Kurt Weill
The son of a cantor, Kurt Weill was born in Dessau into a family that took in operatic performances as a main form of entertainment. When Weill was in his teens the director of the Dessau Hoftheater, Albert Bing, encouraged him in the study of music. Weill briefly studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck and was already working professionally as a conductor when he attended composer Ferruccio Busoni's master classes in Berlin. Delighted to see the positive responses of an audience to his first collaboration with playwright Georg Kaiser, Der Protagonist (1926), he thereafter resolved to work toward accessibility in his music. In 1926 Weill married actress Lotte Lenya, whose reedy, quavering singing voice he called "the one I hear in my head when I am writing my songs."
In 1927 Weill began his collaboration with leftist playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht; their first joint venture, Mahagonny-Songspiel (1927), launched the number "Alabama Song," which, to their surprise, became a minor pop hit in Europe. The next show, Die Dreigroschenoper (The Three-Penny Opera, 1928), was a monstrous success, in particular the song "Moritat" ("Mack the Knife"). Nonetheless, strain in their association was already being felt, and after the completion of their magnificent "school opera" Der Jasager (1930), the two parted company. Brecht and Weill were brought together once more in Paris to create Die Sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins) in 1934. In the meantime, Weill collaborated with Caspar Neher on the opera Die Bürgschaft (1931) and Georg Kaiser again on Der Silbersee (1933), works that garnered the hostile attention of the then-emerging Nazi party.
With the rise to power of Hitler, Weill and Lenya were forced to dissolve their union and flee Continental Europe. Weill found his way to New York in 1935; rejoining Lenya, Weill became a citizen and devoted himself to American democracy with a vengeance, preferring his name pronounced like "wile" rather than "vile." After a series of frustrating flops, Weill hit his stride with playwright Maxwell Anderson, producing his first hit, Knickerbocker Holiday (1938). In the dozen years left to him, Weill's stature on Broadway grew with a series of hit shows, including Lady in the Dark (1941), One Touch of Venus (1943), Love Life (1948), and Lost in the Stars (1949). Weill had ambitions to create what he regarded as "the first American folk opera"; the closest of his American works to reach that goal is Street Scene (1946), a sort of "urban folk opera" based on a play by Elmer Rice with lyrics by Langston Hughes.
On April 3, 1950, Weill unexpectedly suffered a massive coronary and died in Lenya's arms. Weill's estate was valued at less than 1,000 dollars, and Lenya realized that his contribution to musical theater was likewise undervalued. She commissioned composer Marc Blitzstein to adapt an English-language version of Die Dreigroschenoper; it opened off-Broadway in 1954 and ran for three years, touching off a Weill revival that continues to this day.
© Uncle Dave Lewis /TiVo
Diskografie
19 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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The Threepenny Opera (Off-Broadway Revival Cast 1954)
Off-Broadway Revival Cast 1954
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Classic Soundtrack Collector am 08.12.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
De Kurt Weill à Paris (De Kurt Weill à Paris)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Saphir Productions am 26.08.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Threepenny Opera (Original Cast, Donmar Warehouse)
Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Robert David MacDonald
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Jay Records am 01.01.1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
One Touch of Venus (Original JAY Cast, First Complete Recording)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Jay Records am 07.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lady In the Dark (Original London Cast)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Jay Records am 01.08.1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bertolt Brecht: Die Dreigroschenoper
Oper - Erschienen bei The Digital Gramophone am 11.08.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Threepenny Opera (Original Off Broadway Cast Recording) (Original Off Broadway Cast)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Jay Records am 01.07.1954
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weill: Little Threepenny Music (Digitally Remastered)
Nürnberg Symphony Orchestra, Hanspeter Gmur
Klassik - Erschienen bei EMG Classical am 23.10.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tryout (a Series of Private Rehearsal Recordings) (Demo)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Radiophone Archives am 07.08.2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Street Scene (Original London Cast (Complete Recording))
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Jay Records am 01.01.1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weill: Symphony No. 2; Ginastera: Variaciones concertantes
Julius Rudel, Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Klassik - Erschienen bei Musical Heritage Society am 05.07.2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lost in the Stars
Julius Rudel, Orchestra of St. Luke's
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Musical Heritage Society am 18.11.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Die Dreigroschenoper, Historical Recordings Collection, 1928 - 1931
Klassik - Erschienen bei Classical Moments am 16.04.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Collegiate Chorale Presents: Knickerbocker Holiday
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Ghostlight Records am 02.10.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LoveMusik (Original Cast Recording)
Original Soundtrack - Erschienen bei Ghostlight Records am 02.10.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weill: Excerpts from Dreigroschenoper
Kurt Weill, Christian Lindberg, Prince of Denmark Air Force Band
Klassik - Erschienen bei EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE am 21.02.2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prince Of Denmark
Prince of Denmark Air Force Band, Christian Lindberg, Kurt Weill
Klassik - Erschienen bei EUROPEAN GRAMOPHONE am 17.10.2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weill: Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12, Little Threepenny Music
Julius Rudel, Orchestra of St. Luke's
Klassik - Erschienen bei Musical Heritage Society am 01.01.2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rise And Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny
Oper - Erschienen bei Unchained Melodie am 01.09.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo