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Kurt Weill ( March 2, 1900 - April 3, 1950) was a German composer. He was born in Dessau, Germany and died in New York.
After growing up in a religious Jewish family in Germany, Weill fled Nazi Germany in March 1933. He was seen as a particular threat by the Nazi authorities as a prominent Jewish composer. His later works in German caused near riots in the theatres orchestrated by Nazi party members. He had no option but to leave, so he went on to moved to Paris and in 1935 further on to the United States. The US had been his dream, his fantasyland of democracy, the free world. When the liner steamed into New York harbour, Weill left behind his life in Germany. He believed most of his work to be destroyed, and he never spoke German again, with the exception of letters to his parents who had escaped to Israel.
He married actress Lotte Lenya twice: in 1926 and, after their divorce in 1933, again in 1937Events January January 1 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua January 11 The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States. January 19 Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours,. Lenya took great care to support Weill's work, and after his death she took it upon herself to raise awareness of his music. She formed the Kurt Weill Foundation.
His most well-known work is the Threepenny Opera written in collaboration with Bertolt BrechtBertolt Brecht ( February 10, 1898 August 14, 1956) was an influential German dramatist, stage director, and poet of the 20th century. His life and career Brecht was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, studied medicine and worked briefly as an orderly in a hospita. This reworking of John GayJohn Gay ( 30 June, 1685 4 December, 1732) was an English poet and dramatist. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera ( 1728), set to music by Johann Christoph Pepusch. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum, became household na's The Beggars Opera. contains perhaps the most famous song associated with Weill, "Mack the Knife."
While much of Weill's American work is considered to be of a lower profile than his German efforts, his works for Broadway include a number of highly respected and admired shows. Among these are Lady in the DarkLady in the Dark was a Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill (music), Ira Gershwin (lyrics), and Moss Hart (book and direction). It opened at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon) on January 23, 1941 and closed on May 30, 1942. The original production s and Love LifeLove Life was a Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics). It opened at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers) on October 7, 1948 and closed on May 14, 1949 after having played 252 performances. The or, seen as seminal works in the development of the American musical. Weill himself strived to find a new way of creating an American opera, that would be both commercially and artistically successful. Weill's work with Brecht although successful came to an end with the two separating over differing politics. Weill made the comment that he was unable to "set the communist part manifesto to music."
List of works.
