KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL
19 January 30 March Die sieben Todsiinden; Gastspiel des Theaters Oberhausen; Kultur Big Band Concert; Westdeutscher Rundfunk Big Band, Caterina haus Ltidenscheid Valente, soprano, Jerry van Rooyen, cond.; Opemhaus, Di.isseldorf 2 February (also: 1 April, Opernhaus, Aachen; 4 April, Philhannonie, Koln) Teacher workshop "Kurt Weill: Composer, Teacher, German Jew 1 April American, Contemporary of Half a Century; Regierungsprasident Ftlm screening"Die Dreigroschenoper" (G.W. Pabst, director, Ger Amsberg und Universitiit Dortmund; Landesmusikakademie NRW many, 1931); Filminstitut der Landeshauptstadt Diisseldorf e.V.; Burg Nienborg, Heek 3 April 21 March Lecture-demonstration "Erst kommt das Fressen.. . : The history of Film screening"Salute to France" Gean Renoir, director, USA1944) Die Dreigroschenoper, PeterThomas Heydrich; Georg Corman, piano; and "Welcome to Britain"; Filminstitutder Landeshauptstadt Diissel Palais Wittgenstein, Diisseldorf dorf SApril 22 March Symphony No. 2; Di.isseldorf Symphoniker, Carlos Kalmar; Tonhalle, Official Opening ofth e Festival; Dr.Johannes Rau, Prime Minister Diisseldorf (also: 6, 8 April) of the State of North Rhine Westphalia 7 April Der Kuhha11del, concertperformance; WDR-Kolner Rundfunkcbor & Song concert; UteLemper, vocalist,Jiirgen Knieper, pianjst; Schau Rundfunkorchester,J an Latham-Konig, conductor; Tonhalle, Diissel spielhaus, Diisseldorf dorf (also 23 March in Miilheim and 24 March in Koln) 8 April 23 March Film screening "You and Me" (Fritz Lang, director, USA, 1938); International Weill Symposium; Steigenberger Duisburgerhof, Filminstitut der Landeshauptstadt Diisseldorf Duisburg (also 24-25 March) Knickerbocker Holiday, concertpertormance; Schauspielhaus, Diissel 24 March dorf Royal Palace, Der Zar lii!Jt sich photographieren: Theater Ober hausen, Oberhausen (also 8, 25 April, 15 May) Exhibition "Kurt Weill: Bekenntnis zur Zeit"; Dumont-lindemann Archiv, Diisseldorf:; Schauspielhaus, Dilsseldorf Choral Music Concert Recordare, "Legende vom toten Soldaten,'' Berliner Requiem, "Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen," "Four Walt 12 April Whitman Songs," "In 'limes of War and Tumult," Kiddush; Nie Die sieben Todsiinden; Sinfonietta Diisseldorf1 Ute Lemper, vocalist, derrheinische Chorgemeinschaft, Chor der Studenten der evangel Mark-Andreas Schlingensiepen, conductor; Schauspielhaus, Diissel ischen Kirchenmusik an der Robert,Schumann-Hocbschule und der dorf (also 15, 16, April) Kirchenmusikschule Diisseldorf, Madchenchor Hannover, Jurgen Chamber Music Concert; Cello Sonata, Frauentanz, String Quartet Wagner, tenor, Wolfgang Holzmair, baritone, Robert-Schumann in B minor. String Quartet Op. 8; Robert Schumann Hochschule, Kammerorchester, Blaser der Diisseldorfer Symphoniker, Hartmut Jiirgen Kussmaul, conductor; Tonhalle, Kleiner Saal, Diisseldorf Schmidt, Mark-AndreasSchlingensiepen, conductors; Schumannsaal. Diisseldorf 22 April screening"Wbere Do WeFrom Here" (Gregory Ratoff, director, 25 March Film USA, 1945); Filminstitut der Landeshauptstadt Di.isseldorf Exhibition "Von Kurfiirstendamm zum Broadway: KurtWeill (1900- 1950) "; Heinrich Heine-Institut, Diisseldorl 25 April Woodwind Ensemble Concert; Violin Concerto, Bastille Music, Vom Happy End; Theater-AG, Chor und Big Band des Theodor-Fliedner Tod im Wald, Kleine Dreigrqschenmusik; Ensemble Neue Musik, Gymnasiums Diisseldorf-Kaiserwerth, Eberhard Huppatz, director, Christiane Edirtger, violinist, Guido Jentjens, bass, Mark-Andreas Martin Weitkamp, cond.;JAB JungeAktionsbiibne, DiisseJdorf (also Schlingensiepen, conductor; Tonhalle, Diisseldorf 26, 27 March) 29 April 28 March Film screening "Die Dreigroscbenoper" (Wolfgang Staudte, direc Street Scene (Eine Stra8e in New York); Biihnen der Stadt Bielefeld, tor, co-production, Federal Republic of Germany & France, 1962); Bielefeld (also 1, 7, 10, 14, 26, 27 April; 2, 9 May; 8, 12, 14, 17 June) FJ.lminstitut der 1..andeshauptstadt Diisseldorf •• DUSSELDORF J9 Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 7 KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL Scenes from the International Kurt Weill Symposium Duisburg 23-25 March 1990 Top: Gernot Born, Rector of the University of Duisburg welcomes the audience to the session "Kurt Weill und die Idee einer 'mittleren musik.'" Photo: Frank Augstein. Middle: Informal discussions. Photo: Volker Herold. Bottom: Partial view of a symposium session. Photo: Volker Herold. Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 8 KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL (Re-) Unification? by Christopher Hailey Public anniversaries are an artifice. In The KurtW eill Conference in Duisburg, look at Der f asager by Ian Kemp, formal America such celebrations are most often held between 23 and 25 March, took place analyses of Weill's symphonies by Robert devoted to producing patriotic extravagan less than one week after the elections in the Bailey, an examination ofWeilJ's song struc zas, commemorating assassinations, and German Democratic Republic and was at tures by Michael Morley, and an exemplary marketing sports events. In Germany, on tended by an unprecedented numberofEast sketch study of "My Shipff from Lady in the the other hand, almost any anniversary di Germans, who discussed with candor the Dark by bruce d. mcclung. visible by five or ten can generate a fluny of issues and controversies facing tl1em today. The central session of the conference, The GDRisacountry in the midstofredefin activity, sage commentary, and perhaps a entitled "Weill's Place in 20tb-Century postage stamp. This German passion for the ing itself, and for those involved in the arts, Music," took as its point of departure Her theater of anniversaries was not lost upon there is an understandable anxiety that the mann Danuser's examination of the awk the Kurt Weill Foundation, which, with an country's heavily subsidized cultural and ward place accorded Weill in several histo enterprising bustle usually reserved for intellectual life may be among the first sacri ries of twentieth-century music (he cited centennials, declared 1990 a Kurt Weill year fices to monetary union and a market econ textbooks by Eric Salzman, William Austin, (fo1tunate timing since Mozart and Colum omy. But for theWest Germans likewise this and Joseph Machlis). Danuser advocated bus had prior claims on 1991 and 1992 and is a time of reassessmenL The prospect of a terminology to describe those composers single fatherland evokes specters ofthe past history had other designs for 1989). The whose music occupies a dialectical middle months-long festival being held in the Ger and forces confrontation with sometimes ground between traditional harmony and man state of North Rhine Westphalia is surely painful questions of identity. atonality, between the commercial and the among the most comprehensive ever at Identity is central to the question of Kurt avant-garde, the functional and the autono temptedfor any twentieth-century composer. Weill, the German composer ofJewish heri mous, in short, a mittlere Musik, ineptly From March of this year into the beginning tage forced into emigration in mid-career, translated in the conference program as of the next, dozens of performances and ultlmately to become an American by choice "middle-brow" music. While RudolfStephan productions, broadcasts, and exhibitions and conviction. History may have cast him first applied this concept to certain music of betoken, if nothing else, an impressive feat as a victim and outsider, but Kurt Weill the 1920's, Danuser contended thatbroad er of logistic coordination. Past Weill festivals managed to remain the ever-successful in application might enable one lo embrace and exhibitions held in Berlin (1975) and sider, an artist whose restless mind and Weill's career and oeuvre as an integral New York (1976 and 1987), as well as the creative versatility resulted in a series of whole, as well as offer a point of comparison 1983 New Haven conference (celebrating protean transformations suggesting to some with like-minded composers. What is more, the opening of the Weill-Lenya Research a kind ofmu sical Jekyll and Hyde. Where is it would describe a source for the stylistic Center and the Weill-Lenya Archive at Yale the real, essential Kurt Weill? And can such pluralism of the post-modern age. University), may have had greater focus, but a fragmented image - surely the reflection even in sum they did not approach the Most respondents acknowledged the util of his fragmented century - be re-unifier[? breadth of the current activities in Germany. ity of such an over-arching concept, but, like And the German festival is just one compo In a brace of keynote papers Stephen Thomas Heyn, objected to the value judg nent of many, for thece lebration of the Weill Hinton and Kim Kowalke addressed broad mentimplicit in the term "middle." Heinrich year extends far beyond the banks of the contextual issues dealing with Weill's Ger Schwab, for whom Kurt Weill is the anticipa Rhine; a poster-sized calendar has docu man and American identities. According to tion of a new type of artistic personality, mented in advance a world-wide array of Kowalke, Weill's American success can be suggested that "fusion~ (though unfortu stage productions, concerts., publications, attributed to the composer's rapid assimila nately already in use) might more accurately and conferences, and an eye-catching logo tion notonlyofthestyles but the premises of characterize the phenomenon, while Da has been designed to identify the partici the American musical theater. If, in conse nuser himselfproposed "artificial functional pants. Having thus established the interna quence, Weill'sAmerican works resist being music" as a revalorization ofmere functional tional scope of the "event," there remains judged by the traditional yardstick of Euro music. Albrecht Di.imling argued that func the question of its relevance. pean art music, his career as a whole calls tion was of central significance in assessing into question whatHinton identified as three Weill's work, for he was first and foremost a Alas, the winds of historical change that traditional unities of the "great composer:r theater composer for whom the "new'' was swept last year to such a dramatic close an organic oeuvre, a biography leading tele not a question of style but a matter of pur continue to preoccupy our attention. The ologically to a body of late works, and indi pose and public, a thesis endorsed by Gerd efforts to reshape the now rickety political vidual works that are complete and autono structures of Eastern Europe, the talk of Rienlicker and Ji.irgen Schebera. mous. liberation and democratization, ofindepend The speculative drift of this session pro ence and self-determination have become Echoing these themes, the conference voked palpable impatience on the part of a nodal points at which dreams and reality papers ranged widely, though not evenly, number of participants, particularly among converge. In Germany, officially divided since over Weill's life, offering a good mixture of the pragmatically minded English-speaking 1949, the overriding obsession has been documentary studies by Ji.irgen Schebera circles. Some of the tension can be attrib with the question of unification (the prefix andJi.irgenThym (onWeill' sAmericanyears, uted to the misunderstandings inherent in a "re-" is deemed semantically indelicate, with particular emphasis on the 1940s) and bilingual conference (despite the heroic implying as it does reconstructing the Ger Guy Stem and Tamara Levitz (on Weill's efforts of two simultaneous translators). ln man Reich as it existed in 1945, or even student years, with special attention given principle, however, Kim Kowalke questioned 1918). Such monumentous concerns can Weill's self-identification as a German and a the value of finding an aesthetic box for overshadow even a 90th birthday. And yet Jew); work-specific examinations (Andreas Weill, rather than examining the forces that there are times when the forced and the Hauff and David Drew on Die Biirgschaft and shaped his music or exploring the com fortuitous complement one another in sur Werner Gri.inzWeig on the Whitman songs); poser's influence on subsequent musical prising ways. and analytical papers, including a sensitive language and forms. While puzzling over Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 9 KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL questions ofhistorical narrative is certainly fish a single "authenticn performing version, though each work must be given its fair an appropriate concern for a conference of norcan one supposethat Weill himselfwould opportunities. The cuJtural contexts- that specialists, the clash of differing agendas have wanted one. In such situations the line created Kurt Weill's oeuvre will never exist and priorities reflected varying degrees of between license and pedantry can become again, and, while understanding background urgency. Descriptive terminology generally thin indeed. Because theseare controversial can enhance appreciation, it cannot create con.firms rather than creates perceptions, topics, in which the Kurt Weill Foundation or insure lasting value. That value must be and for many the Duisburg conference was frequently finds itselfenmeshed , it is regret conferred or denied by the living audience. first and foremost a means of shaping per table thatthe conference schedule included ception, of presenting and exploring an no formal discussion of performance prac The fact that Kurt Weill, like Alban Berg, unknown Ku.rt Weill. tice or production history (the informal died at age fifty makes every anniversary a comments by Maurice Abravanel were ac neat commemoration of both his birth and It is inevitable that we chart the contours death. While enriching the contemplative of the unknown through the lmown and cordinglyall the more welcome and refresh ing).The energy generated by a briefflareup perspectives, this mathematical nicety un familiar, and it is not surprising that this fortunately reduces by half the opportuni conference was haunted by a number of over the performance of Kuhhandel or the general indignation over the horrendous ties for official celebration. Unfortunately, familiar ghosts, invited and uninvited. Both the magically rounded centennial will like Bertolt Brecht and Hanns Eisler put in fre productions ofRoyal Palace and Der Zar liiBt sich p}wtograpltieren in Oberhausen suggest wise mark the millennium, with which few quent, occasionally polemical appearances composers could hope to compete. One can (via Jost Hermand, Alexander Ringer. and that itwould havebeen a timely topic. One of the elements that made the 1983 New Haven well understand the urgency in calling atten Eberhardt Klemm); in the wings stood Ar tion to Weill's 90th, for there is much work to nold Schoenberg and Theodor W. Adorno conference so vital was the presence ofthea ter practitioners with first-hand experience be done in the decade to come. It is obvious as erstwhile arbiters of high art, while the from the conference papers, as well as from spirit ofthe late Carl Dahlbaushoveredabove ofWeilland thestagingofhisworks. Wrth so many conductors, stage directors, and David Fameth's report on current books as a kind of deus musicologicus. Treading and dissertations, that research and publica lightly between these spectral coordinates, Dramaturgen in Duisburg, a session of jaw boning about everything from production tion progresses apace. But scholarship and many participants appeared relieved to be anniversary celebrations can at bestbestow able to accord Weill his middle ground be styles, performing versions and editions, to performance rights wouJd bave been salu what in Gennan one calls an.Ehrenrettung, a tween musical worlds, but most seemed moral vindication or rehabilitation. The re uncertain in their footing. Except for Mi tary. Such an exchange might also have led to a discussion aboutthesuccessorsto Weill's spect thus generated can be the first step chael Morley, none demonstrated an inter toward genuine understanding and affec est in discussing Weill's music within the legacy and thereby established his links to the living theater of today. tion. More important are the points of con context of comparable works by contempo tact-in whatever year-between the artist raries, whether iL be songs of Gershwin, At the heart of that living theater and a with his audience, an audience in mostcases Porter, orArlen, or the operas ofHindemith, central component of all aspects of Weill's blissfully oblivious to history, context, and Schreker. or this year's other oinetieth-birth art is the audience - the true claimant to artistic autonomy. day celebrant, Ernst Krenek (in his way a no thal middle ground between high and low, less representative product of twentieth theory and history, sources and speculation. In the decade ahead we will be taking the century culture and worthy of more than a In Duisburg, one voiced concern that aes measure of our tragically eventful century passing mention at this conference). Butitis thetic relativism might blur the crite1ia for by examiningand assembling the fragments a common problem that adding a third judging quality. But this is to overlook the of our experience to make comprehensible dimension to one artist can flatten the per factthatmanyofKurtWeill'sworks- forall the whole. By the year 2000 Germany, in spective on others. their artistry - may quite appropriately be deed Europe, will be unified, and the politi judged according to their degree of popular cal, economic, and cultural wounds from the Part of the problem with staking out a convulsions that rent the fabric ofEuropean middle ground for Weill is the scholar's success, that several ofhis earlier and later stage works are qualitatively inferior simply civilization in 1914 and 1939 may have begun infatuation with the tools and terminology of to mend. Kurt Weill's music, which holds a "high art'' and artistic autonomy. [t is indica because they failed (and in some cases continue to fail) to win and hold an audience. mirror to those calamitous times, may well tive that one ofthe bestpapers ofthe confer acquire unity through hindsight His works ence was bruce d. mcclung's sketch study To be sure, circumstances and changing tastes may alter judgments, but Weill was may either be among the pieces that refuse that applied the refined scientific methods of to fitoran atoll defining a new middle ground. "high" musicology to whatis in essence a hit not one to ignore the lessons learned at the box office - even if box office success was And wewill begin to recognize whether Kurt tune. On the other hand, it has become an Weill's works represent disparate documents article offaith (notto say fetish) among Weill not his uJtimate goal. Audiences were his sounding boards; to accept their diversity is or ongoing processes, the scars of history or scholars that in his American years the the tissue of its healing. composer placed great importance upon to understand his pluralism and resist the temptation of tidy unification, whether his preparing bis own orchestrations, a last ref uge, as it were, ofsovereign artistic control. torical oraesthetic. In thelast analysis every Curiously, no one saw fit to illustrate the one chooses his or her own Kurt Weill, effects of this much-vaunted instrumenta- which colors all the others. Too much his tional autonomy. toricizing, too much context, too much ago nizing over which American or which Ger This discrepancy exemplifies one of the man work can best introduce Weill to this central dilemmas of Kurt Weill's oeuvre, for continent or that obscures the fact that the he produced music not for posterity but for great works create their own context Die the present, and in consequence wrote Dreigroschenoper has proven itself capable genresthat had contemporary relevance and ofcreatingthatcontextinthe theaters around were subject to contemporary exigencies. It theworld; the samemight not be trueof, say, was therefore not always possible to estab- Royal Palace or Knickerbocker Holiday, Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 10 KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL Der Kuhhandel. Koiner be repossessed by the government if the Rundfunkorchester and Chor; Jan breaking of peace proves a little costly. Latham-Konig, conductor. Tonhalle The work is constructed along more tradi DOsseldorf. 22 March 1990. tional lines than those works that precede it; Repeated 23 March 1990 at the but Weil] cleverly adapts the form to accom Staddthalle MOlheim/Ruhr and 24 modate the conventions of the operetta - March 1990 at the Koiner lovers' duet, signaturetunesforthehero and Philharmonie. viUain, quartets, trios, and chorus numbers. A presidential recitative is followed by a melting terzettino, on whose heels (meta The choice of Der Kuhhandel as the work phoricaUy and literally) marches the scene to open the musical events associated with a faire of the General with his own version of the Kurt Weill Festival in North Rhine "l am the very model of a hard-boiled army Westphalia was both imaginative and enter general." Weill himself noted in a letter to prising. But with the best wiU in the world, Der Kuhhandel Satirische Operette in 2 Akten Lenya that, using a knitting metaphor, he the same could not be said of the result. von Robert Vambery had «a very good working skein, things are Withoutacloserfamiliaritywith the score Musik:Kurt Weill going wonderfully easy and I have plenty than this reviewer possesses, it is difficult to Konzertante Urauffiihrung ideas." Certainly the fluency ofthe melodies commentconstructivelyon the arrangement der Originalfassu ng and the clarity and the color of the orchestral of the numbers and the relationship of the textures confirm his own assessment. But in narrative to music in this "Konzertante Fas this particular performance, "etwas (or rather sung." What is obvious on a first hearing is etwas und noch etwas mehr) fehlte." First and the quality of the invention and range of foremost was the gap between what the musical styles that distinguish the score. In music itself was trying to say and its not the same way that thework's storyline incor entirely successful realization in the per porates plot elements from operetta and formance itself. All too often it was the case musical comedy, the mus.ic moves freely of Eliot's shacfow falling between the idea and wittily between these idioms while also mm and the reality, between the motion and the nodding in the direction of French and act. Jan Latham-Konig's conducting tech German cabaret and opera. Set in the ficti nique is certainly strong on motion, with not 8ESETl.UNG: tious Caribbean island republic of Santa Ju.mi1:i Sanch~L. I.Jig Peat()&. much of it being translated into effective or Maria, the piece belongs to that genre of Ju.1n Samos Ebr,J,ard 8iith,r,r meaningful orchestral results. Too often his Leslie Jouts Clm.J1ia11 Sth Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 11 KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL entirely appropriate to all Juan's music, his CHORAL CONCERT. Niederrhein And yet, the concert was successful (per accountof the Ariette "Seitich in dieseStadt'' ische Chorgemeinschaft, Chor der haps surprising in view of the considerable Oater reworked for"September Song") would Studenten der evangelischen Kirch odds), partly because ofthe care with which have sounded even better if the orchestral enmusik an der Robert-Schumann the program had been planned and partly accompaniment and the shaping of the Hochschule und der Kirchenmusik because of the high degree ofmusicianship melody had displayed greater flexibility. and performance skills with which each schule DOsseldorf, Madchenchor composition was then rendered. Credits are The other soloists offered a range ofvocal Hannover, Robert-Schumann-Kam due especially to Hartmut Schmidt and his and interpretive abilities; Oskar Hillebrandt's merorchester, Blaser der Dussel NiederrheinischeChorgemeinschaftaswell General certainly communicated vigor and dorfer Symphoniker, Hartmut as the Chor der Studenten der Evangelis assertiveness, with his "Auffrittslied" in Schmidt, Mark-Andreas Schlingen chen Kirchenmusik Dtisseldorf and the particular coming across as a robustly em siepen, conductors; Jurgen Wagner, Madchenchor Hannover. Theorchestral and phatic signature tune. "Der stark Mann'' he instrumental parts were handled compe most certainly was, and if at times the voice tenor, Wolfgang Holzmair, baritone; tently by the wind section ofthe Dtisseldorf became a touch strident. there were no res Robert Schumann-Saal, Dusseldorf, 24 March 1990. er Symphoniker and by the Robert-Schu ervations whatever about his diction and mann-Kammerorcbester as well as by Arno vocal attack. On the other hand, Lucy Pea Ruus on the organ. Mark-Andreas Schlin cock'sJuanil:a seemed under-powered, both "Between War and Peace" ("Zwisclzen Krieg itnd Fn'eden") was the motto of a cho gensiepen was the conductor in an inspired vocally and in terms of offering any clear performance of the Whitman Songs; presentation of her character; it almost ral concert in tl1e Robert Schumann Hall in Dtisseldoli, featuring music by Kurt Weill Wolfgang Holzmair stood out as the soloist seemed as if she were relying rather too in these songs, as did Jurgen Wagner in the much on her (admittedly eye-catching) dress for various vocal and instrumental en sembles. The program presented - in Kiddu.sh. (fheKiddush was even repeated as and appearance. In this sort of concert per an encore.) formance. a splash ofcolor is not out ofplac e chronological order - a panorama of the as a piece of character designation; but a mostdivergentstylisticmanifestations, rang A recording of some of the works per little bit of semiography is no substitute for ing from the densely textured motet Recor formed at the concert is reportedly planned singing and characterizing the notes. dare (a highly expressionist a cappella setting by Koch Schwann Records; I hope it will not of the fifth chapter of the Lamentations of repeat three shortcomings. First. a greater But the sourest note of the evening was, Jeremiah composed in 1923) via the austere mastery of the admittedly difficult contra unfortunately, struck by Lore Lorentz's link and sparsely orchestrated Berliner Requiem puntal web of Recordare is highly desirable, ing commentaries. Arch where she should of 1928 (a cantata on texts by Brecht) to the so that the expressive quality of a lament is have been direct, self-indulgent where Four Walt Whitman Songs (1942-47) for rendered without reticence and tentative measured delivery was required, she seemed baritone and orchestra, representative of ness. Second, Weill specifically asks i.n Rec constantly to bemistaking the"nudge-nudge the so-called "American" Weill. Other com ordare for a Kinderclzor (which is not the wink-wink-know-what-1-mean?" school of positions complemented these principal same as a Miidchenchor); I believe that the stand-up comic complicity for the surely more works and rounded off the program: Die very moving effect at the end of the motet appropriate combination of irony and re Legende vom toten Soldaten for mixed cho can be achieved only by following the letter laxed narration. And at times her narrative rus and Zu Postdam unter den Eichen for of Weill's instructions. Th.ird, the compe digressions seemed so long-winded thatthe male chorus preceded by the Requiem, in tently-written program notes byHeinz Geuen work also ran the risk of becoming an ex whose vicinity they originated; "In Times of should be corrected in one small but signifi tended, uncomic monologue with orches War and Tumult'' (i.e., tl1eprayerscenefrom cant detail: Fight for Freedom, Inc., a politi tral obbligato. Far better to have cut the Johnnyfolmson wiitten for Broadway in 1936) cal organization tlrnt reportedly commis linking na1ntive to the minimum and to functioned as a transition from the Civil War sioned Weill's Whitman Songs, was a move have had it delivered by Lutz Gohnermeier's poetry ofthe Whitman settings to theKiddush ment lobbying for, not against, America's Sprecher, who struck precisely the right bal for tenor, choir, and organ (1946). a Hebrew entry into the European war. How we hear ance between medium and message. prayer.for sanctification of wine, with which and understand Weill's music of "war and If this sounds like an unduly harsh judg the concertconcluded. Overall, the program peace» may depend to some extent on our ment on what was a wholly worthwhile en representeda veritable tourde force in bring ability to place it into an appropriate context. terprise, that is notmy intention . Itis simply ing together compositions that hardly JURGEN THYM that this inventive score, with its echoes of seemed compatible. Eastman School of Music Offenbach, Gilbert and Sullivan, English University of Rochester musical comedy, Viennese operetta, Wag ner and Weber and its constant indications of Weill's remarkable sense of pacing and theatrical effectiveness, cries outfor a rather more disciplined and penetrative reading than it received in Dtisseldorf. After all, both Juan and the audience know bow important a cow is in the land of Santa Maria: it repre sents the "cream to eat with apple tart'' that Stevenson speaks of, as well as much more besides. Unfortunately this was closer to Gilbert's skim milk masquerading as cream. MICHAEL MORLEY Fl inders University of South Australia Hartmut Schmidt leads the chorus in Recordare at the Robert-Schumann-Saal, Diisse ldorf on 24 March 1990. Photo: Christine Langensiepen Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 12 KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL KAMMERKONZERT. String Quartet in B Minor. Frauentanz. Sonata for Violoncello and Piano. String Quartet, op. 8. The MinguetQuartet and students from the Robert Schumann-Hochschule Dusseldorf. Tonhalle, Dusseldorf. 20 April 1990. Important events do not have to be spec tacular. Often the smaller, less-publicized concerts in a festival provide greater insights (in this case, to the music of Kurt Weill) than the more lavish, higher-profiled productions. As such, this concert of early chamber of fered an ideal embellishment to the larger events of the festival. The cleverly ordered program demon strated the structure ofWeill's early work that composed between 1918 and 1923 - Violinist Christiane Edinger and conductor Mark-Andreas and its permeation by disparate stylistic Schlingensiepen confer at a rehearsal for their 25 April performance of characteristics, governed by diverse aes Weill's Violin Concerto. Photo: Christine Langensiepen thetic ambitions. It is not merely coinciden tal that the student performers from the through the technically demanding five-part scholarly lectures, concert performances, Musikhochschule Di.isseldorf were barely Rondo section with assured ease. Thomas and lighter entertainments. One evening a older than Weill was when he composed this Schafer offered deft support. recitalist presented a selection of Weill's music. Perhaps this factor lead to the Gleich songs: "NannasLied," "DerAbschiedsbrief," To conclude the program, the Minguet klang which infused the evening's intense "Complainte de la Seine," and - the hit of Quartet returned to provide in the String performances. the evening-'The Saga ofJenny." Quartet, op. 8-a work composed five years The young Minguet-Quartet (Ulrich Is later-an exciting comparison with the:first Professor Willi Gundlach, Prorektor and fort and Anke Bettine Lorentz, violins; Irene work on the program. By 1923, Weill's Choral Director of the University of Schwalb, viola; Konstantin Schoenberg, musical language had changed dramatically; Dortmund, delivered a stimulating lecture cello) opened the program with the String the structural methods, and even aesthetic about Weill's school operas Der jasager and Quartet in B Minor of 1918. The unmistaka claims, are worlds apart. Even musicolo Down i11 the Valley, and Dr. Inge Schleier bly romantic themes reminiscent of Men gists who are skeptical about the role this presented a comparative analysis of Der delssohn and Reger set within the tradi work plays in Weill's development must be jasager and Der Neinsager. Lys Symonette tional quartet form deceive the listener into struck by the fascinating impression left delivered a lecture-demonstration of The thinking thewo rk dates from an earlier time. from a live performance. The musicians's Ballad ofMagna Carta supplemented with a Weill employs a continuous chromatic har interpretation of the score clearly delineated literal German translation of Maxwell An monization to achieve structural transitions Weill's use of segmentation as a composi derson's text between major and minor tonalities. How tional process. They recreated the music ever, the collage-like thematic overlappings with fervent passion and their playing sharply Performances of Der Jasager and and accompanimental rhythmic patterns in contrasted individual episodes, therebyclari Down in the Valley the final movement show Weill searching fying Weill's intention of mediating between for newpathways. The group played with an older and newer musical languages. Each summer the University ofDortmund appropriate, inner tension, although their sponsors "Campus Cantat," an event which GUNTHER DIEHL interpretative focus diminished somewhat brings together students from European towards the end. Altenholz countries for collaboration on a musical Next on the program, soprano Inga Fisch project This year, from 1-12 June, the pro er joined an instrumental ensemble for Teacher Workshops Held in Heek gram will involve two American institutions: Frauentanz, op. 10. Although the playing the State University of New York at Fredonia Under the heading "Kurt Weill, German lacked precision in the more demanding and Buffalo State College. Choral singers songs (nos. 1, 3, and 4, notably) and Ms. Jew,American Citizen, Contemporary of Half from Fredonia and instrumentalists from a Century," a continuing-education work Fischer did not always project the requisite Buffalo will join forces with the students transparent vocal quality, the performers shop for teachers convened from 28 Febru from the University of Dortmund to present successfully conveyed the proper style. They ary to 2 March 1990 in Heek, a tiny rural a double-bill of Der jasager (in German) and avoided a psychological characterization of community situated close to the Dutch bor Down in the Valley (in English), both in semi the seven medieval love poems in favor of a der and northwest of the cities of Dortmund staged concertperformances. Three young, "matter-of-fact'' reading, which placed a and Mi.inster in West Germany in an area professional Ameiican singers will take the seemingly untouched by the Autobalm or proper emphasis on an instrumental gestic leading roles in Down in the Valley: Ilana and rhythmically defined shapes. Ruhr district-related ecological problems. Davidson Oenny), Marc Acito (Brack) and The program addressed interrelationships Donald Coll up (the Leader). The first public Konstantin Schoenberg gave a highly among music, literature, and politics and performanceis on 8 June in Hamm, followed sensitive performanceof the Sonata for Cello was sponsored by the Governing President by presentations in Recklinghausen on 11 and Piano of 1919-20. Schoenberg castwi de of the County ofArns berg, the University of June and Dortmund on 12 June. A recording melodic lines of grandiose breadth in the Dortmund, and various municipalities of will be produced for broadcast by the Andante expressivo and lead the listener Westphalia.The four-day program featured Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 13 KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL Exhibitions Pezformances of unknown works do much to introduce an audience "Das amerikanische Musical in der dreilliger und vierziger Jahren to a composer's oeuvre, but when heard in isolation, those works are und die Rolle Kurt Weills" Henry Marx sometimes difficult to place within the context ofa composer's career. While various performing organizations in North Rhine Westphalia "Weills Kontakte zur amerikanischen Literaturszene" Michael Nott introduced audiences to some ofWeill's seldom•heard compositions, "Erfolg in einem neuen Land: Weills amerikanische Btihnenwerke" two cultural institutions in DUsseldorf provided valuable contextual Mario R. Mercado forums by mounting the first comprehensive exhibitions in Germany of documentary materials related to Weill's life and work. "KurtWeill-Theater in Bildem: Eine Bilddokumentation" Winrich Meiszies Vom Kurflirstendamm zum Broadway: Kurt Weill (1900-1950) "Weill-Chronik" David Farneth Dr. Bernd Kortlander of the Heinrich-Heine-Jnstitutgathered music The paperback catalogue is available in German bookstores and from manuscripts, first editions, correspondence, photos, librettos, posters, the Heinrich-Heine-Jnstitutfor25 DM (Postfach 1120, D-4000 Otissel recordings, and other items from the Weill-Lenya Research Center, dotil FederalRepublic ofGermany) or the Kurt Weill Foundation for the Music Library of Yale University, Universal Edition, Vienna, the Music [see the order form on the back page of this issue]. University of Cologne, the Academy ofArts in West Berlin, and other institutions, to introduce the DUsseldorfpublic to the entire range of Weill's. musical legacy. The institute, located next to the Robert Schumann-Insitut on historic Bilker Strasse, mounted a handsome chronological exhibition in two rooms on the main floor. The "German" room provided visitors with an understanding of Weill's development, beginning with early German-Jewish cultural influences and continuing through his first works, training in Berlin under Busoni, collaborations with Kaiser and Brecht, and emigration to France. The "American" room featured the all-important "pivotal works" from France and chronicled Weill's various collaborations for the commercial theater in New York. In addition to documents and manuscripts, Kortlander assembled an appealing variety of art works and scenic designs by Otto Dix, Bruno Voigt, Caspar Neher, and others. To lighten the mood, asetofshark'sjaws (with full complement of teeth) setthe tone for the German room, while a virgin-white, seven foot Statue of Liberty bearing the program of "It's Fun To Be Free" greeted visitors to the American section. The exhibition ran in Dlisseldorf from 25 March to 6 May and selected portions will be on display in Hagen until mid-June. Kurt Weill - Bekenntnis zur Zeit Top: Bernd Korllander and Lys Symonette review the Heine Institute exhibition before the opening. Bottom: The Dumont Winrich Meiszies mounted a dramatic exhibition of photographic Lindemann Archiv displayed rare photos from stage reproductions pertaining to the premiere performances of Weill's productions at the Dusseldorf Schauspielhaus. stage works in the lobby of Germany's preeminenttheater, the Dtissel dorfer Schauspielhaus. Each work was represented by a large panel which included stage photos, set designs, programs, and reviews. After appearing in Dtisseldorf for five weeks (8 April - 13 May), the exhibition tours to the Stadttheater Bielefeld (15 May - 15 June), the Kulturhaus Ltidenscheid (7 September - 9 October), and the Theater Gtitersloh (8 January - 28 February 1991). The Heinrich-Heine-Jnstitut, the Theatermuseum Diisseldorf, and the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music joined forces to produce a catalogue for both exhibitions: Vom Kur[i.irstendamm zum Broadway: Kurt Weill (1900-1950) (Dilsseldorf: Droste, 1990. 164 p.). The book contains specially commissioned essays from German and American scholars and features 117 black and white, and 8 color photos. Contents "Der Weg der Verheissung- The Eternal Road: Statt eines Vorwortes" Bernd Kortliinder Grusswort Lys Symonette "Hin und zurlick: Kurt Weill heute" Kim H. Kowalke "'Das ist 'ne ziemliche Stadt': Kurt Weill in der Kunst- und Geistesland schaft von Berlin 1918-1933 Jurgen Schebera "Zur Urform der Oper" Stephen Hinton "Kurt Weill-Musiktheater: Theaterarbeitin Deutschland, Frankreich und Grossbritannien 1919-1935 Winrich Meiszies Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 14 KURT-WEILL-FESTIVAL Excerpts from German Newspapers "Der Haifisch, der hat Zahne": Kurt Weills Haifisch und Gentleman - Oberlegungen anlaBlich des Dreigroschenoper und 50 weitere Werke. lnternationalen - Kurt-Weill-Symposions in Duisburg "The shark has teeth": Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera Shark and Gentleman - Reflections on the occasion of and 50 other works. the International Kurt Weill Symposium in Duisburg Everybody knows his Threepenny Opera. But who is aware of the Kurt Weill's fame is as one of the Brecht-<:omposers, with Brecht's fact that Kurt Weill has written chamber and choral music, sympho shadow still lurking over the greatest part ofthe rest of his work. Only nies, and radio cantatas as well? The West German Radio (WDR) when - after years of preparatory work - David Drew's Kurt Weill: intends to present the known and the unknown Kurt Weill in an A Handbook finally appeared in 1987, did the entire bulk of Weill's abundance of wide-ranging programs such as has never before been complete oeuvre become known. Yet, at the same time, the entire offered anywhere in the world. "question of Weill" had to be drawn into sharper focus. To speak with some exaggeration: in the history of German theatre of the Twenties, Westfalischer Anzeiger it is impossible not to assign a significant place to Kurt Weill. It is quite 22 February 1990 conceivable not to mention Weill's work at all in the musical history of that period. The question ofthe m usic-historical significance ofWeiU's Bettelhaft und Koniglich Zugleich music, notwithstanding its gigantic success, is indeed only part of the problem. Both Beggar and King Jurg Stenzel Because the European modernists and the post-modernists are Frankfurter Allgemeine facing a crisis, it is now especially rewarding to re-examine the work Frankfurt, 24 April 1990 of Kurt Weill. Weill lays himself open at close range to totally new rules of bourgeois, quasi-industrial productivity, yet without losing his own critical consciousness. Whatever is musically accessible to Weill am Rhein him may come from anywhere, be it the street, the circus, or the establishments of pleasure. Weill on the Rhine Gerd Rienacker The Festival in honor of the German-American composer is in Volkszeitung/Die Tat essence a documentation of the inadequacy of the German Weill Dusseldorf, 23 March 1990 reception ...An International Weill Symposium took place in Duisburg. J tirgen Schebera andJoachim Lucchesi (Akademie der Ktinste, GD R) referred to the composer's contributions to the United States war Das geteilte Paradies - Kurt Weill's "Kuhhandel" effort. Weill dedicated himself wholly to his new homeland. As Offen konzertant in Dusseldorf bach had once become a genuine French composer, Weill wanted to become an American one, leaving persecution, lean times, chaos, and The divided Paradise - Concert performance of Kurt artistic quarrels of the Old World forever behind on the other side of Weill's "Kuhhandel" in Dusseldorf the ocean. This momentous decision of practical and artistic conse quence still stands-alongside continuing oldprejudices-in theway The musician Weill bas been liberated in those twenty-four of today's reception of Weill in Germany. numbers to such a degree such that the music seems to flow .like a stream of lava. The melodic lightness of its hit numbers (of the Frieder Reininghaus very best Lehar quality); the mostly Caribbean-South-American Die Tageszeitung rhythms, their sloping, unwieldly harmonies always reminding us Berlin (FRG), 3 April 1990 of the best of Mahagonny-models; the finesse and the pointed wit of the orchestrations - they all add up here to a Weill hit parade, which provides one delight after another, so much so that one can hardly sit still. Der Flugbeobachter vergaB den bosen Brecht Horst Koegler The Air-Raid Warden Forgot all about the Wicked Stuttgarter Zeitung Brecht 24 March 1990 From the perspective of sheer ignorance of the American works themselves, theAmerican period is still being judged disparagingly. Waffenhandel im Land des Lachelns In the USA, as in other countries, they are rarely pertormed Moreover. Arms dealing in the Land of Smiles the impossibi.lity of even hearing pieces like the violin concerto or the symphonies prompted Kim Kowalke to point out in his final summa The audience at the Dtisseldorf premiere became more and more tion: "At this point in time, it is not important whether works like Die involved with the work as the evening went along and, in the end, Burgschaft are well or poorly interpreted. The main thing is that they gave it enthusiastic approval. Dr. Johannes Rau, under whose aegis are being performed, and not only at anniversary festivals." the Festival was taking place, opened the proceedings with a speech in which he noted that Kurt Weill was an artist with extraordinary Guido Fischer sensitivity toward political thought. Rheinische Post 27 March 1990 Olaf Ciers Junge Welt Berlin (GDR), 11 April 1990 Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 15