Volume 14 Number 2 topical Weill Fall 1996 A supplement to the Kurt Weill Newsletter news &news events news &news events Behind the Scenes of Psychology and Passion: Thomas Hampson Talks About Singing Weill “One of the most campy, wonderful, humorous scores I’ve sometimes hard to digest, sometimes unrelenting. Weill’s ever heard,” is how Thomas Hampson describes The music had a rough ride in America, but it takes a tremen- Firebrand of Florence, a work he highlights in his new EMI dous look behind the scenes of psychology and passion.” recording “Kurt Weill on Broadway” (now available in Comparing Weill’s operatic output to Berg’s Wozzeck, Europe and scheduled for U.S. release in Spring 1997). Hampson praises both composers as powerful creative Recorded in London in June of 1994, the new CD fea- forces because they “cut to the quick. Weill’s songs are like tures some of Weill’s lesser-known wide and deep brush paintings of people’s American songs in their original keys lives. His vocal lines are a dream to sing— and orchestrations, including the entire expansive leaps with portamento. There is opening scene of The Firebrand of so much emotion in that kind of move- Florence. During the recording sessions, ment, which is lost when a singer just chas- Hampson recalled having to do a few es pitches and rhythms.” retakes because “Gershwin’s clever Is it appropriate for an opera singer to Firebrand lyrics left us all in stitches.” perform Broadway show tunes? Hampson “This project started with Love Life. stresses that before the introduction of John McGlinn and I had wanted to make microphones, opera singers were often the a complete recording of the work. I stars of Broadway too. “There is some- don’t recall whether it was Simon thing tremendously human and invigorat- Woods, EMI producer and a big Weill ing in acoustic settings, where you really fan, or John, or I, who said, ‘Let’s have a have to articulate when you sing.” Clear look at Weill’s American years!’” articulation of the lyrics is essential to Although the Love Life project never Weill interpretation. In Hampson’s words, reached fruition, Hampson believes strong- photo: CAMI Weill’s music has “all the voice but still the ly in the show and hopes for another full-scale revival soon. immediacy of language.” “Weill’s output is a very specific chapter of music histo- Hampson has also recorded “Dirge for Two Veterans,” ry in Central Europe and America; the sound of his music is one of Weill’s four Walt Whitman Songs, for release by Angel so immediately recognizable, and his orchestrations are in early 1997, along with other composers’ settings of breathtaking. You find everything in them, from Mahler to Whitman’s poetry. Recently, he has been performing the Schreker, but the sum total is always Weill, whose music is song in solo recitals. New York City Opera stages Seven Deadly Sins The New York City Opera, under newly appointed gener- orchestra with soprano Lauren Flanigan making her debut al and artistic director Paul Kellogg, will present Seven as Anna I. The male quartet consists of Joel Sorensen, Deadly Sins in the English translation by W.H. Auden and James Bobick, Matthew Chellis, and Don Yule. Although Chester Kallman during its Spring 1997 season. The pro- it has been performed many times in New York, Seven duction is scheduled to open 15 March for seven perfor- Deadly Sins last appeared as a repertory piece in 1958-59 mances. The work is paired for the first time with Carl at the New York City Ballet. Lotte Lenya returned to the Orff ’s Carmina Burana in a new production directed by role of Anna I, reprising her original role of 1933 along Ann Bogart. John Conklin will design the sets for both with George Balanchine, who re-choreographed the work works. Conductor Derrick Inouye leads the City Opera especially for that production. 22aa VolumeVolume 14, 14,Number Number 1 2 Topical Topical Weill Weill Mahagonny opens 1998 Salzburg Festival Cincinnati Showcases New Weill Revue Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny will open the Jonathan Eaton has conceived a ship to carry them on their 1998 Salzburg Festival with director Peter Zadek, con- and directed Songplay, a new way. Their characters, goals, and ductor Dennis Russell Davies, and an illustrious cast Kurt Weill revue which opened dreams are expressed through including Catherine Malfitano, Gwyneth Jones, and at the Cincinnati Playhouse on some three dozen songs per- Jerry Hadley. This will be the first ever production of 26 September. The concept is formed by Michael Brian, Herb based on the stories of six wan- Downer, Kim Lindsay, Karen a Weill opera at the Salzburg Festival. Two of Weill’s derers—all alienated from their Murphy, Pedro Perro, and Craig works have been programmed in concerts at the homelands and searching for Priebe. Other production staff Festival since its founding: in 1973, Symphony No. 1 their own personal utopias— include musical director David was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra who find themselves waiting for Seaman, choreographer Daniel under conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch; and Die sieben Pelzig, and set Todsünden, featuring Doris Bierett as Anna I, was per- designer Paul formed by the ORF Symphony Orchestra in 1980. Shortt. The production Salzburg’s Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny of Songplay will will commemorate Brecht’s and Lenya’s centenary. move to The Lotte Lenya, born a stone’s throw from Vienna’s Repertory Schönbrunn Palace, played Jenny in the Austrian pre- Theatre of St. miere of this work at Vienna’s Raimund Theater on 26 Louis in Nov- April 1932. ember for a three-week run. photo: Sandy Underwood WWWWEILL Lady in the Dark at The Foundation staff is always on the lookout for World Wide Web sites which comple- the Royal National ment its own site at http://www.kwf.org. The number of Weill-related sites has been Theatre slowly but steadily growing for the past year. In this issue, we’ll recommend some sites devoted specifically to Weill’s collaborators. London audiences will see the The George and Ira Gershwin Archive first Royal National Theatre http://www.sju.edu/~bs065903/gershwin/homepage.htm production of Lady in the Dark A thorough, exemplary Web treatment of the Gershwins by Brian Sweeney. Although the bulk at the Lyttelton Theatre from of the site concerns George, or the collaborations of George and Ira, there is a separate page for Lady in the Dark March 1997 onward. This news &news events “The Ira Years, 1934-1983,” as well as a page devoted to . Broadway extravaganza, which Paul Eliot Green Papers opened in January 1941, is a col- http://www.unc.edu/lib/mssinv/dir/g/Green%2CPaul_Eliot A basic, text-only page sponsored by the University of North Carolina as a guide to their Paul laboration of Weill, Moss Hart Green Collection, including a biography, list of Green’s works, and a fairly comprehensive find- and Ira Gershwin that starred ing aid. A good example of scholarly use of the Web. the legendary Gertrude Lawrence as Liza Elliott. In this Quelques poèmes de Robert Desnos http://www.worldnet.net/~mannoni/desnos.html new production, directed by The collaboration between Weill and Robert Desnos, La grande complainte de Fantômas, is now Francesca Zambello and con- largely forgotten, but it was quite a production on French radio in November 1933. This well- ducted by Mark Dorrell, Maria designed site includes the complete text of many of Desnos’s poems, including “Fantômas,” along with a wealth of other information about him. Most of the site is in French, but some of Friedman (who recently starred the poems are rendered in English as well. in Sondheim’s Passion at the West End and appeared as one Bertolt Brecht sites So far, no one has mounted a large-scale Brecht site, but there are several sites of interest. For of the narrators in the BBC basic information on the Bertolt-Brecht-Haus and the Berliner Ensemble, go to Proms concert of Der Silbersee) http://www.berlin.de/text/index, and follow alphabetical index links from there. The Brecht will play the leading role. The journal Dreigroschenheft has a site that includes basic information about circulation, advertising, designers of Lady in the Dark and availability in German and English (http://www.geist.spacenet.de/dreigroschen/VERLAG- D.html). A lecture by James Lyons about German exiles in the U.S., including some good Brecht will be Adrianne Lobel (sets) anecdotes, can be found at http://advance.byu.edu/pc/devotionals/JamesLyon. On the lighter and Nicky Gillibrand (cos- side, try “Bertolt Brecht does Shakespeare” (http://www2.us.com/starport/xeno/brecht.html) tumes). This production will for an amusing treatment of “Mack the Knife.” remain in the National If you find any good Weill-related sites, please let us know at [email protected]. Theatre’s repertoire until late July 1997, with a total of about sixty performances. Topical Weill Volume 14, Number 2 3a Upcoming Events news &news events IN REPERTORY 1996-97 Calendar AUFSTIEG UND FALL DER Lotte Lenya Centenary Update November STADT MAHAGONNY 1 Concerto for violin and wind instruments. Edinburgh, “Broadway Cares” plans a benefit event to GERMANY commemorate Lenya at New York’s Scotland. Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Düsseldorf-Duisburg Majestic Theatre on her 100th birthday 1-17 Songplay: The Songs and Music of Kurt Weill. St. (Deutsche Oper am (18 October 1998). This extravaganza will Louis, Missouri. The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.