KURT WEILL NEWSLETTER

Volume8,Number 1 Spring1990

Kurt Weill IN THIS ISSUE

1990 KURT W EILL FESTIVAL IN NORTH RHINE WESTPHALIA 7 (Re-) Unification? by Christopher Hailey 9 Der Kuhhandel by Michael Morley 11 Niederrheinische Chorgemeinschaft review by Jurgen Thym 12 KURT-WED.,L-FESTIVAL Robert-Schumann-Hochschule concert review by Gunther Diehl 13 Teacher Workshops in Heek 13 Exhibitions 14 Press Clippings 15

COLUMNS News in Brief 2 Letters to the Editor 5 New Publications 16 Selected Performances 27 BooKs Studien zur Berliner Musikgeschichte edited by Traude Ebert-Obermeier 18 PERFORMANCES Street Scene at the English National Opera 20 Sinfonia San Francisco 21 Lady in the Dark at Light Opera Works 22 \-.il!N'! ~pt.-a.hl~ll~ail Seven Deadly Sins atTheJuilliard School 23 l,,lllll•~-'ll~,l...... ,._1,_.. ,,.,,..._,'ftt~nt '\1l~.11,....,..'(11tt lt11.-.....t.., 3-ld•llrilrll ..-•1fw...... Ji,d~(ontllldilt , l""NNW"a.....iK,..1 11.-fw-,.,,,...,t ~,\ Downtown Chamber and Opera Players 24

RECORDINGS Die Dreigroschenoper on Decca/London 25

7 North Rhine Westphalia Christopher Hailey analyzes th e significance of the festival and symposium, Mich ael Morley critiques Der Kuhha ndel, J u rgen Thym an d Gunt h er Diehl report on concerts. Also news articles, p hotos, and p ress clippings.

2 The American Musical Theater Festival opens the first professional revival of Love Life on 10 June at the Walnut Theatre in Philadelphia. The show runs through 24 June, with Almeida Festival in London performances at 8:00 PM Tuesday-Saturday and matinees on 13, 16, 20, and 24 June at 2:00 PM. Members of the creative team are Barry Harman (director), Robert Kapilow (musical 3 director), Chris Chadman (choreographer), Loren Sherman (sets), Randy Barcelo (cos­ Great Lakes Theater Festival in tumes), and Beverly Emmons (lighting). Cleveland and Weill Festival at Debbie Shapiro, winner of a TonyAward for her performance in]erome Robbins' Broadway, the Boston Conservatory and Richard Muenz, most recently seen in the off-Broadway Maltby-Shire musical Closer Than Ever, portray the protagonist-couple Susan and Sam Cooper. A full report will appear in the next issue. NEWS IN BRIEF

rector, and the production is by Andreas anchine's "Les Ballets" in the development Reinhardt. The cast includes Eva Gilbofer of ballet history. The organizers were com­ (Begbick), Trudeliese Schmidt/Ning Liang/ pelled to make minor changes in the exhibi­ Renate Spingler Genny), William Pell 0immy tion for the Saratoga installation: some set Mahoney), Toni Blankenheim/Carl Schultz pieces were too fragile to make the trans­ (I'rinity Moses), Peter Galliard/Donald Atlantic trip, and all the scenic backdrops George Oakob Schmidt), and Frieder from the original production were too tall for Stricker (I'obby Higgins). Other dates are the gallery. However, the new version will 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, and 20 June. include photographic reproductions ofitems recently discovered in France, as well as Mahagonny bows at this year's Maggio materials borrowed from several American Musicale Fiorentino at the Teatro Verdi in Florence. Staged by Graham Vick and led by repositories. The Kurt Weill Foundation has loaned a recently acquired sketch study Jan-Latham Konig, the new production is de­ which Caspar Neher made for the "Anger" signed by Maria Bjornson. Catherine scene in Die sieben Todsiinden. music Malfitano takes the role of]ennyand Yvonne t"------Minton that of Begbick. Performances are According to Allison Moore, Museum slated for 12, 15, 17, 21 June. Other produc­ Director, a new catalogwillinclude memoirs tions in the Florence May Festival, which by Boris Kochno, a reprint of an article by runs from 28 April-4 July, are Rimsky­ Lincoln Kirstein from Vogue, 1933, an essay 13 fune • 14fuly 1990 Korsakov's Invisible City ofKitezh, JI Trova­ by Pritchard, as well as a checklist of tl1e ex­ Almeida Festival in London to re, Donizetti'sParisina, and Don Giovanni. hibition. The museum is opening two other exhibitions on 23 May: "100 Years of the Russ.ian Ballet 1830-1930" (from the Lenin­ Almeida Presents UK Premieres Street Scene Returns to New York grad State Museum ofTheater and Music) and "Shaping the American Dance Dream," Th.is summer the Almeida International After a lengthy contractual dispute re­ both of which run through 7 October. For Festival of Contemporary Music and Per­ sulted in the cancellation of the entire Sum­ further information, call (518) 584-2225. formance will celebrate its tenth anniverary mer-Fall 1989 season, New York City Opera season with three British premieres during is back on its feet and will undertake an its "WeiU Event," 14 and 16 June at Un.ion ambitious and interesting schedule, includ­ KURT WEILL NEWSLETTER Chapel io London's Islington district. Three ing new productions of a Ravel double-bill Vol. 8, No. 1 ; Spring 1990 theater works will be presented in arrange­ L'heure espagnole/L'enfant et Les sortiliiges, ments devised byDavid Drew:Marie Galante Janacek's From the House of the Dead. © 1990 Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and two suites from Weill's American pe­ Flotow's Martha. and Schoenberg's Moses 7 East 20th Street riod, "Cry, The Beloved Country" from Lost and Aron. New York, NY 10003-1106 in the Stars, and "War Play" from Johnny Tel. (212)505-5240 Street Scene re-enters the repertory on 7 Fax (212)353-9663 fohnso11. American singers Angelina Reaux September with performances on 12, 15, 20, and Damon Evans will singthe leading roles, 23, and 29 September. Ian McDiarmid will narrate, and Robert The Newsletter is published to provide an open Ziegler will conduct the Matrix Ensemble. Chris Nance will conduct the perform­ forum wherein interested readers may express a ances, andPatricia Birch sets thechoreogra­ The Almeida will also presentWeill's songs variety of ideas and opinions. The opinions ex­ phy. Jack O'Brien and Jay Lesenger, stage in two contrasting programs. Angelina pressed do not necessarily represent the pub­ directors, Paul Sylbert, set designer, Mar­ lisher's offidal vfewpoint. The editor encourages Reaux, a "legit" soprano who has won enthu­ jorie McGown, costume designer, and siastic acclaim in the US with various Kurt the submission of articles, reviews, and news Gilbert V. Hemsley, Jr., lighting designer, items for inclusion in future issues. The submis­ Weill evenings, will make her British debut complete the production team. Margaret in a solo, all-Weill program at the Almeida sion deadline for the next issue is 1 September Cusack and Claudia Cummings will alter­ 1990. Theatre on 15 June, and The Willem Breu­ nate as Anna Maurrant, and William Parcher ker Kollektief, a Dutch jazz ensemble also and Charles Karel share the part of the David Farneth, Editor periorming in Britain for the first time, will Mario R. Mercado, Associate Editor husband Frank Maurranl Maureen O'Flynn create its unique brand of improvisations John Watson, Editorial Assistant assumes the role of their daughter, Rose. using Weill's melodies. Sam Kaplan will be played by Kevin Ander­ Board of Trustees Another highlight of the Festival, which son and Michael Rees Davis. Kim Kowalke, President runs from 13 June to 14 July, is the world Henry Marx, Vice-Presidem premiere of John Cage's Europeras Ill & IV, Lys Symonette, Vice-President a work scored for eight singers, two pian.ists, Les Ballets Jetes to Saratoga Guy Stern, Secretary Milton Coleman, Treasurer and six gramophone operators. Also fea­ Springs tured are compositions by Gidon Kremer, Philip Getter The National Museum of Dance in Sara­ Harold Prince Susana Rinaldi, Arvo Part, and Henryk Julius Rudel Gorecki. For information, telephone the toga Springs, New York presents the exhibi­ Almeida in London at (71) 226 1577. tion "Les Ballets 1933" from 23 May to 29 Foundation Staff July 1990. TheRoyal Pavilion ArtGallery and Kim Kowalke, President Museums, Brighton, England firslmounted David Farneth, Director and Archivist Mahagonny Rises in New the show in 1986, and itsubsequentlytoured Lys Syrnonette, Musical Executive European Productions to two other locations in England. [See Jane Marlo R. Mercado, Director of Programs John Watson, Secretary The Hamburg Staatsoper premieres a new Pritchard's article in vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 10-11.] production of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Curator Jane Pritchard has reorganized Point Seven Systems, Production Mahagonny on 9 June. Bruno Weil serves as the exhibition for an American audience and conductor, Glinter Kramer is the stage di- emphasized the role played by George Bal- Weidner & Son, Printing

Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 2 NEWS IN BRIEF

Conductor Maurice Abravanel was honored with the first Distinguished Achievement Award given by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music in a ceremony on 23 March 1990 at the International Kurt Weill Sympo­ sium, Duisburg, Federal Republic of Germany. Kirn H. Kowalke, President, made the presentation during the dinner hosted by Mr. Josef Krips, Mayor of the City ofD uisburg, on behalfo f the Foundation'sBoar d ofTrustees "in recognition of lifetime devotion to the music ofKurt Weill onboth sides oftheAtlantic."Toe award ofSteuben glass accompanied a citation listing the numerous concert and stage works which Abravanel has conducted throughout his career. Abravanel, conductor and music director emeritus of the Utah Symphony, serves as Artist-in-Residence to the Berkshire Music Center at theTanglewood Music Maurice Abravanel, Carolyn Abravanel, Kim Kowalke Festival.

International Advisory Council turing Weill's music, the Boston Conserva­ in the Dark, presented bythe Conservatory's M eets tory also presented Angelina Reaux in a Theater Division on 8-11 March (for a brief recital of Weill songs and Dr. Leonard review, see page 25). The International Advisory Council of the Lehrman and Helene Williams, in a lecture­ KurtWeill Foundation met for the first time concert devoted to the music of Marc Blitz. French Resistance Drama Televised 25-27 March in Marienthal, West Germany stein and Weill. Neil Donohoe. Chairman, in jointsessions with the Foundation's Board Theater Division, organized the Festival. LastJanuary's importfrom London Week­ ofTrustees and staff. Established in 1989 in endTelevision International featured Weill's an effort to broaden the range ofsocio-politi­ Faculty members and selected students "}'attends un navire" from Marie Galante as cal, economic, cultural, and geographic in­ opened the festival on 2 February with a the theme music to the British series "Wish put and outreach and expand the Founda­ varied program, including the Boston pre­ Me Luck." Used during opening and closing tion'ssphereofinfluence, the Council will be mieres of Ofrahs Lieder and theTwo Move­ credits and throughout the seven hour-long flexible in size and be comprised predomi­ ments for String Quartet Ms. Reaux's per­ episodes, "]'attends un navire," Jong-identi­ nantly of non-Americans, with as wide a formance on 9 February, was followed by a fied as a liberation tune of the French Resis­ geographic distribution as possible. Chaired concert performance of The Seven Deadly tance, played perfectly in the docu-drama by the President of the Foundation, the Sins by the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, tracing the involvement of two British Council will meetat least biennially to advise Ronald Feldman, conducting, SaraGoldstein , women, portrayed by Kate Buffery and the officers, staff, and Board on matters of student soloist. On 22-25 February, Anna Suzanna Hamilton, in the Resistance forces policy and priorities. Sokolow staged a new production of The of World War U. It aired in the New York Seven Deadly Sins, sung in English, which area on WUW, channel 21, a PBS affiliate. Members of the Council attending were utilized a corps ofsix dancers. Writing in the David Drew (UK),Jtirgen Schebera (GDR), Boston Globe, Debra Cash observed "As the Weill in Cleveland Michael Morley (Australia), Stephen Hin­ singing Anna, Lisa Lockhart conveys a lucid ton (FRG), and Marion von Hartlieb (Aus­ understanding ofBrecht's text and captures The Great Lakes Theater Festival initi­ tria). The agenda of the two-day retreat Weill's special brand of declamation without ated in September 1989 its year-Jong Kurt encompassed a broad variety of topics, in­ corrupting her direct, expressive soprano Weill Festival at Cleveland with a new pro­ cluding discussion of the Foundation's goals, into Lenya-esque harshness. Dancing Anna, duction of The Threepenny Opera, directed image, and impact; publications; future proj­ Marianne Kowalski, who will alternate with by Victoria Bussert and conducted by Stuart ects, including the feasibility of a c.ritical Kris Mengel, transforms initial modesty into Raleigh. The Festival runs through August edition; regional concerns; recording proj­ shameless gluttony." Selections from Down 1990 and includes a new production ofStreet ects; artistic policies. in the Valley, One Touch ofVenus , and Street Scene, in the summer repertory season of Scene, as well as a new dance piece entitled Ohio Light Opera On 11 July, the Ohio Weill Dances, choreography by Susan Rose, Chamber Orchestra presents the Marie Weill Festival at Boston with Ms. Rose and Peter di Muro, as faculty Galante ConcertSuite and Lyric Opera Cleve­ Conservatory soloists, completed the program. land concludes the festival with its August In recognition of the 90th anniversary of On 2 March, Leonard Lehrman and He­ production of Berlin to Broadway. Weill's birth, the Boston Conservatory served lene Willi.amsoffered their program "AB!itz­ Earlier in the Festival the String Quartet up a concentrated butambitious month-Jong stein Cabaret/Weill Symposium" in honor of the Cleveland Octet presented the Cleve­ Weill Festival, from 2 February through 11 of the birthday anniversary of both land premiere ofWeill's complete works for March, with works ranging from chamber composers. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik fig­ string quartet, the Quartet i.n B Minor, the music to full productions ofThe Seven Deadly ured on the 13 March concert of the Boston Quartet Op. 8, and the rarely perfom1ed Two Sins and Lady in the Dark. In addition to Conservatory Wind Ensemble. The festival Movements for String Quartet (1922-23), at concert performances and productions fea- featured a very successful production ofLady a 31 March concert at Severance Hall

Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 3 NEWS IN BRIEF

Members of the Cleveland Octet include Erich Eichhorn, violin, Mark Dumm, violin, Mark Braunstein, viola, and Bryan Dumm, cello. Leading music educational institutions in the greater Cleveland area also took part. The Cleveland Institute of Music presented 1990 Grants Awarded theViolin Concerto, Kleine Dreigroschenmu­ sik; the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music, Berea, OH, offered concert perfonn­ In December 1989 the Board of Trustees Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, ances of Vom Tod im Wald, Bastille Music, of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Brooklyn. "Pantomime" from Der Protago­ and the Cello Sonata; Frauentanz figured on lnc. approved the recommendations of the nist. a Cleveland Music School Settlement pro­ lndependent Grants Advisory Panel to gram; and the Opera Theater of the Oberlin award the grants listed below in the areas Buffalo State College and the State College Conservatory presented a produc­ of research and performance. University of New York at Fredonia. Der tion of Der jasager. jasager and Down in the Valley, co­ Research production with the University of A range of related and ancillary programs Dortmund, Federal Republic of Germany. and events testifed to wide community inter­ James Zychowicz, Madison, WI. Travel est. In May, theTom Evert Dance Company, grant to the Weill-Lenya Research Center City Summer Opera, City College of San a contemporary ensemble, presented a new and Yale University to conduct research Francisco, San Francisco. Der Silbersee (in piece on Weill songs. Throughout the sea­ for a study ofWeill's compositional English). son radio station WCLV-FM broadcast an process as demonstrated in the sketches for Lost in the Stars. College of DuPage, OuPage, Il. Concert ongoing series devoted to Weill's European perfom1ances of Down in the Valley and and American stage and concert works. The Dissertation Fellowships Lost i11 the Stars ("Cry, The Beloved Cleveland Cinematheque at the Cleveland Country"). lnsitute of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Richard Bower, New York, NY. To support Art both offered surveys of films for which expenses associated with travel to the Downtown Music Productions, New York. Weill composed the score or which were Harry Ransom Humanities Research Cello Sonata, Vom Tod im Wald, Frauen­ adapted from his stage works. In addition, Center, The University of Texas; Federal tanz. the Cleveland Museum of Art organized an Theatre Archives, George Mason Univer­ sity; Weill/Lenya Archive, Yale University; The Juilliard School, New York. Stage exhibition "Cross Section: Graphic Art in production of The Seven Deadly Sins. Germany after the FirstWor ld War," which and the Library of Congress. "Kurt Weill considered the art of Grosz, Beckmann, Dix, in America 1935-1941, the Americanization MasterSingers of Greater Stamford, Klee, and Neher, among others. of Weill." Ph.D. dissertation, City Univer­ Stamford, CT. Der Lindberghfi.ug. sity of New York. The Matrix Ensemble, London. Maha­ Tamara Levitz, Rochester, NY. To support gonny Songspiel. expenses associated with travel to the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Berlin (East); Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA. Street Archiv der Akademie der Ki.inste, Berlin Scene. (West and East); Preul3ischer The New Stagecraft Company, New York. Staatsarch.iv, Merseburg, GDR; and the Happy End. Edward Dent Estate, Cambridge Univer­ sity. "Teaching Composers: Busoni's New York Chamber Ensemble, New York. Master Class in Composition," Ph.D. dis­ Mahagonny Songpspiel. sertation, University of Rochester, Occidental College/Caltech Symphony Eastman School of Music. Orchestra, Los Angeles. Second Sym- Perlormance phony. · Armadillo String Quartet, Los Angeles. Ohio Light Opera, Wooster, OH. Street String Quartet in B Minor, String Quartet Scene. Op. 8, Two Movements for String Quartet Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Saint Louis. Boston Conservatory, Boston. Kurt Weill Der Lindbergh/lug. Festival, including stage productions of Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, The Seven Deadly Sins and Lady in the Boston. Violin Concerto. Dark. Angelina Reaux, New York. Concert per­ Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn. formance of Marie Galante. Stage production of The Seven Deadly Sins. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London. Concert performance ofjohnny Johnson.

Macheath (Neal Ben-Ari) awaits his hanging in the Great Lakes Theater Festival Threepenny Op era. Victoria Bussert, director. Photo: Roger Mastroianni.

Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 4 LETTERS

To the Editor: To the Editor: asthelateVirgilThomsonwroteinhisHerald Tribune review (21 March 1954) of the All that I remember and all that I am able A bit of news for the Newsletter. On Janu­ to check agrees with your excellent "A ary 20 I gave at Le Petit Theatre in New Blitzstein Threepenny adaptation, "one can scarcely believe them to be translations at Threepenny Chronology." 1t is a relief to Orleans a talk on "Kurt Weill in America." all." This simply cannot be said of any of read something aboutWeill thatcontains no The talk, which was given in conjunction Bentley's translations; nor of Michael Fein­ misinformation. with Le Petit's production of Drei.grosch­ gold's popular Happy End adaptation which, enoper, was primarily a show-and-tell, in­ Onemisprintthough, onpage 15:Itsbould as Alexander Ringer wrote, ''interferes time tended for a general audience ratherthan for be Trude Hesterberg, not Hesterburg. and again with the characteristic bite of the specialists. (Membersoftheaudiencewhom Hesterberg played "Witwe Begbick" in our melodic-rhythmic patterning"; nor even one spoke to after the talk confessed to know­ Berlin Mahago11ny. lt was bankrolled by her I of themost popular translations ofthe Broad­ ing only the first and last of fue songs listed friend, Fritz Schonherr, a Potsdam banker. way of our day - Les Miserables - whose in my next sentence.) Three excellent sing­ Aufricht sent me to Potsdam to pick up the words sound Uke a translation, no matter ers sang the following songs: "Speak Low,• cash. Cash. For reasons best known to the how they're perfonned! "If Love Remains," "One Life to Live," "Here banker it was not a check, but banknotes (a I'll Stay," 'That's Him,'' "Buddy on the Night Albrecht Diimling's observation (in the considerable amow1t) in a sealed envelope. Shift.'' "Foolish Heart" (the token piece in 3/ Our connection with Trude Hesterberg same issue) that ''Blitzstein was the most 4), "A Marble and a Star," "Wouldn't You started earlier. She was a very popular caba­ important American composer-dramatist to like to Be on Broadway?'"'WhatGood Would carry on Brecht's [and, one might add, Weill's ret chanteuse, who had operatic ambitions. the Moon Be?" "Stay Well," and "September She played the "Marquise" in my adaptation and Eisler's as well] musical-theatrical im­ Song." Response was oveiwhelmingly that pulse" is absolutely correct. (This is borne of Donizetti's Regimentstochter. this was wonderful music which ought to be out in part by Brian Byrnes' review in your Another thing: "Barbara-Song" and well-known. ''If Love Remains," fue only song last issue of Eric Gordon's Blitzstein biogra­ Othello. It is safe to assume thatBrecbtatthe which readers of the Kurt Weill Newsletter phy, on which more in a moment.) Bentley, time he wrote the "Barbara,Song" knew won't have heard many times, worked very unable to abide any praise ornlitzstein at all, Shakespeare. But it is also safe to assume well. For me the talk was part payment of a submits to you a list of other American that he read the celebrated German transla­ debt I incurred in 1949. when my life was composers who collaborated with Bentley tion and not the original. Has anyone looked changed by the experience of seeing Lost in on setting Bentley's Brecht translations to up the Othello quotation in the Schlegel­ the Stars. musicand who, in his judgment, were there­ Tieck Shakespeare? I don't have one here. fore just as important as Blitzstein in Amer­ Wayne D. Shirley ica's post-war discoveryofBrecht. But this is Robert Vambery 24 January 1990 not the point, for the contiibutions and 17 February 1990 Washington. D.C. achievements in this area of none of these Los Angeles composers - nor of Bentley either - can To the Editor: even begin to compare with Blitzstein's. To the Editor: Marc Blitzstein's 85th birthday and Kurt Blitzstein'simportance has until now been A footnote lo David Farneth's excellent Weill's 90th (on the same day) were cele­ recognized only by a relatively small num­ account of3Penny in films might amuse your brated at Boston Conservatory last March ber ofpeople. One hopes that Eric Gordon's readers. David is right tl1at I was hired as 2nd with a Blitzstein Cabaret program, i.o­ mammoth Mark the Music: The Life and lyricist for the 1963 film. Llkethis:There was cluding original works of Blitzstein (edited Work ofMarc Blitzstein will helpchange that. a ring at my downstairs bell, and a gentle­ and, in some cases, completed by me), a Brian Byrnes is unfortunately right in criti­ man with a German accent came up to the numberofhisBrecht-Weilltranslations, and cizing the book as "cluttered" with "gossipy apartmenl He presented a business card a new translation of "]'attends tlll navire" irrelevancies"; and, as a result, no critic to (for Gloria films, I think) and I let him in. He fromMarie Gala11te, written in his spirit. The date has yet been able to read the book said there was this German film, but they question of MarcBlitzstein's role and impor­ thoroughly enough to cliticize it on its own wanted to make a soundtrack in English. tance in the tradition of Brecht and Weill, terms. (My efforts to do precisely that have too, could they use my lyrics? While I was separately and together. is one thatha s been appeared in the March-April 1990 issue of hesitating at the suddenness of the proce­ touched on several times in your last two Jewish Affairs and have been submitted to dure, he took out a checkbook and said, "If newsletters. Eric Bentley, as he has for the American Music.) Nonetheless, the book you agree, {'11 pay you right now - $2000." past 35 years - ever since Blitzstein turned has had the effect of causing at least some I agreed, and he departed. I thought the down Bentley's offer for him (Bentley) to companies to take another lookat the forgot­ check would probably bounce but it didn't. direct Threepenny in 1951 - has been at ten treasure of Blitzstein's creations. These Next I heard was that the film had opened in pains to disparage it. include ilie Chicago Lyric Opera and New New York but that Sammy Davis was sing­ York's Center for Contemporary Opera, In his 5 November 1988 letter which ap­ ing "Mack the Knife" in Marc Blitzstein's which will give the orchestral premiere of pears in vol. 7, no. loftheNewsletter. Bentley words. I got to see the film myself a dozen insists that in "many productions" which Tales ofMalamud Gn my completion)_ years later when I found Yale School of Drama had a print. David is right; bits of used the Blitzstein translation. "my [i.e. Byrnes' review merely scratches the sur­ Bentley's] lyrics were sung." I would chal­ Blitzstein were inserted at other points. 1 face of (he wide range of material in Gor­ hope he or his Estate got their $2000. In any lenge Mr. Bentley to quote exact instances don's book that would be of interest to fans where this has occurred, for it is the general event, such is or was Life in tl1e Wonderful of Kurt Weill. Blitzstein's metamorphosis consensus of opinion everywhere that the World of 3Penny Opera. from a disdainer to an admirer of Weill's Blitzstein translation is, even today, far supe­ musicis here, to besorted out by the diligent Eric Bentley rior to any ofthe various other English trans­ reader from among all the other details. (It 3 December 1989 lations of Threepenny thathave been written can also be read about, a bit more cogently New York over a period of nearly 60years. ltis not just and coherently perhaps, in my 1969 paper a question of "how the English words fit the 'The Threepenny Cradle," a comparison music." It is a question ofwords written by a between The Threepenny Opera and composer who knew the meaning of creat­ Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock [unpub­ ing a unity between words and notes so that. lished; available from the author].)

Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 5 LETTERS

In his most colorful, early diatribe on directly concerns Weill fans is on p. 352, World War II. I asked him later what meet­ Weill's music, Blitzstein, in a letter dated 28 which asserts that Lucy was the role for ing he could have been referring to, since I January 1930 [Gordon, p. 55], writes that which Lenya «had been knownt when of had seen no conclusive evidence up to that Wei!J's «idea of a 'sonk' is an outlandish course it was not Lucy but Jenny. time that a) Blitzstein had ever, in fact, been mixture of Gennan beer-drinking ditty and Certain errors in Brian Byrnes' review of a member of the Party, and b) he bad ever American ballad, accompanied a la marcia spoken at"a Communist meeting." Bentley's by jazz-band instruments betrayed into a the book must be set straight. Lukas Foss spells his first name with a "k," not a "c." Itis reply was. "When two or more Communists Sousa fonnula." 'This in response to a piece meet, isn't that 'a Communist meetingT I of Weill's that appeared on a November­ hardly accurate to describe the academic career of a straight-A student, as Blitzstein quoted his answer to me at the final session gruppe concert together with an Eisler song of the Congress. The reaction of the dele­ cycle that year. (Which Weill piece? Gor­ was at Penn, as "troubled" - he left the college over a dispute concerning whether gates seemed in general to be, "Oh there don's book maddingly does not say. Perhaps goes Bentley again, Red-baiting and slander­ one of you can?) gym should be a required subject. Cradle has "enjoyed many performances" not just ing Blitzstein whenever be can." It would Two years later, in Modern Music, Blitz­ "through the 1950's" but well into our own take until November 1985 for Bentley to stein wrote, again disparagingly. of Weill's decade. Blitzstein wrote incidental music for admit his "sibling rivalry" with Blitzstein "super-bourgeois ditties (stilted OtchiTchor­ OrsonWelles· production of Lear (as well as over Brecht (See American 17zeatre of that nayas and Road-to-Mandalays)" - which is a separate orchestral piece entitled "Lear: A month; also Gordon, p. 566, note 5.) Mean­ actually not such an inapt obsetvation, as Study") - nota "musical adaptation of King time, however, Gordon's book - which Jack Gottlieb pointed out at Merkin Hall in Lear'' as stated by Byrnes. And finally, Blitz­ Bentley praised, although backhandedly­ September 1987: the resemblance between stein did not try "to incorporate communist hascontributed considerably to clearing this thefamous !'Barbara Song" theme and "Otchi philosophy (in a time ofburgeoning McCar­ whole matter up.1l1e "meeting" in question Tchomaya" may well be more than coinci­ thyism) into his musical aesthetic." By late turns out to have been with the Marxist dental, even if possibly subconscious. 1949 he'd left the Party. Butthat's for another English composer Alan Bush, whom I my­ article. self met in 1971, and who spoke of Blitzstein Even as late as January-February 1936, with only the very highest regard. Accord­ Blitzstein wrote in Modern Music of the One last note on Bentley: In April 1971, I ing to Gordon [p. 229), whose (unnamed) aforementioned Marie Galante song as attended the Second International Brecht sources are Bentley and Eisler's son Georg, "about rock-bottom in melodic cheapness." Congress, at Rutgers University, and heard "Blitzstein told Bush that to his mind Eisler But that year he was to change his mind, Bentley speak and perform. Due to an had 'sold out' in California, separated him­ radically. Blitzstein's most exciting and illu­ embainssing (for him) question-and-answer self from the progressive movement." And, minating article on thesubject, "Weill Scores period that had been held after his speaking Gordon adds, this was "a fairly widespread for Johnny Johnson," came in the Novem­ at the First International Brecht Congress a opinion of Eisler among Communist [he ber-December 1936 Modem Music, where year or so earlier in Wisconsin, this time he might have said 'leftist'] circles." In other he admits, concerning Weill. "He hasn't spoke on condition of not having to answer words, it hardly merits the tenn "political changed, I have." ("So had the world," adds questions in public afterwards. Neverthe­ denunciation," although Gordon uses the Gordon.) less, I did get to speak with him privately. tenn - obviously Bentley's - on _p. 460. What is important to remember is that In his talk, he denounced Marc Blitzstein Leonard J. Lehrman Blitzstein's Cradle Will Rock vaulted him to for baving "denounced" Hanns Eisler at "a 22 December 1989 the front pages ofAmerican newspapers in Communist meeting" in Europe during Roslyn, New York 1937, and that right up until Weill's death in 1950, Weill's name as a composer in Amer­ ica was nevergreater than Blitzstein's. In the January-February 1941 Modem Music, for example, Samuel Barlow reviewed Blitzstein's No For An Answer as being "in just the right American vein which is so conspicuouslyout of Mr. Kurt Weill's range, for e."

Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 8 Number 1 6