efforts of German and American stu the folk songs set within the story line of ism and wasted the remains ofhis talent in a Down in the Valley can be taken as seriously handful of platitudes. They apparently ig dents from three institutions: the Fredonia nored Joachim Herz's advice when he dis Singers from the State University of New as the artful simplicity of Der ]asager. cussed the role of singing in the theater on York, Fredonia; the Chamber Chorus of the ANDREAS HAUFF the occasion of the opening of the Leipzig University of Dortmund; and instrumental Mainz Opera House in 1960: ists from Buffalo State College. The result- Translated by Margaret M. Sherry
Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 19 PERFORMANCES
Left: Jim Mahoney (Warren Ellsworth) and J enny (Catherine Malfitano) in the Teatro Comunale di Firenze's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. Photo: Foto Locchi.
Right: The Widow Begbick (Yvonne Minton), Fatty (Bruce Brewer), and Trinity Moses (Timothy Nolen) assess the state of affairs in Mahagonny in the Teatro Comunale di Firenze's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. Photo: Foto Locchi.
Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt hideous, medieval metal corneal helmet on of the "Alabama Song," since it derned her Mahagonny, Florence. Maggio her bead in another space; a quarrelling an opportunity for a little more vocal display Musicale Fiorentino; Graham Vick, couple; two prisoners reachmg for each other wruch might have gone down with the Flor dir.: Jan Latham-Konig, cond.; 12, through bars; people on a graffiti-daubed entine audience, many of whom seemed 15, 17, 21 June 1990. subway. The inner-city message is dear when bewildered and bored by the piece. On the Begbick and her crew arrive in a battered first night at least half the audience around In December 1948, the organizers of the motorbike and side-car. Yvonne Minton, me bad left by the second interval. This was Venice Festival considered placing Maha looking like the young Rita Hayworth, their misfortune for they denied themselves gomzy on their program. Weill wrote back emerges to create the strongest, most sear the chance to witness one of the most chill suggesting to them Street Scene instead, and ingly-sung, subtly-acted Leokadia Begbick, ing and shocking coups-de-theatre that I he requested thati t be performed in Italian: all the more terrifying for being attractive. have seen in an opera house in recent sea "It will be much more attractive to present To cast this role with Patrice Chereau's sons. one of my more recent works than to revive unforgettable Geschwitz rather than some a work like Mahagtmny which was very much has-been diva was a stroke of geruus. Miss 111e use of the big stage, with minimal an expression of the decade after the First Minton's diction, her smooth legato, and scene indications and a general feel of the World War." In any event, they decided on (somethingimportantin a role that was once 1930s in Vick's staging and Maria Bj0mson's the Mahagonny Songspiei; the full opera had associated with Trude Hesterberg), the costumes, did not prepare one for the final to wait until 1964 to be performed at the stunning way she wears elegant clothes - act. The curtain rose to show only Jim's Piccola Scala in Milan. It seems incredjbfe ranging from jodhpurs, to black cocktail head, Ellsworth's blond curls suddenly today that the critic of Opera magazine then numbers, to traditional Madame's sequins - turned wrute, as if in shock. with the rest of complained that Milan's director had taken - all added up to make hers one of the two the stage in darkness. When the other char the piece too seriously, "the naivete ofthose dominant performances of the evening. acters reappeared after his aria, they had all aged forty years. Begbick, Moses, and Fatty taking part, who apparently thought they The other was Warren Ellsworth who were dealing with some immortal master are in electric wheelchairs. The rest of the succeeded ;..1 mahlngJim a wild, impetuous, inhabitants look like the inmates of an asy piece." f juxtapose these two references from slightly deranged but also touching and 40 and 25 years ago to highlight both the lum, in shapeless wool dresses, with walk vulnerable character. He became the force ing sticks, hearing-aids and charity-ward progress that has been made in the accep of libertarianism to challenge the unbend tance of Weill's works as part of the perma spectacles. The crazed judges whirled in ing economic orthodoxy of Begbick. As the their chairs to the insistent rhythms of the nent international repertoire and to refute evening progressed, the gathering tension rus own opinion that Maliagom1y is wedged trial scene. Malfitano seemed to gain an between these two became evident; when extra strength from trus change and, unrec in a 1920s trap. Seldom has itseemed a more the bill was presented at the end of Act 2, pertinent or up-to-date opera than it did in ogruzable in her gray wig and carpet-slip Minton's malevolent playfulness with Jenny pers, sang her best of the evening. The Graham Vick's staging for the Florence and Bill appeared as a subtle foretelling of Maggio Musicale - in German, of course. comparison with the recent events in East• doom. em Europe was unmistakable; wrule the The curtain rises to show the full depth of To say that Catherine Malfitano's Jenny fierce imagery, which ended with the crowd the Teatro Verdi's stage, the back wall a was put in the shade by these two great pusrung the three villains out of their chairs honeycomb of little rooms which contain interpretations is in no way to denigrate a and denying them the refuge of a heap of lurking figures. Gradually arise two suspi fine performance by such an experienced coffins, did detract from one's attentiveness cious-looking men in raincoats, seated in tip artist. l was surprised that she went along to the music, the sheer force of the produc up cinema seats; a girl struggling with a with the decision to include only two verses tion took away my breath.
Kurt Welll Newsletter Volume a Number 2 20 PERFORMANCES
It was not to be, for within a few weeks Jan Latham-Konig, who took over the Drew emphasized the choral tableaux, Weill was dead. But he evidently realized the contrast of white and black choirs - pre conductor's desk from the originally an that in his previous attempts at American nounced Luciano Berio, seemed to have cisely those numbers in which melodrama, musicals he had not solved all the problems thematic intricacy, and all that Weill has tightened his control on this opera since his of the form, and the resulting works have recording of the work a few years back. learnt before be came to America are best been ones that Weill enthusiasts have exploited. The final "Bird of Passage" sec Although the finale still goes Im Schnecken grappled with, with varying degrees of en tempo, some other scenes had gained tion, with its echoes of Bach and even of thusiasm. ever since. Jn Great Britain, there Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony in the momentum and drama In particular, the has been a strong trend of condescension Mandelay number, choreographed by Sean walking bass, is surely something that Weill towards the American Weill, and a belief was wise to alter. Walsh, reminded me of Brassai's famous that the Brecht collaboration represents the description of the over-populated bordellos highpointofhisartisticachievement. Unfor Still, the anti-aparthejd Lost in the Stars in Paris between the wars. The line of men, tunately. that opinion was not seriously packs a punch, especially when given with including Jim.Joe. and Bill, queue up, some dented by the recent staging of Street Scene. Paton'sconclusion that "when thatdawn will with their trousers around their ankles, while which was a success in its first production by come, ofour emancipation from bondage of the music never ceases its urgent beat. As Scottish Opera, but sagged badly when it fear and the fear of bondage, why, that is a each man reaches the front of the line he is came to London at the English National secret.'']ohnny Johnson, written as Weill's given a pair ofplastic transparent gloves to Opera. David Pountney's inventive produc first American musical in 1936, seems far wear (the implication hardly needs reinforc tion seemed more tricky than it had in less sure of itself. David Drew has opted for ing) and then mimes in a quick push-up on Glasgow, the uncut .first act was too long, a narration drawn not from the musical it the floor, done in threes, the mechanical and some undercasting and very lack-luster self, but from history, and the events of the gesture of a sexual gesticulation. conducting combined to take the edge off F1rst World War weave themselves (in a Bruce Brewer's Fatty and TL01othy No what had looked like potentially a major narration bitingly delivered by the Almeida's len 's Moses made able foils to the formi Weill revival. Perhaps itcan still be rescued. new co-director Ian McDiarmid) around dable Begbick. Sergio Bertocchi as Jack, Weill's songs. Dimitri Kharitonov as Bill, and Boris Bakow But another radical attempt at rehabilitat The problems of tone and stance seemed as Joe surrounded Ellsworth's exuberant ing some of Weill'sAmerican music came in acute here: the predominant joviality does Jim. The linking announcements spoken by the first concert of this swnmer's festival not taste enough of bitterness, perhaps Fabio Marinai on a simulated 78--rpm crackle based around the Almeida Theater in North because Weill had not solved the problem of recording added little to the effect of this London. The concerttook place in the huge matching his German astringency to the mostly stimulating and provocative produc and gloomy cavern of the Union Chapel and creation of American tunes. Too much is tion. While I would not particularly want the was very well attended. The leading Weill flamboyant without cutting edge; one or two time-warp of Act 3 to become a norm in this scholar David Drew had put together a pair of sequences from johnny Johnson and Lost songs like the classic "Farewell, Good-bye," opera, and I think that by next year it will, hover near self-parody. The post-Gennan because of its topical references, lose its in the Stars, the first called ''War Play," and the second "Cry, the Beloved Country."The Weill is surely better represented by the power, this has to be set down as one of the frankly popular sequence of marvelous songs more successful productions ofA ufi;tieg und retitling served honestly to indicate how far and orchestral musicfrom the French show Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. Drew's conception was from Weill's origi nals. In the case of Lost in the Stars, Drew Marie Galante, which completed this pro PATRICK O'CONNOR gave Alan Paton's novel center stage, as a gram. As Drew puts it, no re-writing was Surrey, England narration linking numbers from the show. needed because these are ''interpolations This was a creative rewriting, no mere conceived and composed after the comple compilation, and it has led Drew to restore at tion of the play; they are more loosely con least one number cut from the show, the nected than other related works, and are "War Play," "Cry, the Beloved bitter chorus "Gold," and to prefer a solemn perhaps bestpresented in an orderappropri· Country," Marie Galante, London. ending which Weill sketched to the optimis ate to the immediate context and to the The Almeida Festival; Matrix tic one he actually composed. forces available." In this case, the forces included the splendidly accomplished Ma Ensemble; Robert Ziegler, cond., 14 The result makes more of a political state June 1990. trix Ensemble, which Robert Ziegler con ment than does Weill's musical, which is ducted with unflagging skill and stylish in essentially a personal drama. But neither sight, and th.e singer was Angelina Reaux. does it turn outto be a musical. Weill frankly She does not have the most even or techni ln 1950, Kurt Weill was looking forward to admitted that the piece was an experiment in developing a new tradition of American cally controlled voice in the world, but she writing "musical tragedy" in a form used for showed a real understanding of the idiom. musical theater based on a genuinely na light entertainment, and with the combina tional heritage. In his much-quoted words to and delivered the songs with a panache that tion of sententiousness and sentimentality 0 lin Downes: "It seems to me that American brought the house down. This must be the popular song, growing out of American folk that clogs too much of Maxwell Anderson's first of many evenings. With this sort of music, is the basis of an American musical libretto (and some of Weill's music) it is advocacy, the American Weill stands a !heater (just as the Italian song was the basis difficult to know how best to present the chance. of Italian opera) ... this infiltration of song in piece now. The place of the hit numbers musical theaterwillgradually become more (superbly sung here by Cynthia Clarey and NICHOLAS KENYON refined and more removed from its origins." Damon Evans) is all the more paradoxical. London
Kurt Welll Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 Z1 PERFORMANCES
menace as the scheming Frau von Luber, while delayed, but I returned in mid-February. Much to Richard Fremstad made a fine Olim. Overall, the my surprise, Happy £ 11dwasstill running. None of orchestra. under the direction of Michael Sha my Portuguese friends and collaborators willing, hani, did justice to Wcill's varied and demanding I ventured alone, thinking, "U I don't like the score; the violins became a bit ragged in only a few acting (and if I understand nothing), I shall at least of the more technically taxing passages. The listen to the songs!" Well, what was just a visit chorus. serving a function much like that of a made out of sheer curiosity turned into an enjoy Greek chorus. also offered several moments of able evening, and the Novo Grupo de Teatro haunting beauty. should be warmly congratulated. The dark. bleak, and barren stage, with various Expressionist touches, provided a fitting back The Novo Grupo is a rather off-beat company, drop to this fable of the dispossessed. Interest although not a very controversial group, which ingly, Ka.iser's fifty-plus-year-old tale ofdeception gives interesting renditions of foreign and Portu and greed, hungry homeless people, and lottery guese classical and contemporary plays. The millionaires has become strikingly topical in the Teatro Aberto (The Open Theatre) looks like a United States circa 1990. big barn. one not easily 61Jed. Therefore. I was very in1pressed to see that, after a comparatively MICHAEL COLBY long run (four months is quite long by Lisbon stan San Francisco dards), the play was still enjoying success. After playing from 5 October 1989 to 18 February 1990 in Lisbon, it moved to Porto where it ran into March. Lynn Moeller, Richard Fremst.ad and Mark Almy in San Francisco's S ilver Lake. The director Joao Lourea~o prepared the Por tuguese translation in collaboration with drama• turgist Vera San Payo de Lemos. The text read Silver Lake: A Winter's Tale. City Happy End, Teatro Aberto, Lisbon, smoothly and moved along easily with the music Summer Opera, City College of San Portugal. Novo Grupo, Joao Loren~o, which was conducted by Eduardo Paes Mamede. Francisco; David Ostwald, dir.; dir., 5 October 1989 -18 February While not brilliant, the actors contributed solid Michael Shahani and Judy Hubbell, 1990. perlormances. as well as enthusiastic singing. co-music directors; 12-14, 20-22 July The cast was led by Ire ne Cruz as Lilian Holiday, Isabel Ribas as The Fly, and Fernando Gomez as 1990. Like most French fans ofWeill's music, I knew Happy End only from recordings: those included, Bill Cracker. For its fourth season, City Summer Opera, of course, the legendary Leaya version on CBS Perhaps because ofthe Portuguese setting and located at City College of San Francisco, pre and selections ofthree songs- "Surabaya Johnny," the production's staging, the play seemed less sented the first complete and fully-staged U.S. "Sailor's Tango," and the "Mandelay Song" - as perlormed by two ofthe bestpost-war singing-ac polemical. Nevertheless, Happy End is a farce. production of Silver Lake: A Winter's Tale. The and the political undertones injected by Brecht at original 1933 production marked thelastofWeill's tresses, namely Catherine Sauvage and the late the time of the prerniere. now bring, paradoxi works to be premiered in Germany. A few short Pia Colombo, who both used the Boris Vian French ened presentations and concert versions have ap translation. cally. humorand spiritto the piece. It is the music, however. that truly gives life to the play. Both the peared in America over the years, including a free So it came as a pleasant surprise to be driving adaptation by Hugh Wheeler and Lys Symonette, one day in September 1989, along the wide and set design by Jose Costa Reis and the choreogra directed by Harold Prince, which the New York ugly Pra<;a de Espaoha in Lisbon. next to the phy byFrancisco Camacho added to the effective City Opera presented in 1980. City Summer Opera world-famous Gulbenkian Foundation, and dis ness of the production. used John Eaton's English translation, which bad cover a poster announcing a new production o{ ALAIN JOMY been heard once before in the 1987 Abbey Opera Happy End at theTeatro Aberto, scheduled for an staging at London. David Ostwald served as the early October premiere. Alas, I could not stay in Paris stage director, Michael Shahani andJudy Hubbell Lisboa long enough to see it. My next visit was as co-musical directors, and Kristin O'Shee set the choreography. The production ran for week ends, 12-14 July and 20-22 July 1990. Whereas Weill's previous collaborations with Kaiser, Der Protagonist and Der Zar liisst sich Photographieren, were one-act operas, Der Silber see, their third and final collaboration, is a play with music. Although the work lasts over three hours, the music takes up little more than one hour. This presents a challenge in performance, for the music of Silverlake, in contrast to Weill's better-known musical plays written with Bertolt Brecht, demands operatic voices. Hence, the performers need to be equally convincing as sing ers as well as actors. Happily, the City Summer Opera cast proved up to this challenge. The principal roles in this production were double-cast, with the exception of Severin, su perbly played and sung by Mark Almy. ln the perlormanceattended by this reviewer, there was hardly a weak moment in the other portrayals. Two perlormances in particular deserve special attention: Harriet March Page proved a delightful Sister Lillian Holiday (Irene Cruz) argues he r cause before Dr. Nakamura (Fernando Luis) in the Lisbon Novo Grupo de Teatn>'s Ha End.
Kurt Welll Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 22 PERFORMANCES
disparate characters briefly in the ''Lament," when the crowd gathered to comment on and sympathize with ilie protagonists, and in his operatic homage to America, ilie "Ice Cream Sextet," both of which were espe cially well done. Perhaps because he had greater control of the musical material than would most oilier Broadway composers, including the transitions and connective musical tissue, Weill could tighten the musical and dra matic form more tlloroughly than many of his competitors. He demonstrates this con trol most conspicuously and audibly in ilie lucidity of the orchestration. Despite occa sional lapses into cliche, Weill's orchestra tion reveals many subtle touches tllat en hance ilie dranla, particularly the use ofsolo instruments to emphasize important dra matic motifs. Conductor Chris Nance's nuanced interpretation provided a transpar ent setting that highlighted tlle underlying iliematic connections between orchestral characterization and dramatic portrayals. Rose Maurrant (Sheryl Woods) confronts her father Frank (William Parcher) as he is Ranging from the ominous bass clarinet apprehended in New York City Opera's Fall 1990 production of Street Scene. passage that first introduces Frank Maur rant, to tlle plaintive solo violin in the intro duction to Sam's aria "Lonely House," to the Street Scene. New York City Opera; on ilie complex social issues embedded in return of tile opening introductory orches Jack O'Brien, dir.; Chris Nance, cond.; iliat tragedy. Moreover, ilie comedy helped tral motif atthe murder scene, each moment 7, 12, 15, 20, 23, 29 September mitigate the force of Mrs. Jones' frequent commw1icated a firm grasp of dramatic sig 1990. cruel remarks, tempered somewhat Sam's nificance. annoyingly pervasive anguish, and also in stilled horror in ilie eventual murder scene. Ultimately, ilie recurrence of the "Heat" While the postponementoflast year's pro number at the conclusion discloses an as duction of Street Scene may have caused Altllough played somewhat tentatively at tute empathy for the inevitability of the some initial disappointment. the wait for tl1e first. iliere was a real spark in the love affair prosaic in life. When the orchestra plays for New York City Opera's 1990 production was between Anna and Sankey. This initial the last time the ominous motif associated well worth it. This production illustrates un tentativeness accentuated the tension of tile throughout wiili calamity and Maurrant's equivocally that Street Scene does indeed events leading up to and encompassing the irrational personality, it reveals Weill's keen integrate many of the finest qualities of the senseless murder. Similarly, mutual passion understanding of its underlying larger !heater when ilie artists take sufficient care developed between Rose and Sam so that symbolic meaning for his characters. to blend iliose components properly. While both were devastated when they parted. oilier Broadway collaborations oftl1e 1940s Their duet "We'll Go Away Together'' made It is in such moments as Anna's aria frequently reveal an interchangeable assort a believer of at least one member of the "Somehow I Never Could Believe," ilie "lee ment of characters and plots, Street Scene audience. And, for some inexplicable reason Cream Sextet," and tl1e "Lament'' fuat Street reveals yet another facet of ilie wealth of - perhaps by understating his aggressiveness Scene realizes its most profound aspirations material at Weill's disposal. Further, when and malevolence - even Frank Maurrant toward opera. ln this perlormance the singer viewed in its proper social and historical became a somewhat sympathetic character. actors carried them off with aplomb. ln fact, context, and wiiliout irrelevant references the overall successful blend of operatic. to his European works, Street Scene can hold Almost every soloist and principal charac operetta, and Broadway elements made the its own witl1 any other contemporaneous ter, wiili special mention of Kevin Anderson work unique. work of ilie American musical theater. as Sam Kaplan, Margaret Cusack as Anna Maurrant, Sheryl Woods as Rose Maurrant, A recently published critical study of the Several elements combined to make this and Joyce Castle as Mrs. Jones, contributed Broadway musical mentions Weill only in a remarkably successful performance; one a singular quality to the perlormance tllrough passing as a composer of American musi was ilie emphasis placed on tile comic di their singing and acting. ln particular, Mr. cals. Street Scene receives no mention at all. gressions, especially those involving Mrs. Anderson kept Sam's morose character, This produc.,tion should prove beyond a doubt Jones. Altllough Joyce Castle's portrayal which can border on ilie hysterical, within the lack ofjustification for such an omiss.ioo sometimes came close to caricature, she still the realm of credibility. and should go a long way toward dispelling managed to keep within the bounds of pro any doubts as to Street Scene's central posi priety. By playing out ilie comedy to its But in ilie final analysis. this was not a cast tion in ilie American musical theater of the fullest, the production accentuated tile kind comprised of individuals, but of expertly 1940s, and of its continuing relevance. of contrast for which the original collabora executed ensemble singing and acting. While tors doubtless worked diligently. For ex the individual love stories and the murder WILLIAM THORNHILL ample, the grotesque humor of tile Nurse still emerged as the central events, tile pro Chapel Hill, NC maid's number was so exaggerated that it duction emphasized tlle melting pot charac dispersed entirely tile preceding tragic teristics so essential to Street Scene's social atmosphere while effectively commenting consciousness. Weill's music unified the
Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume a Number 2 23 PERFORMANCES FILM
"Kurt Weill at Occidental embraced Broadway. At first the audience, a kind of superannuated Artful Dodgerwith College," Los Angeles. March-May primarily composed ofstudents, responded some excruciating rhyming couplets by way 1990. more favorably to the rich harmonies of of epic narration. He also appears to have Komgold than to the harsh astringency of doubled as voice coach. Even Julia Migenes Occidental College in Los Angeles ob Weill's setting oftexts from Rilke's Das Stu,i as a long-suffering Jenny has studiously ad· served Weill's 90th birthday by hosting a denbuch, composed in 1923. To represent justed her diphthongs to blend in with the number of perfonnances, including two West Weill's later style Kimbrough programmed local color of Cockney "low loife." Coast premieres and a range ofworks span the four settings of Wall Whitman's poems It is certainly not a purists' film. Why should ning the entire course of the composer's ("Come Up from the Fields, Father," "Beat! Beat! Drums," "Dirge for Two Veterans," it be? Pabst's wasn't, either. Yet. although stylistic developmenl The series, funded in with Pabst one may regret the truncation of part by grants from the Kurt Weill Founda• and "Oh Captain! My Captain!''). The songs, whose texts are no less haunting that those the score to just 30 minutes of music, what tion, began with the presentation of Weill's remained of the original Weill was basicaUy string quartets, which date from his student ofthe Rilke settings, were written soon after left intact. Apart from being a superb piece of years. On 4 March the engaging Armadillo the U.S. entry into World War ll and are composed in a straightforward, vernacular. cinema and notwithstanding the authors' String Quartet, a Los Angeles-based en litigious interventions, the 1930 film is, in its semble, performed the String Quartet, Op. and consciously "American" style to which way, an invaluable document of "authentic" 8, on a program which included works by the students were most responsive. Kim brough's masterful ,presentation concluded performance practice. The same can hardly Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. The Op. 8 be said of Menahem Golan's multimillion quartet offers an example of Weill's early with 'This is the life," a selection from Weill's 1948 musical wve Life. dollar extravaganza, shot in Hungary in 1988. dissonant style, although the piece is rather Most of the music is there, it has to be eclectic, moving from a free fonu string of ROBERT SHACKLETT admitted. Inexplicably, however, it has been sonorities in the Introduction to a more rigid Los Angeles comprehensively rearranged for large, brash formalism in the later movements. In a orchestral forces, which perfectly match the concert held on 29 April the Armadillo style of the dance routines a la CllontS Line Quartet presented the West Coast premiere and remove anything that might remain of of Two Movements for String Quartet. an the Weimar spirit. Allegro deciso and an Andantino, originally intended for the Op. 8 quartel These move Solos become duets, presumably because ments were performed on a program that it was thought that arias and ballads don't included Weill's rarely heard B minor Quar work well on the screen. And there is a t.et and, in a particularly apt coupling, modicum of shifting back and forth between Mozart's Quartet in D minor, K. 173. Both scenes, facilitated by the medium. Other are works of stylistic experimentation - evi wise the screenplay follows the stage work dent, for instance, in Wei11's disjunct use of more faithfully than either Brecht or Pabst waltz rhythms and in Mozart's bizarre fugal did; for my taste, too faithfully. The invention finale-and both are works completed in the expended on the score could more usefully composers' late teens. have been channeled to the director, who After its 1934 premiere under Bruno Wal• fails to give the piece any pace or bite or, ter, Weill's Second Symphony fell into a rela indeed, to bring to it any kind of interpreta tive obscurity that continued even after its tion. Raul Julia saunters around awkwardly publication in 1966. It was given its West as Macheath, delivering his lines as though Coast premiere by the Occidental-Caltech embarrassed to be on the set. Richard Harris Orchestra on 23 May 1990, under the direc and Julie Walters tackle their cameo parts as tion of Dr. Alan Gross of Occidental. To Mr. and Mrs. Peachum spiritedly enough, those unfamiliar with Weill's stage works. though they can Kurt Welll Newsletter Volume B Number 2 24 RECORDINGS What to do with Happy EntP. Ever since orchestrations. But the effort is lackluster: Helene Weigel sabotaged its Theater am heneve r quite "sings" when you want him to Schiffbauerdamm premiere in September (as in the "Ja. das Meer ist blau'' refrain of 1929 by treating the opening night audience the "Matrosen-Tango"), nor is there a sense to an impromptu communist diatribe, it's of abandon, · much-needed in the "Mande been adapted, de- and re-constructed, rear lay" and ''Hollen-Lili" songs. However, the .,. . SOlkillrn lt QIOUaton ranged, updated, cut, and expanded. David closing "Hosiannah Rockefeller" is rousing A.I- l'U)OG Drew suggests doing away with the book by and jazzy, notable for an ironically deadpan -OUGI<, KAMM "Dorothy Lane" and presenting the num perlonnance by the chorus. } . ~ ., lfl.l™'# IQIII bers as a suite of pieces, not unlike the Mahagonny Songspiel, linked only by a All in all, I rather favor Drew's solution. common moral tone. And it is a recording of this version (from the ~ $ 4l> acclaimed but, alas! out-of-print Deutsche In his liner notes for the new Happy End Grarnmophon 3-LP set of Weill recordings on the Capriccio label, Josef Heinzelmann produced in conjunction with the 1975 Ber cites as the basis for the recording a never lin Festival [see note below)) that supplies realized 1932 plan by Weill to adapt the the only competition for Capriccio's "first play's musical numbers into such a frame complete recording'' of the work. (Lenya's work. Not content to simply present the 1960 recording of the songs - recently re score's thirteen songs, Capriccio includes leased on a CBS Masterworks Portrait CD snippets of dialogue supplemented by com coupled with her Die sieben Todsunden - can ments from a narrator (totaling over sixteen hardly count as an accurate representation KURT WEILL t= minutes) which, more or less. give us a basic of the work.) understanding of the plot. The question PEl<..fJILBE~EE raised is: why bother? Der Silbersee, too, would seem rather ON WIHnRM.utHIH •A WIIIJQ ! TAU unwieldy to re-create as conceived since it o.on(Jw•••C"" It ~ >--"'!~"'" •:',1111 0 • · t..-."'_-.) The book, written by Elisabeth originally contained over two hours of Georg ,(QIN9 ~r.,,o1i,,1,0tt>(t1,l'tl •~,.\.A.fttA~ •~ Hauptmann and completed and doctored by Kaiser's spoken text. Ten years ago, New Brecht, is rather stilted, the plot is banal, and York City Opera attacked the problem head the songs are only vaguely connected to the on by forging a totally new version of the stage action. Still, Happy End contains some work called Silverlake. The work's adapters of Weill's best theater songs, and the lion's clearly indicated that their intent was not to c! s-:;_ share of these fall to the characters Lilian reproduce faithfully Der Silbersee, but to Holiday and gangster Bill Cracker. create a new work in English using most of ·- Gabriele Ramm's unsure intonation and the music from its predecessor (orchestra hardened soprano will hardly erase any tions intact), an entirely new book based on memories you might have of virtually any the main events of Kaiser's, and incorporat one else's interpretations of Lillian's songs. ing obscure incidental music penned by Weill Her perky "Matrosen-Tango" seems out of for other stage dramas. Silverlake was re place, and a crude, matter-of-fact "Surabaya corded for Nonesuch by its original NYCO Johnny" is devoid of the passionate lyricism, cast in 1980. hdf i :.f-iii·i·■ ·li O t.,rikf·i&d·if:5 anger, and pathos needed to make this In a form not unlike that utilized for its complex ballad work. Further, a distinct reg Happy End, Capriccio gives us the first ister break defines the differences in Ms. complete recording of the music from Der Ramm's pop and operatic vocal production. Silbersee along with chunks of dialogue and WalterRaffeiner's Bill seems trapped in his narration (far more extensive than those throat. Unable to sustain notes, his thick given with Happy End) .Although the quality tenor sound never soars, for instance, in the of the text far surpasses that of Happy End, "Das Lied vom Branntweinhandler,11 and you one occasionally tires ofthe amount of dry ultimately are forced to close your ears and dialogue reproduced on the recording. imagine a voice capable of taking this music Olim's philosophical musings whilst prepar to the higher plain it deserves. ing his police report on the shooting and Karin Ploog delivers the spoken lines of arrest of Severin take up almost twelve The Woman in Gray (the gangster known minutes (mcluding the musical punctuations also as The F1y) efficiently, but without much by the chorus representing Olim's con Happy End. Pro Musica Koln; Konig malevolence, and her light soprano seems science). Ensemble; Jan Latham-Konig, cond. totally inappropriate for her one song, "Die Hans Korte as Olim delivers his extensive Capriccio (CD: 60 015-1 ). Der Ballade von der Hollen-Lili." The most ac dialogue and a few sung passages with a Silbersee. Pro Musica Koln, Koiner complished singer in the cast, Stephen gruff, totally unendearing baritone. Wolfgang Rundfunkorchester; Jan Latham Kimbrough, is used primarily for speaking Schmidt's Severin presents a tired, forced Konig, cond. Capriccio (CD: 60 011- roles, and seems uncomfortable with the quality and tentative intonation. The vocal high vocal line of his one singing assign highlight of the set is the Fennimore of 2). Der Lindberghflug / Ballad of ment, the "Mandelay Song." One could wish, Magna Carta. Pro Muska Koln, Hildegard Heichele. Her lovely, melting lyric too, for a more raucous delivery and faster soprano floats in "Ich bin eine arme Ver Koiner Rundfunkorchester; Jan tempo for this showstopper. wandte,'' and the "Casars Tod" ballad is Latham-Konig, cond. Capriccio (CD: Jan Latham-Konig, thus far the conductor right on target. Some of the best voices on 60 012-1). of the Capriccio Weill series, here produces the disc are, unfortunately, those of which with his own instrumental ensemble some we hear the least John Riley-Schofield and gorgeous textures from Weill's delicious Dariuz Niemirowicz as Severin's buddies, Kurt Welll Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 25 RECORDINGS and Elizabeth Eaton and Andrea Andonian, Fascinating, too, is the difference in per have been included next to or under each illustration without significantly reducing who beautifully deliver the ironic and plan formance practice between the 1930 record the size of the image). Further, the booklet gent duet of the two shopgirls. ing and that made in 1987; the authentic, dan~hall-laden rubato and fast tempi of to Der Lindbergh/lug is rife with typographi The Kolner Rundfunkorchester proves Weill's Berlin days juxtaposed against the cal errors. I must mention, too, that the itself the real star of the recording, deliver dry, slower tempi and clean but rather bor cover art for all three recordings is som~ ing memorable accounts of the dizzying ing orchestral playing of the late twentieth what crude and, in the case of Happy End, preludes to Acts l and m, the postlude to century. visually offensive. Severin's revenge aria (No. 11), and the If you already own the Nonesuch Silverlake delicate waltz which concludes the Severin The Ballad ofMagna Carta proves a d~ and DGHappy End, you have little reason to Fennimore duet at the end of Act II. In his lightful piece of fluff, chock full of 1940's supplement them with these recordings. If best perfonnance to date in this series, sardonic wit, as supplied by MaxAnderson's you're planning to acquire recordings of Latham-Konig leads a lyrical and expansive text Itsfifteen minutes provide an enjoyable these works, you must examine your account of this brooding "Wintermarchen," pastiche of sentimental choruses, an over priorities: If you want some semblance of with its hints of Die sieben Todsunden and blown villain (Noel Tyl as a venomous King these works in the forms suggestive oftheir the Second Symphony. John), a bitofWeill's Gennan sound in the original context, i.e., with weight given to orchestrations, and, from today's perspec Although Capriccio is adhering painstak the spoken texts and music. and don't care tive. perhaps, a corny finale. Jane Henschel ingly to Weill's original scores and produc much about vocal quality, I could recommend makes a meal out of the Narrator's arch ing some excellent instrumental results, the Capriccio recordings; however, if you speeches. one's worst fears about the vocal perform want to hear Weill's music attractively ances that s1,Jrlaced with the Mahagonny All three digital recordings have been performed in versions designed to overcome that initiated the label's traversal ofthe Weill produced quite well, with an immediate but the deficiencies of problematic texts in a catalogue are unfortunately confirmed with not overbearing presence to the voices, and recording, the Nonesuch Silverlake and this batch ofrecordings. Why mustthe myth the orchestra nicely detailed. The accompa Deutsche Grammophon Happy End (worth of the greatchasm between "singing actors" nying articles are extensive and infonnative, scouting used record shops for) remain and "acting singers" be perpetuated with and complete texts and translations are in unsurpassed. Weill as the poorvictim?The principal roles cluded. However, I found maddening the [A note on the fate of the Deutsche Gram in these new recordings have mostly been complete absence of the now-standard boxed mophon recordings: To date, four of the filled with voices that should, at best, be numbers that provide a correspondence recordings contained in the original 3-LP used for comprimario roles in provincial between the printed texts and the CDs' set, with the London Sinfonietta, David opera houses, not on aspiring world-class individual tracks and index points! Only Atherton, conducting, have been released recordings. Decca has shown with its recent slightly less bothersome is the practice of on CD: the Kleine Dreigroscl1enmusik, Violin DreigroschenoperthatWeill need not always simply numbering the .many historical illus Concerto, and Mahagonny Songspiel (DG be snarled, barked, and warbled by "singing trations in the program book (and these are 423 255-2), and the Berliner Requiem, coupled actors": his vocal lines can befilled by attrac sometimes out of numerical sequence) and with Gisela May's Die sieben Todsunden on tive, well-trained, world-class voices, with including a separate page which contains Polydor 429 333-2).] out a loss of textual communication. the relevant captions (in all cases, the ca1r LARRY L. LASH Capriccio also gives us a new digital r~ tions are sufficiently brie( that they could New York City cording of Der Lindberghfl14g coupled with the premiere recording of The Ballad of Magna Carta, two works conceived, as were Das Berliner Requiem andDown in the Val ley, for radio perfonnance. I must say I enjoyed this disc much more than the other two recordings. What I found ~_/2 most attractive was the inclusion of a hith ~,,. '''tlJ ~ erto unreleased issue of a 1930 German radio broadcast of sections of the original ~ ,,,,. - '( :,, ~ -t version of Der Lindbergh/lug, a co-operative effort by Weill and Paul Hindemith. The ',1 7 /J-~~✓~ contrast between the two composers is evi dent from the first Hindemith movement, :;t lo/' J(Cffi® the section representing the fog that plagues the first transAtlantic flight Hindemith's first solo, "lch bin der Nebel" ("I am the ~ ~ . ~(~ fog") , snarled by a grand opera baritone . ' - villain, sounds inappropriate from the start Weill replaced it with a choral fugue, redo .;.. :! ~ lent of minor-key Mozart, with the right foreboding air about it Indeed, the whole of Hindemith's contribution denies the piece, perhaps not surprisingly, a sense of coher ~ ency. One can easily understand Weill's 'It's a Kurtweiller.' desire to re-compose Hindemith's sections of the cantata to yield a stylistic whole. Reprinted with permission: The Spectator, 28 April 1990. Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 NumNI' 2 SELECTED PERFORMANCES 1990. CANADA Symphony No. 2, Tilbingen. Junge KammerorchesterTilbingen, Markus Kosel. Concerto for Violin and Win&, Op. 12, Montreal, Quebec. McGill University, cond., 4 April 1990. 26 October 1990. Concerto for Violin and Winds, Oj,. 12, Dresden, Dresdner Musikfestspiele. ENGIAND Dresdner Philharmonisches Orchester, Jorg-Peter Weigle, violinist, Rein hard Schmiedel, cond., 11H7 June 1990. Happy End, Leeds. London Sinfonietta, Diego Masson, cond., 7 July 1990. Johnny Johnson Concert Suite, Die sieben Todsiinden, Royal Festival Rall, Concerto for Violin and Winds, Op. 12, Munich, Richard Strauss- Konservato- London. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhonda Kess, cond., Ute Lem per. riurn. 20 July 1990. vocalist, 26 March 1991. FRANCE Mahagonny Songspiel, London. Matrix Ensemble, Stephen Unwin. dir.. Der Jasager, L'operajunior, 1990-91 season. Robert Ziegler, cond., Ute Lemper, vocalist, 7 December 1990. Suite from Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt MaJ1agon11y, Lyon, Monlpellier. Orchestre The Seven Deadly Sins, London, The Barbican. West Australian Ballet Com de !'Opera de Lyon, 14. 24 July 1990. pany. London Symphony Orchestra, John Harle, cond., 5 August 1990. The Threepenny Opera, London, Bubble Theatre. June-September 1990. ITALY 17,e Threepenny Opera, Chesterfield. Chesterfield Pomegranate, December Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Florence. Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 1990. Graham Vick, dir., Jan Latham-Konig, cond., 12, 15, 17, 21 June 1990. 17,e Threepenny Opera, London, CanonburyTowerTheatre. Sara Randall. dir.. KOREA Colin Guthrie, cond., 28 ApriJ-12 May 1990. Die sieben Todsiinden, Seoul. Seoul Symphony Orchestra, Hans-Jilrgen Nagel, FEDERAL REPUBIJC OF GERMANY cond., 3 October 1990. Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Frankfurt. Frankfurter Oper, Arie NORWAY Zinger, dir., Steven Sloane, cond., 13 Oktober 1990. Concerto for Violin and Wmds, Op. 12, Oslo. 18 June 1990. Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Freiburg. Freiburger Oper, Stadtis che Bilhnen. 1990-91 season. SC Kurt W eill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 2 NEWSLETTER RESPONSE FoRM Name Institution Add my name to mailing list Address Delete my name from mailing list Telephone Number Update listing Detatch and mail to: Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, 7 East 20th Street, New York, NY 10003-1106; or call, (212) 505-5240 ORDER FoRM The Foundation has a limited number of the following books for sale. Please send this form along with a check payable in U.S. dollars to the Foundation at the address given below. All books will be shipped by UPS in the United States and by surf ace rate to Europe. New York residents, please add 8.25% sales tax. No. of copies Title Price Total Drew. Kurt Weill: A Handbook. Faber, 1987. $30.00 Hinton. Kurt Weill: The Threepenny Opera. Cambridge, 1990 $12.00(Pbk) $35.00 Kortlander, Meiszies, Farneth, eds. Vom Kurfurstendamm $18.00(Pbk) zum Broadway: Kurt Weill (7 990- 7950). Droste, 1990. Kowalke, ed. A New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill. $18.00(Pbk) Yale University Press, 1986. Kowalke. Kurt Weill in Europe. UMI Research Press, 1979 $20.00 Schebera. Kurt Weill: Eine Biographie. VEB $30.00 Deutscher Verlag, 1990. Weill. Gesammelte Schriften (Hinton/Schebera, eds). $30.00 Henschelverlag, 1990. Recording Berlin im Licht. Largo 5514. $20.00 Postage and Handling: $2.50 per item (USA, Canada), $6.00 elsewhere. TOTAL AMOUNT ENCLOSED: Detach and mail with payment to: Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, 7 East 20th Street, New York, NY 10003 THE KURT WEILL FOUNDATION FOR MUSIC, INC. Non-Profit Org. 7 East 20th Street U.S. Postage New York, NY 10003-1106 PAID Phone: (212) 505-5240 New York, NY Permit No. 893