Three Valued Collaborators 1993 marked the passing of three people who influenced Kurt Weill's life and work: conductor and friend Maurice Abravanel, publisher Hans Heinsheimer, and choreog­ ~her Agnes de MIiie. The following letters from the collections of the Weill-Lenya Re-rch Center present a commemoration of each one's contribution to Welll'a '8f89r and hint at the decisive influence of each. the Wetll-Lenya Research Center also has oral history interviews with each collaborator. A profile of Abravanel and a reprint of his comments made at a conference of music critics in March 1980 ~peared in the Spring 1987 (Vol. 5, no. 1) issue of this newsletter. Maurice Abravanel Maurice Abravanel was Weill's devoted friend and principal con­ Those two performances (private at the Vicomtesse de Noailles, ductor in Germany and the U.S. He has been an invaluable source of public the next day at Salle Gaveau) were provided for Kurt Weill. information to scholars worldwide and a devoted supporter of the Two commissions were clirect results: Princesse de Polignac (Sym­ activities ofthe Kurt Weill Foundation. He received the Foundation's phony) (and) Les Ballets 1933 (Seven Deadly Sins). first Distinguished Achievement Award in 1990. After that triumph, that version was for Kurt the definite, final, Maestro Abravanel wrote these two letters in response to queries authentic version of the Songspiel. With a partly different cast Oune concerning adaptations made to the Mahagonny Songspielforpeifor­ 20, 1933) in Paris, then July in London, then December26th in Rome, mances in 1932-33. lenya appeared as Jenny in these pe,fonnances. again different cast - except Lenya. always as Jenny - Weill never Abravanel's reorchestrated interpolations have disappeared from even discussed the possibility or desirability ofany change whatever. Weill's holograph (which is now at Yale University), and the post-war Also, a tour of Spain specified exactly the same version (of course, versions ofthe Songspiel put together by Hans Curjel (now Located in the tour did not materialize). Kurt nevercalled it the Paris Mahagonny, the Universal Edition archives) do not, it seems, accurately reflect the but "Das kleine Mahagonny." 1932-33 versions. Therefore, Abravanel's recollections are a welcome source for information about these influential perfonnances. As for the opera in Kassel (Aufstieg), there were no changes whatever, except for Jim's aria being sung at the start of Act III (the names were changed into German ones during the rehearsal pe- Maurice Abravanel, Salt Lake City, to riod). I have no idea what they did in Lys Symonette and Kim Kowalke, Leipzig, except for the masks, which Kurt Kurt Weill Foundation, New York, 2 1 told me about but did not ask us to do. January 1985 Remember, Leipzig was March 9, Kassel March 12. Weill was at our dress re­ Dear Lys and Kim, hearsal. I begged him to tell us whatever I do not have total recall after all. I do he wanted changed, but he thought that get mixed up between the seven perfor­ everything was just right. Incidentally, mances of Aufstieg I conducted in 1930 there we re no revisions after that, only and the five of [the) Songspiellledin 19:32- adaptations because of the lack of oper­ 33. atic voices in Berlin. I know, because he However, I remember beyond any wanted me to conduct that run in Berlin. doubt that Kurt and I without any hesita­ While I am correcting things, there tion agreed that "Denn wie man sich neve r were Nazi demonstrations in bettet" should be added and that "Ala­ Altenburg at the Zar/ Protagonist. Dem­ bama" should, ofcourse, be Ius ed] in the onstrations, instigated by mem hers ofthe improved (opera) version. The n I was company, were threatened but did not asked to condense those two songs/or­ materialize. chestrations from the operatic (larger) (version) to the Songspiel instrume ntal ensemble. I did not (and nobody did) Maurice Abravanel, Salt Lake City, to make any other reduction of any number. Kim Kowalke, Kurt Weill Foundation, Now, itseems to me that Lenya did sing New York, 14 February 1985 "Ach bedenken SieHerrJakob Schmidt." Dear Kim, and also 110. 6 ("Ohne Wasche"). So, if Maurice Abravanel those two numbers could be taken over 1903 - 1993 As I mentioned earlie r. there never was without change in the orchestrntion (ex­ any hint about reducing the string section cept for the piano playing the guitar pa,t for the opera. Now I just find a reprint of in no. 6) then I would be inclined to think the first piano score (still with English that they were included too. If not, then my memory is playing tricks. names -- Jack O'Brien. etc.). The very first page under And, no narrator! Orchesterbesetzung lists simply ''Streicher (Violine. Viola, Cello, The Songspiel fonn was kept intact. The sequence ofthe additions Kontrabass)." The three violins that you mentioned were a neces­ was: After no. 3 (and before 4a): ;'Ach bedenken Sie," and segue no. sary(?) evil for a non-subsidized run. (I don't think that Breehl was 6 ("Ohne Wasche"). After Benares (and before Choral no. 5a): unhappy about tJ1at.) "[Denn) wie man sich bettel." * * * * * Kurt Weill Newsletter Volume 11 Number 2 5 Hans W. Heinsheimer Hans Heinsheimer's connection to Weill as a result of his distin­ score is being prepared, the first edition of 2,500 copies having been guished career with Universal Edition has been illuminated in Christo­ almost exhausted within much less than a year. pher Hailey's article "Creating a Pttblic, Addressing a Market: Kurt I am writing you today to once more emphasize the importance of Weill and Universal Edition n ( A New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill, edited by Kim H. Kowalke, New Haven: Yale University, 1986). But not this development. We have created without any doubt the most as well known is Heinsheimer's connection to Weill in the United States. successful school opera ever presented in this country, and what is There, while working for G. Scliinner, the New York music publisher, more we have created something new in the field of dramatic Heinsheimer persuaded Weill to write a school opera in the same genre entertainment in American educational institutions. as Der Jasager. Clearly Heinsheimerimderstood the potential offered Without getting swept off my feet by this really amazing success. by America's vast, but largely untapped, cultural market. l feel that Down i11 the Valley has really Hans Heinsbeimer, G. Schirmer, New only scratched the surface of its potential York to Kurt Weill, New Cit;y, 4 Sep­ success. lf there are more than fifty tember 1947 organizations who have done it this year, Dear Kurt: there is no reason why not several hun­ dred or several thousand should do it in Well, here I am, believe it or not, nicely the future. The success is ratl!,ring from and happily installed and, so far. I like it unive rsities, such as Indiana, Michigan, immensely. Tulane, down to little high schools, and During the past weeks I did a lot of there is virtually no limit to the number of travelling and gave a couple of lectures. small institutions that can do an operetta Everywhere people asked me about op­ like this. Alsothereisnoreason lo believe era for young people: what could be done that wherever the opera is presented this to bring opera down to the young people? will be the end of it. Jn a year or two In other words: just the problem you another crop ofyoungsters will be in these faced twent;y years ago when you wrote various schools and for them Dow11in the ]asager. Well, in my talks I told them ail Valley will be a novelty just as it has been aboutjasagerand my stagingitin Vienna, for the people who did it this season. and the tremendous effect it had. What I am driving at is that this is not And today I am writing to ask whether just a momentary success, but could be you would consider at all trying your hand developed into something really big and again in the field ofeduca tional music and important, even from a monetary point of write a school opera of some sort for us view, because while it could never be here. I don't want to go into details at this Hans W. Heinsheimer compared with a Broadway hit, it will point - you might not be interested or 1900 - 1993 yield a steady source of income to every­ might have no time or you might feel that body concerned. your commitments to [Chappell) are too With the forthcoming production by the Lemonade Opera and the definite to allow you such an escapade. performance in Zilrich we are even spilling over into the professional You have gone on record repeatedly in your belief that American theater, and it is obvious to me that another play that might be operahasafutureand have stated thatBroadway would be "operized" slightly more ambitious would have even better chances to be taken sooner or later. To write for the rapidly increasing number of young up by professional companies. TI1e problem however will be to make people all over the country for whom Broadway is a far and hazy idea it not too professional and to keep it somehow within the limits set and who could not easily undertake to perform any opera of the by educational institutions. technically as well as musically. Street technical level of Street Scene would, in my opinion, be another and Scene, after I heard it again the other day, seems too big in its vocal very important step in the same direction.