NEW PUBLICATIONS
ARTICLES Drew, David. "Schoenberg and Weill." In SundrySortsofMusicBooks: Essays on, the British library Collections: Presented to 0. W Neighbour on His 70th Birth.day, edited by Chris Banks, Arthur Searle, and Malcolm Turner, 346-353. London:The British Library, 1993. Fuegi, John. "Brechtian Characters in Search of Their Author." Annals ofScholarship 9, no. 3 (1992): 341-355. Heister, Hanns-Werner. "'Amerikanische Oper' und antinazistische Propaganda: Aspekte von Kurt Weills Produktion im US.Ex:il." In Kunste im Exile, edited by Claus-Dieter Krohn, 152-167. Munich: Text+ Kritik, 1992. Heister, Hanns-Werner. ''Polis-Theater und Broadway-Musical: Aspeckte von Kurt Weills Musiktheater-Produktion im US.Exil." In Musik im Exit, edited by Hanns-Werner Heister, Claudia Maurer Zenck, and Peter Petersen, 409437. Frankfurt: Fischer Taschenbuch, 1993. Kowalke, Kim H. "Brecht and Music: Theory and Practice." In The Cambridge Companion to Brecht, edited by PeterThomson and GlendyrSacks. 218-234. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Kowalke, Kim H. "Singing Brecht vs. Brecht Singing: Performance in Theory and Practice." Cambridge Operajo14rnal 5, no. 1. (March 1993): 55-78. Palme r, Ji.irgen. "Zehn nach Weill." Neue Zeitschriftfar Musik Guly 1993): 31-34.
BOOKS Briner, Andres. Musikalische Koexistenz. Edited by Giselher Schubert. Mainz: Schott, 1993. Miinsterer, Hanns Otto. The Yomzg Brecht. Translated by Tom Kuhn and Karen). Leeder; preface by Michael Morley. London: Libris, 1992. Hailey, Christopher. Franz Schreker 1878-1934: A Cultural Biography. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1993. Lucchesi.Joachim, ed. Das Verhdrin derOper: Die Debatteum dieAuffii,h11ung 'Vas Verh.or des Lukullus" von Bertolt Brecht imd Paul Dessau. Berlin: Basis+Druck, 1993. Naremore,Jamesand Patrick Brantlinge r, eds. Modernity and Mass Cutture. Bloomington: lndiana University, 1991. Silberman, Marc et al., eds. The Other Brecht IT: 11ie Brecht Yearbook 18. Madison, WI: The lntemational Brecht Society; University of Wisconsin Press, 1993. Weihe rmi.iller, Manfred. DiscographiederdeutschenKleinkunst, Band 3. Bonn: Birgit Lotz Verlag, 1992,
RECORDINGS ''Barbra: Back to Broadway." Barbra Streisand. Columbia CK 44189. [Includes "Speak Low.") "Florelle: 1927-1934." Chansophone 112. [Includes four songs from the French version of the 1931 film of Die Dreigroschenoper.) "Good Vibes for Kurt Weill." Warren Chiasson, vibraphone, assisted by jazz musicians. Audiophile ACD-236. [CD reissue of 1977 LP, with three additional songs.) "Jacques Higelin el Catherine Sauvage chantent Boris Vian." Disques Jacques Canetti 103172. [Sauvage sings six songs by Weill.] "Lys Gauty: 1927-1936." Chansophone 106. [Includes "Je ne t'aime pas" and "]'attends un navire."] Knickerbocker Holiday. Various artists conducted by Maurice de Abravanel and Harold I Levy. AEI-CD 007. [CD reissue) Lady in the Dark. Gertrude Lawrence and Macdonald Carey [radio version). AEI-CD 003. [CD reissue! "Patti Lu Pone: Live." RCA Victor 09026-61797-2. [Includes five Weill songs.] "Prima Donna." Lesley Garrett, soprano; Philharmonia Orchestra; lvor Bolton, conduc tor. Silva Ame rica SSD 1023. [Includes "Whal Good Would the Moon Be?"] "Romance & the Stage." Elaine Page; New World Philharmonic Orchestra; Peter Matz, conductor. RCA 74321136152. [Includes "September Song."]
Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 13 BOOKS
The first section deals with the reception question posed by Schoenberg in !he con of Weill. Ste phen Hinton examines the temporaneous debate over the Lehrsh"ick current., accepted categories of reception genre. David Drew discusses, just as insis and their relationship to the aesthetics of tently as broadly, the subject of Die Weill's work. He draws attention to the Biirgschaft and engages himself with the decline in authority ofth e autonomous work contemporary criticism of Paul Bekker, of art: the more a work, through its recep Herbert Trantow, and Ernst Bloch. (Inci tion. becomes common property, the more denta1ly, Drew makes the welcome an it lends thereby to lose its own identity. nouncement. - in note 1 on page 162-of his Hinton proves thatnotonly did bot11 Adorno forthcoming Kurt Weill: Works. 1927-33.) and Bloch misunderstand this process, they The interpretation offered by Andreas arbitrarily devalued it. !Gm Kowalke sepa Hauff of the " Nebelszene" from Die rates the compositional and persona.I iden Biirgschaft raises more questions than it tities of Weill and plausibly demonstrates answers. Hauff reads the "old" style (fugato that, through a process of "de-Gerrnaniza technique) of the "Ne belszene" as a roman tion'" which was complete by 1940, Weill tically inspired grasp at a bygone. idyllic actually cultivated a specifically American A Stranger Here Myself, Kurt era. It is questionable, however, whether personal ide ntity. Asa composer, however, Weill-Studien. Edited by Kim H. such an "old" style has the general effect oI he recycled many of his original intentions Kowalke and Horst Ed ler. an archaism or may be considered simply for the changed circumstances. Joachim (H ildesheim, Zurich, New York: as an incisive "modem" Stilwille (as termi• Lucchesi emphasizes further constants Georg Olms Verlag, 1993). 384 pp. nology of the time would refer to it), which throughout the career of Weill; examples allows the employed musical means to being his lack of anxiety about "triviality" The status of a composer is determined emerge as a reflection of the subject. To (in which Weill called upon the examples of by the extent to which his oeuvre is able to wit: fugato as an inherently musical s ymbol Verdi and Busoni). and his distinctive politi engage, enrich and, if need be, alter the for two men who have become estranged. cal consciousness. context ofpr evailing discus~ionsof musical In any case, as Hauff points out, Hindemith aesthetics, history, and theory. His work is In the second section of the volume - used the forms of absolute music in this way no longer evaluated - whether il be for Weill in Germany- Guy Stem and Tamara in Cardillac. critical or apologetic purposes - according Levitz evaluate the extant correspondence Robert Bailey's contribution on Weill's to traditional overarching standards corn• between theyouthfulWeill (1917-1925) and symphonies is likewise not entirely persua monly held lo be valid. On the conlrary, his parents and brother Hanns. Though sive. Again and again. he speaks of ''post such standardsare losing valictity, or at best these letters re main unpublished, examina Wagnerian" orchestral music witl1out mak are only discernable in pa1ticular, narrow tion of them makes possible the formation ing it clear what he means by this phrase. circumstances. Unmistakably. in the grow of an authentic picture of the composer's The cycl1cal procedures which he ascribes ing and intensifying debate over the oeuvre early developme nt. Stern. an authority on to We ill's Symphony No.2 would better be of Kurt Weill. our standards of evaluation German cultural history, addresses Weill's identified with the Brahms symphonies (the are beginning to change. The publication at intellectual development and analyzes his Second, for instance). being less applicable. hand, which grew out of the major Weil] reaction to the First World War, his self on the other hand. to Wagner. Liszt, or symposium of March 1990 in Duisburg, at image as a Jew, and above all his very wide Berlioz. Furthermore, Bailey-seems to mis least indirectly reveals this change. Herein, ranging literary inte rests and predilections. understand the fundamental compositional for the first time, Weill's work comes forth As early as 1919, Weill wrote. with some problem of Weill's Second. lo contrast to into the spotlight undiminished and un embarassment. "I need a poem to get my the thematically integrated single-move prejudiced by the familiar patronizing argu imagination going." Tamara Levitz reports ment First Symphony, Symphony No.2 is ments and criteria issuing from the prov on the musical education of the young man much less concerned with the thematic enance of Brecht. Adorno, Schoe nberg, or who as a seventeen-year-old already wanted integration of its three move ments than Boulez. (This is not to me ntion lesser lo become a musician. She discloses lhe with the expressive characterization and authors such as Virgil 'lnomson or even astonishing fact that in 1919 Hermann diffe re ntiation of three indepe ndent move Ernst Krenek. whose American reputation Scherchen advised Weill to study with ments which are within themselves unified. is loston European readers.) The evolution Schoenberg in Vienna. (Weill actually initi of evaluative criteria will undoubtedly be ated contact with Schoenberg and received lbe third section of A Stranger Here My further accelerated by !he critical level of a po~itive response to bis inquiries.) One self offers clive rse new insights into the this dfacussion. the keen unde rstanding of hopes that both of these essays, wit'h their American work of Kurt Weill. With satisfy the underlying issues exhibited by the au wealth of interesting findings, will lead di ing meticulousness, Michael Morley pur thors. and, above all, by We ill's work itself. rectly to the publication of this collection of sues Weill's appropriation of the means of in the central position it is accorded. correspondence. popular song form in the United States. He The personal and aesthetic ide nti1y of Ian Kemp ana)yzes Der jasager as a demonstrates that the composer's songs Weill as a composer of two worlds is enig Lelzrstiick for composers; he enumerates its for German thea1Tical pieces always s topped matic and in need of clarification; it is pre• fundamental teachings about musical struc the action but still referred to and con· cisely this problem of ide ntity that the Kurt ture, style. and pe rformance practice. cerned themselves with the plot, express Weill-Studien volume reflects in every re• Thereby, Kemp considers - probably for ing lhe character of the respective protago spect - from the title through its bilingual the first time - of what instruction such a nists. HisAmeiican stageworks,conversely, contributions to the selection and arrange didactic piece is int1insically capable and feature songs that could very much stand ment of its essays. responds indirectly to a polemic-rhetorical on their own:
Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 14 BOOKS
Part of him was committed to the more death of the Lied as a contemporary form. complicated theater song with a clearly While one may notshai·e all ofWeill's points defined function withi11 the scene: part of of view, there is an irrefutable determina him, with one eye on the hit parade. was tion of "modernity" to bear in mind that responding to the slightly different de Weill both anticipated and responded to: mru1ds of the immediately intelligible, modernity became embodied in the trans melodically more straight-forward popu formation or revolution brought about in lar ballad. [pp.230-31) popular entertainment by the motion pic bruce mcdung·s essay deals with Lady in ture industry and radio, as well as by Weill's the Dark. He e,xamines the considerable attempt to invent a genuinely popular art influe nce of the psychoanalyst Laurence S. form for the t heater that had really little to do with so-called populist or vulgar notions. Kubie on Moss Hart's libretto, documents the collaboration between Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill wrote three operas with Georg Weill, and reconstructs with the help of Kaiser, and five [sic] works with Bertolt sketches the genesis of the central song Brecht (Die Dreigroschenoper and Aufstieg u11d Fall der Stadt Malzagomzy being the ''My Ship" in terms of its utilization of most famous.) He worked with the great leitmotives. This project is exemplary in its painter Caspar Neher; with Jacques Deval combination of philological research and (happily rediscovered of late) on Marie musical analysis. Kurt Weill, de Berlin aBroadway . Galante; and with Franz Werfel, Langston Translated and edited by Pascal We ill's work for the "War Effo,t" is pre Hughes, and F1itz Lang, among others. Huynh. (Paris: Editions Plume, 1993). Weill collaborated with Piscator. Arnold sented in documentary form by Jurgen 333 pp. Bronnen, and Lion Feuchtwanger. the au Schebera, whose approach makes clear the thor of the superb Goya and the famousj11d considerable range of these activities. lf, in France, Weill'snameisknown largely Sii/1. Weill wrote for the theater. radio. Ji.irgen Thym and Werner Gri.inzweig de because ofhi s association with Brecht (and schools, an Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 15 BooKs Dachau Song: The Twentieth phenomenal memory) and, while in Dachau, Middle East. and Africa. There is important establishing and leading a makeshift or work to be done in unearthing the stories of Century Odyssey of Herbert chestra. He also made a lasting contribu Zipper. By Paul Cummins. (New musicians like Alexander Lippay. Zipper's tion to tJ1e bleak culture of the concentra predecessor in the Philippines: Josef York, San Francisco, Bern, Frankfurt tion tamps w.ith his setting of.Jura Soyfer's Rosenstock,KlausPringsheim,andManfred am Main, Paris, London: Peter Lang "Dachau Lied ... a song whichsoon spread to Gurlitt, who made lasting contributions to Publishing, Inc., 1992). 308 pp. other camps as well. musical life in Japan; Walter Kaufmann, When Zipper and his brother were at last who taugl1t in lndia; and Joseph Trauneck, Hermann Scherchen: Werke und allowed to join their family. who were then who conducted in South Africa. Like Herbert Briefe in 8 Banden; Volume I, in Paris and on their way to the United and Trudi Zipper, these and hundreds of States, he accepted a position as director of other men and women participated in an Schriften 1. Edited by Joachim the Manila Symphony so that he could join encounter that anticipated the cultural in Lucchesi. (Berlin, Bern, Frankfurt am J,jg fi.ancee, U1e dancerTn,1dl Dubsky, who teractions of the twenty-first century. Main, New York, Paris, Vienna: Peter had been teaching in the Philippines since Por all the drama and significance of its Lang GmbH, EuropaischerVerlag der 1937. During the Japanese occupation Zip subject it is a pity that Dachau S011g isn't a Wissenschaften, 1991 ). 292 pp. per and his wife made a meager living by better book. It is poorly written, madden teaching and were active in the Philippine ingly vague, mjndJessly repetitious, and Freedom and life are earned by those alone underground. After barely surviving the wretchedly edited (ifit was edited at all). [t wlw conquer them each day anew. holocaust of the destruclion of Manila, Zip is clearly a labor oflove and written with the per resurrected the Manila Symphony and Goethe, Foust, Part U full cooperation of Zipper himself (whose celebrated the Allied victory with a now own voice, through lengthy quotations, ac It can be difficult to take the measure ofa legendary performance of Beethoven's counts (or some of its best pages). but restless man. Hermann Scherchen and Eroica. In 1946 he and his wife emig rated to Cummins's tenuous command of history. Herbert Zipper led unsettled, peripatetic the United States, where he led the Brook haphazard scholarship. and evident lack of lives in which the accidents and stratagems lyn Symphony and taughtat the New School musical background can be (rustrating. of survival shaped and nurtured an untidy for Social Research. [n 1952 he became Nonetheless. he brings to our allention an luxuriance ofinterests; two conductorswho director of what eventually became the imporlant life. and for that we must be Nmth Shore School near Chicago, and in constructed long, patchwork careers that grateful. 1971 joined the faculty of the University of seem to lurch across borders and around Though in no need of introduction, the the globe; two outrunners of a culture in Southern California School of Music. Zipper's passionate interest in music educa German conductor Hermann Schercben crisis who discover in their wandering a (1891-1966) is nonetheless a shadowy fig pattern of larger purpose. tion (he is a past president of the National Guild of Community Music Schools) has ure in twentieth-century music history. He From theAnsdzluss to the fall of Manila, led to his involvement with outreach and was a difficult personality whose reputation from Dachau toTiananmen Square, Herbert clevelopmenl programs around the coun was plagued by rumors of indiscretion and Zipper has had a knack for getting into try. He also continued to conduct in the scandal, whose career reveals a pattern of harm's way. Born in Vienna in 1904. Zipper Philippines during the summers and has political intrigues and precipitate departures. enjoyed a childhood ofcomfortable circum helped design educational projectslhrough and whose strong progressive convictions stancesand the advantages ofagood educa out Asia, including in China where he was could be undercut by actions of disconcert tion. He received a degree from the Vienna an eyewitness to the bloody Tiananmen ing naivete. He was also a man of inner Musikhochschule, where his principal in Square reprisals of]une 1989. resources and self-discipline who used the fluence was Josef Marx, although he also four years of incarceration in a World War I drew important impulses from the concerts lfTheodor Adorno questioned the valid civilian prison camp in the Ural mountai.t1s ofSchoenberg's Societyfor Private Musical ity of poetry after Auschwit.z, Herbert to master Russian. compose balf a dozen Perfonnances. Zip_per's conducting career Zipper's first-band experiences of war and works, conduct a small orchestra, and be took him from Vienna and Ingolstadt to organi7,ed h orror have convinced him that come intimately acquainted with the Dilsseldorf, where he served as the assis the arts are essential to a life of quality, and Beethoven string qua11ets. He was an expe tant to the city's General Music Director indeed can make the difference between rienced cafe violinist and orchestral violist Hans Weisbach and met, among others, humanity and spi.titual disintegration. His by the age of sixteen, a dedicated chamber Albert Schweitzer, Hindemith, Stravinsky, remarkable self-discipline and disquieting musician throughout his life, and a g ifted Prokofiev, Walton, Milhaud. Weill. and detachment from the atrocities he has expe conductor with a passion for cla.iity and Wo!Igang Fortner. After Hitler's ascent to rienced is balanced by a commitment to attention to detail ("alles horbar machen" power Zipper returned to Vienna, where he community and the rational stewardship of was his constant refrain). though his as helped found the short-lived Vienna Con the planet's resources. Emigration made oi signments never quite seemed to match his cert Orchestra, wrote compositions for the him an ardent i11ternationalist whose con talents (his numerous recordings on the Austrian radio and local cabarets, and took tinuing devotion to European cultural tradi Westminister label with a motley collection sporadic conducting assignments in En tions is tempered by his exposure to and of orchestras and uneven results are a case gland and the Soviet Union. Shortly after deep appreciation of world culture. in point). Still, with ensembles ranging the Anschluss in March 1938, Zipper and Zipper's life is an important corrective to from the Grotrian Steinweg Orchestra in one ofh.is brothers were arrested and sent U1e familiar cliches of the emigre experi Leipzig and the Radio Orchestra o f to Dachau and subsequently Buchenwald, ence, for which the Old World-New World Konigsberg to the City Orchestra o f where they remained until February 1939. trajectory of Kurt Weill's career has be Winterthur (with which he was associated The nine months of his incarceration make come a paradigm. The conundrums of for 28 years) he was able throug h hard work for harrowing reading and it is indeed a Weill'scareer are indeed central to tensions and innovative programming to make the miracle that Zipper sw-vived the virulent in late twentieth-century European and provinces the site of music histo1y. But typhoid that claimed the life of every other American culture, but our emerging world the n Scherchen was always there when member of his work detail. Tn the midst of culture has been significantly influe nced by music history was being made. From this horror. Zippet maintained a tight grip the very different experiences and contri Donaueschingen lo Darmstadt he con on sanity by organizing recitations ofclassi butions of those emigres who found their ducted a seemingly endless list of works by cal literature (thanks in large part to his way to South America, Australia, Asia, the composers as diverse as Sch oenberg, Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 16 PERFORMANCES Stravirsky,Schreker, Berg, Webe111, Bartok, mance practice and conducting. Without a Krenek, Haba, Tiessen, Weill, Hindemith, doubtthe mostvaluableitemsarethelengthy Street Scene. Munich. Staatstheater Milhaud, Henze, Nono, Maderna. and remfoiscences: "Mein erstes Leben (1891- am Gartnerplatz, Frank Arnold, dir., Stockhausen. ls there another conductor 1950)." which were to have been the basis Herbert Mogg, cond. 30 June 1993 whose contributions to new music were so for an autobiography Scherchen did not live (premiere); In repertory September manifold or spanned so many decades - to complete, the report oJ a 1932 trip to 1993-June 1994. from the triumphant tour of P£errot lm10ire Russia, and his reflections upon the role of in 1912 to the Barcelona premiere of the music and performance on the radio. lt is, Berg Violin Concerto in 1936, from first all-in-all. an odd assortment and one would In the annual German publication Oper 1993, concer t and stage performances of have liked to know by what principle the which summarizes events and points to trends Dallapiccola's /l Prigioniero in 1949 and selection was made. While Scherchen's of the 1992-93 season, Manuel Brug, one of its 1950 to th e premiere of Xenakis's style is straightforward and unadorned, he two chief editors, nominated the Munich "Terretektorh" in 1966? And yet can be disorganized and repetitious (a tran- Staatstheater am Gartnerplatz production of Scherchen's repe1toire in concerts around scription of a lecture on dramaturgy and Kurt Weill's Street Scene as his first choice in the world (including the Soviet Union, the stage direction in opera given in 1962 shows the category "most interesting opera discov United States, the Middle East, and South howmuch worse itgotwhenhe wasspeak- ery'' (his second candidate being Carl Nielson's America) was broadly catholic and included ingfreely). He also kept a sizable stable of Maskarade in Innsbruck). Having its premiere the standard classics of ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ well-exercised hobby just before the summer break at Munich's Bach and Beethoven as Scberchen and Wem horses. He was, for in- second opera house, Street Scene has been well as oftbeathistorical stance, an advocate of generally well received by both critics and revivals, salon music, In 1930. Scherchen conducted an draconian performance audiences. Some critics even remarked upon and opera. abridged version oflhe original Weill- cuts (his operatic ideal thework's topical relevance because the direc Hiodemith collaboration of Der is one-and-a-half hours) tor, Frank Arnold, subtly strengthened the Scherchen'scontribu li,ulbe,glfllug,arecordiogofwhichwas and thought radio con- opera's plea for tolerant co-existence in a multi tions did not end on the produced by the Berliner Funkstunde, ce1t s shou Id have more ethnic neighborhood-of no little importance conductor's podium, for and subsequently broadcas~ by Radio talking and less music. in today's Germany, alarmed by the increasing he was an inveterate or Paris and the BBC. Schercnen was to lie seemed fascinated right-wing, nationalist, and xenophobic ani pe ganizer, founding the have cooducted a production oIWeill's with performance vari- mosity of part (still, gratefully only a small part) riodical Metos in 1920, opera Di, Bifrgscl,qft iotended for ab\es from hall to hall, of the country's population. initiating numerous ifof Ktinigsberg In 1933, for which Weill orchestra to orchestra, ln the first September performance after the ten short-lived new mu p]aonedrevisionstotheworkt,remiered country to country. but summer break, Street Scene gained a reception sic series and publish In 1932 at the Stll.dtische Oper in Ber, longed for the kind of more friendly than enthusiastic by a house ing ventures, arranging fill, AJthoughd\eproductioowasoever neutral perfection pos- three-quarters full; the production suffered festivals a nd confer realiz.ed, Schercheo was many years sible only in U1e studio somewhat from the aftermath of the custom ences, teaching work later.in 1960,toconductacoocertver- (shades of Glenn ary summer fatigue and evident lack of re shops, leading semi sion of the opera with the Gould!). hearsal time to polish, tidy, and tighten. Coor nars, writing articles, Norddeulscher Rundfunk. dination between pit and stage often lacked and directing operas. It This is a welcomevol- precision, and I must admit that I found the is not only the bewilder- ume, intelligently pre conducting of Herbert Mogg somewhat le ing profusion ofhis activities thatmakes the sented and well edited and annotated, thargic, lacking drive, without much fizz, and overview ofSc herchen's life so difficult, but though unfortunately one will have to wait with almost no swing in the jazzier numbers also the eclectic assortment of his tastes until the final volume for a bibliography and (the single exception being "Moon-faced, and passions. Bach's Art of the Fugue, index. Dare we also hope for a complete list starry-eyed," brilliantly delivered by Lydia Mila popular music, acoustics, broadcasting and of Scherchen's premieres and first perfor and Carlos Carrasquilla - undoubtedly the recording technology. Chinese tbeater, con mances as well as a detailed chronology of electrifying highlight ofthe evening). Against ducting technique. the byways of Swiss his concert programs? this must be balanced Mogg's sympathetic music history, proletarian causes-all com It is of little consequence that most of the molding of the more lyrical sections. Gener manded his ardent attention. His three ally, however,acertain lack of vitality weighted books, lehrbuch des Dirigierens (1929). Vom grand schemes laid by Hermann Scherchen and Herbert Zipper remained at best half the proceedings, and I found myself time and Wesen der Musik (1946). and Muslk far again impatient for some more American Jedenna11n (1950), betray the preoccupa realized, for these two faustian visionaries wete visionaries of a sober and practical razzmatazz and brashness - but then the tions of a man who was at once a no-non Biedermeier idyll ofth e Gart:nerplatz contrasts sense practitioner and an unevenly schooled bent. They did not allow the scope of their dreams to daunt them in the patient cultiva sharplywith the high-voltagezipofBroadway. autodidact ever eager to indulge in shaky I must admit, though, that I am spoiled at historical speculation that could be either tion of their chosen medium. That medium least for the near future for any routine Weill brilliant and insightful or just plain wacky. was music and their goal was communica tion, the mechanics of articulating ideas after having heard the previous night John The present volume. the firstofan eight clearly and making them accessible to a EliotGardiner'ssensationalguestperfonnance volume survey ofScherchen's writings and community of receptive minds. Two ca with the Hamburg North German Radio (NDR) letters, is devoted to two dozen essays rang reers on the musical front lines, if you will, Orchestra and the inimitable mezzo-soprano ing from the 1920 keynote article for Melos in which personal and professional strate Anne-Sophie von Otter in Die sieben Todsunden to a 1966 discussion of a series of CBC gies of survival produced a commitment to and songs from 011e Touch of Venus, lady in music programs featuring performances of, weaving strands of a contested artistic heri the Dark, and Love Life at the Ludwigsburg among others. Glenn Gould and Yehudi tage into the pattern of a nascent global Festival. The experience proved an astound Menuhin. It is a disparate selection that culture. It is the rough edges and ing revelation of the "authentic Weill," combin includes its share of disjointed ruscussions openendedness of these lives that bring us ing the best ofBerlinKurfurstendamm vulgar of individual works (Bacl1's B-minor Mass, closer to taking the measure of our own ity with the sophistication of 1940s New York. a symphony by the eighteenth-century Swiss restless times. (Thelatterwassostronglyevoked that I had to composer Gaspard Fritz. Beethoven's Fifth look around to reassure myself that I was not Symphony, and Schoen berg's Pierrot CHRISTOPHER HAILEY sitting next to Dorothy Parker or others of the limaire) as well as ruminations on perfor- Occidental College Algonquin round table.) Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 17 PERFORMANCES Gert Rhode's slightly slummish Manhattan warmed to Andrea Catzel's searing soprano as loyal following of aficionados for whom Broad streetcorner set. with its brownstone bistesse Mrs. Maurrant. Katl1erina Muller's beautifully way is the great lure - so far no British or and fire ex.capes, looked as ifit were builtfor an sofi-gl"ained Rose. and Riccardo Lombardi's German "lost'' works have been presented. upcoming production of Guys and Dolls or powerful and voluminous (if from the very The actors and singers appear for nothing, West Side Story. Susanne Dieringer's cos beginning too sinister and threateningly col reading their scripts, but each show has a tumes added a 1940s touch (apart from the ored) Frank Maurrant; actually ilieMaurrants "production" and the verve and devotion oftile rock n'roll styling of Dick McGann). Arnold's could well be the descendants from an Italian players is always impressive. Weill's wveLife stage direction tried hard to make the action opera company which somehow got stranded and One Touch uf Venus have been given in and its perfonners look naturalistic, though in the Bronx. In addition, thecast included the previous years, but tl1is reading ofKnickerbucker the characters could well do witl1 some sharp very winning Volker Bengl as tile sympatheti Holiday was also, as far as anyone can tell, tile ening of ilieir profiles. Nonetheless, Arnold cally shy Sam, a slick Rainer Giintller as Harry British premiere of tl1e work. For a modem builds some touching moments, most notably Easter, a macho and streetwise Michael audience tl1econlemporary political references in Mrs. Maurrant's aria "Somehow I Never Haefner as Vincent Jones, and Jonathan need a bit of explanation and at the first after Could Believe" and in the tender love duet of Kinsler's convincing janitor. The list of the noon (each piece isgenerally given four times) Sam and Rose ("Remember That I Care"). huge an(igenerally highly competent ea$! could Mario Mercado from tile Kurt Weill Founda Here, some bucolic tranquility transforms the continue. In summary, this is a "typical" Ger tion was on hand to speak an introduction depressing surroundings. Arnold proves es man opera-house µroductioo of an American about tile work's genesis and some of its topi pecially successful in his handling of tile chil classic and well worth a visit tl1is season to cal jokes. dren; the delivery of ''Fat, Fat, the Water Rat Munich's beautifully intimate Opera Comique. Jt is noticeable throughout this series tliat Catch Me if You Can," in the opening of tl1e I wonder, though, what miracles a Gardiner the more fiivolous the piece, tile better it survives the years. basic theme second act, projects some bighJy welcome, might have worked wifu his NOR band and Knickerbocker's of democracy-versus-totalitarianism, and the invigorating, and fresh spontaneity. Munich's singers! triumph of the :free-thinking individual over But what makes tile Munich production tile wily politicians remains strong, but Max very special is tile quality ofthe voices-if not wellAuderson'sjo1 Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 18 PERFORMANCES Cry the Beloved Country. Based on the novel by Alan Paton, with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. Adapted and Directed by Frank Galati. The Goodman Theatre of the Art Institute of Chicago. 18 June to 8 August 1993. It was an unnerving and at times painful experience. It was my story indeed, but the idiom was strange, except for those pans which reproduced the actual lan guage ofthe book. I kept on telling myself that the making ofa book and the mak ing ofa play were two separate creative acts .... ! may say that this terrible evening was made more endurable by the beauty ofthe singing and by Kurt Weill's music. The chon1s "Ory, the Beloved Country" was powerful and beautiful, and moved me deeply. Alan Paton made these comments about Weill and Anderson's Lost in the Stars, and in doing so alluded to the difficulties of Two choruses sing of the "Fear!" that divides South Africa in the Goodman transfonniog the novel into a wo rk for the Theatre production of Cry, the Beloved Country. Photo: Li2 Lauren. stage. (For the entire account, see Alan Paton. Journey Continued: An Autobiogra harmonica. and the electronic keyboard phy [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, The musical numbers from the original failed to replicate the sound of an organ. 1988], pp. 20-21.) When il was fu-sl per Lost in the Stars constitute only a point of Lack of space in the pit required the wood formed. Paton had reservations about the departure for this production. Aside from winds to be piped in from a backstage room. dramatic effect of Lost in the Stars, and in the obvious reorde ring, musical numbers causing an unsettling imbalance that af. particular the cogency of the title song. He are Lrn nsposed (usually lower), and repeats and reprises added. Tempo indications are fected tl1e singers as well as the total or also objected to the manner in which Ander chestral timbre. son had treated his characters and nan-a drastically revised. Musical numbers are live. In his estimation Anderson had failed assigned to char acters and scenes other The Goodman Theatre program booklet to capture "the full essence of Lhe original" than those intended byW eill. Absalom. not for Cry, the Beloved Country explained the (p, 23) . his father, sings "Lost in the Stars." ''The work as "combining the soaring majesty of Little Gray House" is used poignantly in a vVeill and Anderson's original score with Frank Galati, whose Goodman Theatre new scene lo depict the home less in Galati's vision." But Galati could not solve version borrows the novel's title, brings Shantytown. ''Train to Johannesburg'' be the problem of how to use music that was more of Paton's orig inal text into his stage comes improvised background music for inte nded for the dramaturgy of another adaptation. Unlike Anderson's original the opening scene. Themes from di(fere nt musical written with another librettist and book, which Galati has vi1iually discarded numbers are used in various combinalion s: in a different style. All of the energy put into (and therefore, strictly speaking, not re for instance, a fragme ntof"Fear!'' and a line djssecting and reorganizing WeiU's score vised), Weill's music has been thoroughly from 'The Search." could have been put to better use. Perhaps reworked am! reorde red in service to the And whataboutdramaturgicaldecisions? U1e Goodman should have commissioned a new concept. In so doing, the director fails Galati chose to cast the role of Stephen new score specifically for this production. to consider the integrity of the musical Kumalo with a non-singing actor, so that all Or they might have used South African score and to grant it the "authenticity'' con of Kumalo's musical numbers were eitl1er musicians in a meaningful way. Ultimately, ventioJlally accorded it. Any sig nificant cut ("0 Tixo, Tixo") or reassigned. Galati's it is Frank Galat:i's vision that dominates adaptation of a book would require some Chorus Leader has a greatly expanded role, both musically and dramatically - this ef rearrangement of the music, but Galati's so t11at he moves in and out of the stage fort. Weill's and Anderson's original was adaptation is a case i11 extremis. action, remi11iscentofChe Guevara in Evita. simply lost in the stars. For the record, the numbers used in the The chorus also plays a more prominent first act are On order of occw-reoce): "The role, as it comments on the action in song or JAMES ZYCHOWICZ Hills of Ixopo"; ''Train to Johannesburg"; simply bears silent witness to the happen Madison, Wisconsin ''Thousands of Miles"; ''Thousands ofMi les ings on stage. Galati's re pri <,e of "Fear" in (Reprise)"; "The Search"; ''The Little Gray the second act. allowed the black and white / Editor's note: The Goodman Theatre re House"; "T rouble Man"; "Fear!''; ''The choruses to make effective comment on the ceived special permission to utiti:ze a revised Search (Pt.JO"; and "Lost in Lhe Stars." For racial dilemma. book and to cast Kumalo with a non-singing the second act: ''The Wild Justice"; ''Stay The program listed the original Lost in the actor, but the musical changes were wzautho Well"; "Cry. the Beloved Country"; "A Bird Stars orchestration, but the sound that rized. Nonetheless, the estates involved, in ofPassage"; and ''Cry, the Beloved Country emerged from the pit seemed quite differ• cluding the Kurt Weill Fo11ndatim1 1 allowed (Re prise)." ent. Sometimes I heard an accordion or the production to complete its nm./ Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 19 PERFORMANCES Measured Breaths TI1eatre Company was By way of demonstrating a connection, Der Jasager. New York. Measured faithful to Lhe work's aesthetic: it was the the Boy in the first half of the program was Breaths Theatre Company, Robert performers who seemed to be having all the resurrected as the Soul in lhe second half Press, dir., Roberto Pace, cond. May, fun. (both roles delightfully sung by Wendy 1993.· In presenting, in the second half of the Lashbrook Jorissen). Yet the director's evening, the earliest opera of which aU the interests seemed directed less toward high music survives, directorRobert Press hit on lighting any generic parallels than toward Weill intended Der Jasagerfor amateurs an inspired coupling. Weill conceived of pursuing a private and in some ways more - an idea in keeping with the musical Der ]asager as an operatic prototype or ambitious agenda. His concern is with politics of the age, the late Weimar Repub Urform; here it was confronted with its "post-modern morality." Press remarked in lic, which encouraged such ventures from actual historical prototype: Cavalieri's 17ze a program note. ''Both pieces are reflec professional composers. A much-quoted Representation of Body and S01,l of 1600. tions on the channeling of personal desire slogan at the time was: "Making music is AnoU1er parallel is ilia! each piece bas its by societal forces to achieve its goal !'hat better than listening to music.'' Conse roots in Catholicism. The Cavalieri, a may not be personally healthy: searching quently, any non-participating audience Counter-Reformation allegory. was dedi fort he blame for deviant desire so we can all privy to the music's educational purposes cated to a Roman cardinal. The Weill, a retire healthy to Heaven." His point is a can be considered accidental to the perfor secular disquisition on the dialectic of tJ1e moot one, especially with regard to the mance, as can any aesthetic pleasure de individual versus the community, has its Weill. At any rate, there was a great deal of rived from passive listening. To that extent, origins in the didactic religious genre ofthe "deviant desire" on display in the Cavalieri, the performance oftheDer]asager (in H. M. Lehrstuck (a "piece of teaching'" used for ofthe kind that has put the Catholic Church Pott'stranslation as He Who Sa~ Yes) by the Catechistic instruction). in the news recently, incorporated here into some rather heavy-handed (and heavy footed) choreography. Of the energetic singers, fue baritone LouisMeagley Jr. (Jl1eTeacherin the Weill; The Body in the Cavalieri) stood out be cause he sang more agreeably and much louder than the rest. The Ensemble of the Measured Breaths Theatre Company double bill of STEPHEN HINTON Der Jasager and The Represe11/ali1111 of Body and Soul. Photo: Daniel Cu/e. Yale University Symphony No.1 . Philadelphia, orchestra and consequently unfamiliar to the phony was defined by unique precision with Academy of Music. The Philadelphia Philadelphia audience from earlier seasons. sensitivity to the frequent changes in mood and Kurt Weill's First Symphony - also known tempo tl1roughout Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, as the Berliner Symphonie - is an early work 111e opening chords of the first four mea cond. 8, 9, and 12 October 1993. written while the composer was at Feruccio sures were extremely broad and grave and Busoni's 1921 master class in Berlin. 111is were enriched by the expansive sound of the The ninety-fourth season of the Philadelphia articulate one-movement work. however. is by players. 111ese initial chords dramatically con Orchestra marks a new beginning with the no means a student exercise. Many listeners trasted with tl1e ensuing Allegro vivace. The arrival of recently appointed music director, are ce11ainly struck by the influences upon energetic section has shifting patterns offorce Wolfgang Sawallisch. This new conductor's whom the twenty-one-year-old composer drew. ful acceleration, frequent retreats, and sudden presence at the podium has had a vitalizing but perhaps most fascinating are the varied but outbursts. Here arise some oftl1e most virtuoso effect on both orchestra members and patrons. ever present hints of idiosyncracies that would passages in the symphony, affording tl1e Phila stimulated by Sawallisch'sstyle and fresh choice later grow to characterize Weill's musical lan delphia Orchestra oppo1tunity to exhibit its of repertoire. Sawallisch. renowned as master guage. Much of the maturity in sound and admirable technique. The wam1, round tone of of the late Romantics, is also an avid promoter structure can be attributed to Weill'sfluid com the soloclarinetushered in 1heA11da11te religioso. of early twentieth-century composers. in par fort in varying musical languages. A musical This exceptional moment in the performance ticular Germans including Paul Hindemith. ''chameleon," tl1eyoung Weill wasableto adopt was matched later by the deft contrapuntal Boris Blacher. and Kurt Weill. Lt is, thus, no skillfully any musical style without compromis exchange between two solo violins beau1ifully surprisethat thefirst part of thecurrent concert ing quality or depth of expression. ln the First played by the concertmaster and his associa1e. season includes two instrumental works by Symphony. written for an economically-sized Sawallisch led the orchestra to the final section Weill. Jn a short conversation with Mr. symphonicorchestra, Weillaccomplishesarich bringing an expressive clarity and transpar Sawallisch prior to the concert regarding his flexibility and diversity of sound. There is ency to the fugue and choral. The concluding choice ofWeill's First Symphony, the Maestro fluctuating motion between free tonal-almost return to the opening chords. ending on a c stated, ~1 was looking for a work that can bridge atonal -passages and strongly tone-ce11tered minor chord, was hauntingly r~sonant. between Strauss and Brahms. Weill's First cadences. The tempo ranges from "very wide'' This work can be experienced on many lev Symphony, although unknown t.o the large au to "very wild." 111e orchestration can be best els. ltis, indeed, important to acknowledge that dience, has an enormous drive to iL" He then described as elastic - alternating between tJ1e First Symphony is a challenging work to described theworkasacomposition that "packs tutti. chamber-like ensembles, and solo pas listen to and a single listening can only se,vc as together three decades of music history. swn sages pulled from within the orchestra. an introduction. 111e Philadelphia Orchesu·a marizing Mahler. Strauss. Schoenberg, and It is hard to imagine a more appropriate offered a superb performance of this lesser Berg. Thus, the music evokes the time in a match for tJ1is demancting work than the Phila kno\'m musical treasure. powerful way. That is exactly what I was look delphia Orchestra, capable of such a broad ing for." Presumably, this is the initial step in scope of expression. Under the baton of OFER BEN-AMOTS presenting a musical era, little featured by the Sawiillisch, this interpretation of the FirstSym- Rutgers University Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 20 RECORDINGS re-recordings which has merely greater in not now be avoided, as it essentially was in clusiveness and more up-to-date sound to 1949. These singers were coached in the 1'ecommend it. The performance is for Lhe appropriate dialect and render it conscien most part highly persuasive, and it renews tiously but inevitably not quite consistently admiration for the score itself. Julius Rudel (pronunciation becomes notably more neu balances and paces the performance with a tral when moving lrom speech to song). knowing hand that surely owes something Still, the effort is commendable, and it had to his having presided over stage revivals. to be made. He and the Orchestra of St. Luke's follow The 1949 recording retains its value for Weill's srnring scrupulously-more so. in· the pleasure it provides and as a document deed, than the earlier recording, which de of fine performers rising to the challenge of leted some instrumental doublingsofvo ices a new work. But to get the most out of the (a deliberate policy of some Broadway work itself, the new version is the definite record producers) and also smoothed out choice. some details where WeiJl's slant on Ameri can Idioms apparently was perceived as JON ALAN CONRAD awkward rather than characleristic (for in University of Delaware stance, his coloristic use of percussion, and Lost in the Stars. Gregory Hopkins, bis mixture of swing and ''straight" implica Arthur Woodley, Cynthia Clarey, tions in 'The Little Gray House" and "Stay Well"). In such cases, the new recording's Carol Woods, Reginald Pindell, Jamal willingness to let us judge for ourselves also Vom Tod im Wald, op.23, Howard. Orchestra of St. Luke's, allows us to savor Weill's resourceful writ Concerto for violin and wind Concert Chorale of New York, Julius ing for an orchestra oftwelve with no violins - a link with the small ensembles for some instruments, op.12, Das Berliner Rudel, cond. MusicMasters Classics Requiem. Alexander Laiter, tenor, 01612-67100-2. of the German theater pieces and a final demonstration of his instrumental mastery. Peter Kooy, bass, Elisabeth Glab, Of Weill's American musicals, li)st in the As Stephen Kumalo, Arthur Woodley violin, Choeur de la Chapel le Roya le, Stars was probably best se,ved in terms of delivers a performance that matches his Ensemble Musique Oblique, Philippe original-cast recordings. Street Scene'shour distinguished predecessor Todd Duncan in Herreweghe, cond. Harmonia Mundi long album, though a well-produced and quality. without ever resorting to direct France 901422 . remarkable achievement. had to omit nearly imitation. He, like Duncan, has a voice that half of its score. By contrast, the 194.9 can warm and heal, a manner that compels In May 1992, a concert at the Theatre de Decca recording of ltJst in the Stars (cur attention and lends valuable variety to the Champs Elyseesgalvanized the attention of rentJy available on CD as MCA Classics uniformly dignified tone of his music. the Parisian public both by the nature of its MCAD-J 0302) omitted only one song com Cynthia Clarey's mezzo-soprano possesses W1usual program, devoted entirely to the pletely and gave fairly full renditions of the solid sustaining power needed for lrina's music of Weill, and by the stature of the those remaining, along with enough dia solos (Weill often supports her only skel performers. The spiritual offspring of logue Lo suggest continuity and context. etally), and the delicacy and feeling for Nikolaus Ha.rnoncourl and Gustav drama as well. So a new recording of Lost i11 the Stars Leonhardt, Philippe Herreweghe is at the might not seem as urgent a necessity as a One might hope for a more mellifluous center of the ctm-ent upheaval in thinking first recording of Love Life or The Firebrand Leaderof the Chorusthan Gregory Hopkins, about performance practice, one drawn not of Florence. Yet the Weill-Ma>..'Well Ander but his clear, straightforward manner' ful only to the baroque repertoire, but tending son "musical tragedy" based on Alan Paton's fills his narrative function well enough. toward a musical outlook itself inclined to Cry, the Beloved Country has had a more Reginald Pindell contributes valuably in ward a certain asceticism and directed continuous stage life than any of Weill's several small roles, and Carol Woods enliv against the excess typical of Parisian musi other American works except Street Scene. ens the proceedings with a lively, sassy cal taste. Refusing to lock himself into one It has been repeatedly revived, it has been "Who'll Buy?" thatnearly justifies the song's style or specific period, the Belgian conduc filmed, and it has been much in the news overextension for its incidental function. tor investigates forgotten scores of the dis lately with a highly revised production in Thati s more than the talented]amal Howard tant past as well as key works of the nine Chicago. Moreover, debate about its stat (or, I suspect. anyone) can do for "Big teenth and twentieth centuries. His discog ure continues: whether its mixture of cho Mole,'' even in this expanded context - in raphy includes the cantatas and Passions of ral drama and musical play convinces. fact, in this case the older recording im J .S. Bach, masses of Gilles and Palestrina, whether its message seems inspiring or proved on the play by inventing a scene lo works of Lully, Lassus, motets of naive, whether the musical inspiration con lead into and justify the song. The Concert Mendelssohn. the Faure Requiem, sistently rises to the occasion, whether it Chorale of New York does first-rate work Schoenberg's Pierrot limaire, and, more impresses as timeless or datetl. To provide throughout, most compelling of all in 'The over, Weill. Herreweghe gladly admits bis more comprehensive evidence on such is Wild Justice." so t.hat its inclusion consti penchant for introspection of a sort that sues. a more complete representation of tutes a real advantage for the recording. prompted him to record the works on this Weill's score than the 44 minutes of the compactdisk. the most bare and abstract of earlier recording was worth making, and at These performers face one problem that Weill. (At the beginning of his career he 72 minutes the new MusicMasters record lhe original cast did not: audience expecta conducted, as have many others, Die tion that actors will adapt themselves llaw ing provides i1. It offers formerly truncated Dreigroschenoper.) lessly to foreign speech patterns (evidence numbers in complete form and adds ''111e ln the May concert, his Berliner Requiem Wild Justice" and tJ1e Entracte, plus a cut on recordings and film suggests that toler ance used to be extremely generous in this emerged in a refined, sharply astringent song (''111e Little Tin God") whose music interpretation, a performance ever mindful returns {or the ''Four O'Clock.. sequence . respec1·)-compounded, probably. by greater worldwide familiarity with the sound of of the text's significance. Herreweghe's And. fortunately, this is not one of lhose South African speech. The challenge can- conducting favored distinctarticulation and Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 21 RECORDINGS subtle differenlialion of sonorities. With no the refrain, the song loses much of its beating about the bush, his musical argu Ute Lemper Sings :~urt Weill, tension and forfeits the range of moods ment developed from the opening numbers Volume 2. RIAS Sinfonietta, John expressed in text and music. When the ("Ballade vom ertrunkenen Madchen, Mauceri, conductor. London verse moves so mechanically, there is no Marter!'') through to the tutti choruses (436417-2) opportunity for the flute and trumpet to (''Grol.\er Dankchoral," "Erster Bericht") give to their dotted rhythm figures the where the woodwinds countered in an inci Barbra Streisand, Back to false jauntiness they require. sive and dramatic manner. By comparison, While the "Mandelay-Song" and the the Koch recording produced by Hartmuth Broadway. includes "Speak Low." "Branntweinhandler-Song" are, with the Smith sounds completely spiritless. Columbia (CK44189) exception of one or two moments, accept Herreweghe hits upon the same profane able and musically engaging, the and caustic vision of the Requiem as did Patti LuPone live. includes "I'm a "Matrosen-Song" comes off worst ofall in Weill ru1d Brecht. At the same time, the Stranger Here Myself, 11 " It Never Was the over-the-lop stakes. Words are drawn da1;ty of the sonority serves as an homage You," "My Ship," "Surabaya out notes scooped up to or swooped to Weill and his eITorts in creating reper Johnny, 11 and II Lost in the Stars. 11 do~n upon, and the whole is swamped in toire specific-ally adapted Lo the technit~al "Berlinerisch'' speech colors and forced drcumstances of the evolving radio. The RCA Victor (09026-61797-2) attitudes. only reservations concern the vocal solo On the other hand. while there is some ists who are SC'.ircely at ease in the lessitura. "Sing Something Simple" goes the first vocal forcing in "Youkali'' (most notably In the "Zweiter Bericht," Peter Kooy sings line of an old song. Reading the adjective as at ''Le pays de nos desirs"). all the singer the recitative with a baroquegrandness and an adverb-allowable in Shakespeare - one really has to do is trust the words and an operatic theaLricality that is ill-suited to could wish that the three singers under music. This and the five numbers from the work's essence. review might heed the instrnction. Por in Marie Galante show Ms. Lemper's feel their (very) different ways they all tend to ing for the style and the language to Kooy is much more convincing in Vom get in the way of the music, inte rposing considerable advantage. The vocal traits Tod im Wald. The clai;cy of his particular i11nterrprretatio1m between liste ner and the vocal timbre and the detached sobriety of of a young Piaf are occasionally too obvi work. ous, but''Legrand Lustucru"in particular hii; interpretation contrasts with the re Of course. words and music need to be corded version of Michael Rippon and the stands out for its evocation ofatrnosphere communicated, and singers will also bring subdued yet ominously haunting. London Sinfonietta (on the Deutsche to their pertormance their own individual Grammophon label), which, In its extreme Oddly enough, for me the most suc Lraits and, even, trademarks. But when cessful bracket on the record were the care to drrunatic characterization. shoves words and musical moments are milked for the work uncomfortably close to three songs from Lady in the Dark, with more "meaning" or "musical color" than the singer deftly catching the shifts in Schoenberg. Kooy and Herreweghe draw they can reasonably be expected to bear. out an effective atmosphere from the en mood between and within the songs, and what was once affecting. direct. or humor the RIAS Sinforuetta showing a fine feel semble, moderating the performance, par ous. can become tawdrily sentimental. bla ticularly in U,e grim fifth strophe, in order to for the Broadway style and approach. tant, or over-the-top. Maybe the songs do not offer the same conclude in a contemplative. if magnificently 'While Ute l.emper's new record is valu bitter. final strophe. room for (over) interpretation as the able for many things - particularly for the Prench and German works; at all events, In spite ofthe delicacy ofE!isabeth Glab's songs from Marie Galante and Lady in the after the unevenness of some of the pre playing, the recording of the Violin Con Dark. and for the (mostly) high quality of ceding numbers, these show temper in certo bears little in common with the fine the orchestral accompaniment-the songs the sort of fonn she displayed when f first instrumental balance demonstrated al the from Happy E11d are somewhat djsappoint heard her some years back in the Kurt live performance of the May concert. On ing. She gives a bright and oo nonse nse Weill-Revue in Berlin. the recording, U1e brilliance has dissipated. account of the "Bilbao-Song" - sung, like No one would suggest that Streisand the sharp contrasts between the orchestra mostof the numbers. in a key rather distant does not, as the reviewing cliche goes, and the soloist blurrecf infavorofa colorless from the original - which, while light and "make a song her own." What she does mass of sound. Moreover, Glab has a pen buoyant in the first lwo verses, becomes not do, in this follow-up to her earlier, for chant for exlreme fluctuations in tempi and seU;.c;onciously aggressive (Why? Thewords me impressive, Sondheim album is give excessive ritardandi among the three sec surely suggest world weai;ness or double the song back to an audience or to a tions of the second movement. Also regret edged nostalgia) in the third. And although composer. In her overheated, table is the lack of forceful direction io the the orchestra here. as elsewhere, gives the overemotive perpetrations of Gershwin, driving finale. song a firm rhythmic contour, and the saxo Weill, Sondheim and hom'biledictu Lloyd phones are appropriately pawk-y, the trum Webber, what we get is quintessential In spite of ils deficiencies, this recording pet seems a little matter-of-fact in the re represents a considerable milestone. Streisand. In this context, Sondheim can frain, missing the (ironically) sentimental sound like Gershwin, Weill like Loesser; Herreweghe brings to bear his characteris rise and fall oJWeill's musical articulation of tically rigorous interpretative criteria upon what they never sound like is U1emselves. Brecht's "alter Bilbao-Mond." Given that the second song on the disc is a less famjijar Weill repertoire. and thus "Surabaya-Johnny" seems, alas·, influ challenges the custommy reputation of the Sondheim's wonderful "Everybody Says enced by Stratas's view of it as a funeral Don't.," one is tempted to turn the song's composer in France. One final cavil: why dirge; while temper's voice is intrig11ingly not include the performance of Kleiiie moral upside down and refer it back to enticing, I.he tempo reminds one of~ metro the singer. Dreigr<1schem1111sik. especially since the nome running down. But these thmgs are duration of the CD is a modest 54 minutes? And as for Ms. LuPone? WeH, I think it relative. Compared with Ms. Lu Pone's 1;tual was Robert Frostwho, after falling asleep embalming of the song, using a truly excru during some literary or theatrical event, ciating lrnnslation and taken at a speed was reproached by someoneinvolved and which would make Chopin's Funeral March replied. "Sleep is also a criticism." seem like a quickstep, Lemper's interpreta PASCAL HUYNH tion has some credibilicy. But surely if the MICHAEL MORLEY Berlin tempo of the verse is as deliberate as that of Flinders University of South Australia Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 22 SELECTED PERFORMANCES AUSTRALIA THE NETHEllli\NDS 17,e Threepe1111y Opera. Melbourne. University of Melbourne. 20-3lJuly 1993. Der Li11dberghf/11g, Hengelo. Ralhaushalle. 18June 1993. Concerto fer violin and wi11d i11stmme11ts, Op. 12. Griffith University, 20 Derneue Orphe11s. ULrethL Nederlandse OmroepStichling, Radio Kamerorkest, September 1993. Heinrich Schiff, cond., 28 May 1993. AUSTRIA SWITZERLAND Die Dreigroschenoper, Graz. Schauspielhaus. 1993-94 season. Die Dreigroschenoper, Bern. Stadtlheater, Michael Wallner, dir., Michel Frei. cond .. 5. 7. 11. 13. 14. 18. 20, 25. 27, 30June 1993. FRANCE TURKEY Concerto for violin and wind instruments, Op. 12, Paris. Ensemble orchestTal Aufstieg 1111d Fall de,• Stadt Malwgomty, Ankara. Stale Of}Cra. 24-26 May J993. de Paris, 26 April 1993. UNITED l<.lNGOOM Der ]asager. Tourcoing. Atelier lyrique, Theatre Tourcoing, 5, 7. 9 May 1993. Happy End, Liverpool. Playhouse Studio, April 1993. Der Li11dberghj/ug. Ensemble Justiniana. Besan\'.On. 3. 6 June 1993. Happy End, London. Queen Elizabeth Hall. London Sin fo nietta.Jonathan Nott. Lost in the Stars. Paris. The Nile Foundation, American Cathedral, Michael tond .. April 1993. Sisk, dir., spring 1994. ]olt1myjoltnso11, London. Trinity College, Rhonda Kess, cond .. spring, 1994. L'OPera de Q11at'So11s, Rennes, Lycee Chateaubriand, 3 June L993. Knickerbocker Holiday. London. Philharmonia Orchestra. Rhonda Kess. cond ., GERMANY spring I 994. Att/sfieg und Fall der Stadt Mahago1111y, Hamburg. Hamburgische Staatsoper, Maltago1111y Songspiel. Belfast. Northern Ireland. Queen·s University, Sonori Gunter Kramer. dir.. Marc Albrecht. cond., 15. 16. 21. 22 April 1993. ties Festival, May 1993. Au/stieg 1111d Fall der Stadt Maltago,my, Leipzig. Leipziger Oper, 1993-!>4 Maltago1111y Songpsiel. ·•Cry. the Beloved Country," A concert sequence from season. Lost in the Stars, The Matrix Ensemble, BBC Singers, Robert Ziegler. cond.. Concerto for violi11 and wind i11stru111e11ts, Op. 12. Rheinische Philharmonie, 6 24 August 1993. June (Bingen), 19, 20 June (Koblenz). and 21 June 1993 (Bad Marien berg). Street Scene, London. English National Qpent, David Poutney production. Co 11r.erto for violin and wind instru111e11ts, Op. 12. Bonn. Deutsche Nicolette Molnar. dir.. James Holmes. cond.. 27 August: 2. 3. 9. 11. 16, 23. 28 Kammerphilharmonie, Christian Tetzlaff. violinist. 20 September 1993. September 1993. Die Dreigrosche11oper. Hannover, Niede rsachsische Staats theater. Symphony No. 2, London. Royal College of Music. 11 February 1993. Schauspielhaus, 2, 9. 13June 1993. Symphony No. 2, London. South Bank Centre. Docklands Symphony Orches Die Dreigrosche11oper, Cologne. Schauspiel, Gunter Kramer, dir., 4 September tra. Sian Edwards. cond., 2:1 November 1993 (also on 17 November 1993 in - 3 November 1993 (also tours to Tokyo. Japan, in Nissay TI1eatre, 24-29 Vienna. Konzerthaus, GrofJer Saal Festival Wien Modern). November 1993). The 17,teepe,my Opera. Manchester. Libeny Thcaler, 14 -18 September 1993. Die Dreigrosche11oper. Regensburg. Stlidtische BUhnen, 28April: 12.13, L4. 28 UNITED STATES May: 4, 8. 14, 15, 27 June; 7, 11 July !!)93. Her/i11er Requiem, Stockton, CA University of the Pacific. 24 September 1993. Happy E11d. Nordhausen. Stadtlheater, 17 September 1993 (premiere). in Cry, tlte Beloved Co1111try, stage adaptation by Frank Galati of Lost i11 the Stars, repertory 1993-94 season. Chicago, [L. The Goodman Theatre. Frank Galati. dir..18June-24July1993. Der Jasager, Elmershause n. Bismarck-Schule. 18 May 1993. "Cry. the Beloved Country." a conce11 sequence from Lost i11 the Stars, San Der K11/zlza11del, Bautzen. Deutsche.Sorbisches Volkstheater.Juoe (premiere), Antonio Symphony. Christopher Wilkins. cond .. 21-23 January 1994. in repertory 1994 summer season. Ctmcerlofor violin a11d wfod i11strume11ts, Op. 12. The Philadelphia Orchestrn, Mahago,my Songspiel. Salzgitter. Gymnasium Salzgitter. 17 Jun!'! 1993. Charles Dutoit, guest concl .. Chantal Juillet. violinist, 11- 13 November 1993 One Touch of Ven11s. Meiningen. Das Meininger Theater, Wolfgang Hocke. (Philadelphia). 16 November 1993 (New York). cond., 17 June 1994 (premiere), in repertory 1994 summer season. Lost in the Stars, San Francisco. CA City College of San Francisco, David Die sieben Todsii11den. Dessau. l.andesthcater, Daniel Upton, cond .. l I Sep Oslwald, dir.. Michael Shahani, cond., September 1993. tember 1993. Lost in the Stars, Purchase. NY. Philharmonia Virtuosi. Richard Kapp,dir.. Stale DiesiebeJ1 Todsii11den, Hamburg. Norddeutscher Rund funk.John Eliot Gardiner, University of New York, Purchase. 26 September 1993. cond.. Anne Solie von Otter, mezzo-soprano, 12, 13 September 1993 MahagomzySrmgspiel. Ojai. CA. Ojai Festival. Los Angeles Philharmonic.John Die siebe111'vdsii11de11. Kiel. Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. Israel Philhar Adams. cond .. May 1993. mooic, Brigitte Fassblinder, mezzo.soprano, 14 July 1994. Mahago1m:y Stmgspiel, Kleine Dreigmsche1111111sik. New York, NY. New School Street Scene, Munich. Staatstheater am Gartnerplatz, Frank Arnold. dir.. for Social Research, Peter Wallace, dir., Bart Folse. cond .. 30 October. 2 Herbert Mogg, cond., 30June; 4, 12.15.luly; 22. 27 September: 5, 7, October: November HJ!J3. 28 November 1993; 4 February: 6, 8. March: 30 May; 15, 16June 1994. Mahago1111y So11gspiel , Der Zar liisst sich phntogra.phiere11, New York, NY. Symplw11y No. 2, Berlin. Sinfonietta 44, Wiofried Radeke. dir., !) June 1993. Manhattan School of Music. Rhoda Levine, dir.. David Gilbe11. cond .• 8. 10. 12 December 1993. Symphony No. 2, Detmold. Junges Kammerorchester Norclrhein-We.~tfalen. Ii. 7 November 1993. 011e Touch of Ve1111s, San Francisco. CA. lbe New Conservatory Th eater, 23 - 24 July 1993. GREECE Quodlibet, Op. 9, Denver. CO. Denver Chamber Orchestra, Paul Dunkel. cond.. Mahag01my So11gspiel, Pantomime from Der Protagonist, Athens. 27 February; l July 199:t 1, 3, 4 March 1993. 771c Seoeu Deadly Sins, New York. NY. New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, HUNGARY cond .. Angelina Reaux, soprano, 15 - 18 December 1993. Die Dreigroschenoper, Budapest.. 8 May 1993, in repe11ory. summer 1993. Street Scene. Houston. TX. The Houston Grand Opera. Francesca Zambello. Die Dreigroschenoper, Szeks7.ard. Deutsche BUhne, 1993-94 season. dir.. Ward Holmquist. cond .. 28, 30 January; 2. 5. 8, l l. 13 Febniary 19!:14. String Quartet, Op. 8, San Diegn, CA SummerFesl La Jolla, Museum of ISRAEL Contemporary An, Orion String Quartet, 15 August L993. Los/ in the Stars. Habi.mah National l1teater, Tel Aviv. 5 March 1994 (prc Symphony No. 1. Philadelphia, PA. TI1e Philadelphia Orchestra, Wolfgang miere), in repertory 19!J4season. Sawallisch. cond.. 8. 9. 12 October 1993. JAPAN The 'l11reepe1111.y Opera, Spokane.WA. Snokane CivicThealre. May.June l~J3. Die. Dreigrosche110Per. Tokyo. 'flteatre Cocoon. Tokyu Bunkamura, Kazumi The Threepe1111y Opera, New York. NY. Marymount Manhattan College, 29 Kushida. dir.. 9--27 October 1993. November 1993. Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 23 NEWSLETTER RESPONSE FORM Name Institution Add my name to mailing list Address Delete my name from mailing list Telephone Number Update listing Detach and mail to: Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, 7 East 20th Street, New York, NY 10003-1106; or call, (212) 505-5240; or fax, (212) 353-9663 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 surface 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 Huynh. trans. and ed. Kurt Weill de Berlin a Broadway. Editions Plume, 1993. $30.00 Kortlander, Meiszies, Farneth, eds. Vom Kurfurstendamm zum Broadway: Kurt Weill (1900-1950). Droste, 1990. $18.00(Pbk) Kowalke, ed. A New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill. Yale University Press. 1986. $18.00(Pbk) $28.50 Kowalke. Kurt Weill in Europe. UMI Research Press, 1979. $20.00 Schebara. Kurt Weill: Eine Biographie. VEB Deutscher Verlag, 1990. $30.00 Weill. Gesammelte Schriften (Hinton/Schebara, eds.). $30.00 Recording. Berlin im Licht. 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