"of the melodies which Johann Pepusch wrote for the original "" Beggar's Opera"". The title ""Die Dreigroschenoper"" was determined only a week before the opening; it had been previously announced as simply ""The Beggar's Opera"" (in English), with the subtitle ""Die Luden-Oper"" (""The Pimp's Opera""). Writing in 1929, Weill made the political and artistic intents of the work clear:With the ""Dreigroschenoper"" we reach a public which either did not know us at all or thought us incapable of captivating listeners [...] Opera was founded as an aristocratic form of art [...] If the framework of opera is unable to withstand"
"première of ""The Threepenny Opera"" in Berlin in 1928; the musical theatre work by Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht inspired Blatas for the next 70 years. His canon of work depicting scenes and characters from ""The Threepenny Opera"" includes 18 portraits, 10 sculptures, several large canvases and sets of color and black-and-white lithographs. The preface by Lotte Lenya, Weill's widow, (published in 'The Art of an Opera' (NYC) June 1962) to the first edition of Threepenny lithographs, pays tribute to Blatas' understanding of the work: In 1984, ""The Threepenny Opera"" exhibition was displayed at Venice's Teatro Goldoni. This collection then"
"Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German Jewish composer, active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his best-known work ""The Threepenny Opera"", which included the ballad ""Mack the Knife"". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose. He also wrote several works for the concert hall. He became a United States citizen on"
"the lyrics. American political parodists the Capitol Steps used the tune for their song ""Pack the Knife"" on their 2002 album ""When Bush Comes to Shove"". Mack the Knife ""Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"" (later known as ""Mack the Knife"" or ""The Ballad of Mack the Knife"") is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama , or, as it is known in English, ""The Threepenny Opera"". It premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. The song has become a popular standard recorded by many artists, including a US and"
"composer Kurt Weill, during an audition for his first stage score ""Zaubernacht"" but because of his position behind the piano, she did not see him. She was cast but owing to her loyalty to her voice coach she declined the role. She accepted the part of Jenny in the first performance of ""The Threepenny Opera"" (""Die Dreigroschenoper"") in 1928, and the part became her breakthrough role. During the last years of the Weimar Republic, she was busy in film and theatre, and especially in Brecht-Weill plays. She made several recordings of Weill's songs. With the rise of National Socialism in"
"a friend in Europe, and Lenya is sent to meet him. They are immediately attracted to each other and their subsequent romance and marriage follow the course of events in pre-World War II Germany. Weill collaborates with Bertolt Brecht, and the two write ""The Threepenny Opera"", among other important works. But Brecht's ego and politics cause a rift, and the two part. Weill and Lenya divorce and later remarry. As the Jewish Weill becomes a popular and successful composer, Weill and Lenya are forced to leave Germany. Now in the United States, Weill has successful musicals produced on Broadway, such"
"parts, though modern performances typically use a few more players). ""The Threepenny Opera"" was first performed at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in 1928 on a set designed by Caspar Neher. Despite an initially poor reception, it became a great success, playing 400 times in the next two years. The performance was a springboard for one of the best known interpreters of Brecht and Weill's work, Lotte Lenya, who was married to Weill. Ironically the production became a great favourite of Berlin's ""smart set"" – Count Harry Kessler recorded in his diary meeting at the performance an ambassador and a director"
"Her?"" and on the 1995 compilation album ""Alternative""), William S. Burroughs (in the 1994 documentary ""September Songs – The Music of Kurt Weill""), and others. The opening chapter in """" is named ""What Keeps Mankind Alive?"". What Keeps Mankind Alive? ""What Keeps Mankind Alive?"" is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama ""The Threepenny Opera"" ("""") which premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. The title refers to the central line from the finale of act 2, """". In the opera, the two stanzas of the strophic piece are"
"Mack the Knife ""Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"" (later known as ""Mack the Knife"" or ""The Ballad of Mack the Knife"") is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama , or, as it is known in English, ""The Threepenny Opera"". It premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. The song has become a popular standard recorded by many artists, including a US and UK number one hit for Bobby Darin in 1959. A ""Moritat"" is a medieval version of the murder ballad performed by strolling minstrels. In ""The Threepenny"
"mother's Hochstetter family to lead distinguished careers in the fields of music and literature. Her second cousin (also a Hochstetter descendant) was Kurt Weill (born 2 Mar 1900 in Dessau and died 3 April 1950 in Haverstraw, New York), the famous music composer of ""The Threepenny Opera"" and ""Mack the Knife"" who married Lotte Lenya (born 18 October 1898 in Vienna and died 27 November 1981 in Haverstraw, New York), the famous Austrian singer. Professor (born 12 May 1873 in Mannheim and died in 1942 in Theresienstadt concentration camp), Professor of Literature at the University of Brussels, writer and poet"
"the form declined in popularity towards the end of the 18th century its influence can be seen in light operas like that of Gilbert and Sullivan's early works like ""The Sorcerer"" as well as in the modern musical. In the 20th century, one of the most influential plays, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's (1928) ""The Threepenny Opera"" was a reworking of ""The Beggar's Opera"", setting a similar story with the same characters, and containing much of the same satirical bite, but only using one tune from the original. The term ballad opera has also been used to describe musicals using"
"The Threepenny Opera (1931 film) The Threepenny Opera () is a 1931 German musical film directed by G. W. Pabst. It was produced by Seymour Nebenzal's Nero-Film for Tonbild-Syndikat AG (Tobis), Berlin and Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH, Berlin. The film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success ""The Threepenny Opera"" by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. As was usual in the early sound film era, Pabst also directed a French language version of the film, ""L'Opéra de quat'sous"", with some variation of plot details (the French title literally translates as ""the four penny opera""). A planned English version"
"Threepenny Novel ThreePenny Novel is a 1934 novel by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht, first published in Amsterdam by in 1934 as """". It is similar in structure to his more famous ""The Threepenny Opera"" and features several of the same characters such as Macheath, together with a general anti-capitalist focus and a didactic technique that is often associated with the dramatist. It is a novel that has been the focus of much critical attention and that is often described as both a continuation and a variation of the themes and motifs of Brecht's other work that focuses"
"typhus on 26 June 1942, aged 41. Neher (prisoner number 59783) died there on 26 June 1942. Her body was buried in an unmarked mass grave. Her son, Georg, became a music teacher and only found out about his parents' identity in 1975. The Threepenny Opera (German: Die 3 Groschen-Oper) is a 1931 German musical film directed by G. W. Pabst. It was produced by Seymour Nebenzal's Nero-Film for Tonbild-Syndikat AG (Tobis), Berlin and Warner Bros. Pictures GmbH, Berlin. The film is loosely based on the 1928 musical theatre success ""The Threepenny Opera"" by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. As"
"and of a Marxist understanding of aesthetics. Threepenny Novel ThreePenny Novel is a 1934 novel by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht, first published in Amsterdam by in 1934 as """". It is similar in structure to his more famous ""The Threepenny Opera"" and features several of the same characters such as Macheath, together with a general anti-capitalist focus and a didactic technique that is often associated with the dramatist. It is a novel that has been the focus of much critical attention and that is often described as both a continuation and a variation of the themes and"
"first German language recording of ""The Threepenny Opera"" (') made in over forty years (Decca 430 075-2 LH) released in 1989. In 2000, he led a series of performances of Kurt Weill's 1933 bible play, ""The Eternal Road"" ("""") in which he and musicologist Ed Harsh restored the complete score which had never been heard with its complete fourth act and never in Europe. These performances were co-productions of the New Israeli Opera, the Chemnitz Opera in Germany and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The work was performed in its original German text by fellow refugee Franz Werfel and televised"
"""Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen"" (""Murder, Hope of Women"") before turning to Bach, as Busoni had done. Hindemith saw Bach-inspired ""neo-classicism"" as a way of curbing the excesses of late Romanticism. ""Cardillac"" (1925) was his first work in this vein. Hindemith was also interested in putting contemporary life on the stage in his operas (a concept called ""Zeitoper""), as was Ernst Krenek whose ""Jonny spielt auf"" (1927) has a jazz violinist as its hero. Kurt Weill reflected life in Weimar Germany in a more overtly political way. His most famous collaboration with Bertolt Brecht, ""The Threepenny Opera"" (1928), was both a"
"1930s Norway. Throughout her compositional career, Hall would find it challenging to introduce new stylistic impulses on the Norwegian music scene. In addition to her orchestral output, Hall also composed a number of choral works and music for stage productions. Theatre remained close to her heart, and Hall translated a number of major works into Norwegian including Igor Stravinsky’s ""Soldier’s Tale"" and Arthur Honegger’s ""Le Roi David"". In 1930, she translated, staged and directed ""The Threepenny Opera"" (""Die Dreigroschenoper"") by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Hall also served as instructor and conductor for its Oslo premiere. She wrote music for"
"What Keeps Mankind Alive? ""What Keeps Mankind Alive?"" is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama ""The Threepenny Opera"" ("""") which premiered in Berlin in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. The title refers to the central line from the finale of act 2, """". In the opera, the two stanzas of the strophic piece are sung by Macheath and Mrs Peachum and the final line is sung in fortissimo by the chorus. It is an agitprop socialist anthem expressing that the comfortable lifestyle enjoyed by the rich is paid for by"
"several acclaimed productions of Brecht's work in Ireland and England, and had also recorded the popular record ""Bernelle on Brecht and..."", produced by Philip Chevron of ""The Radiators"" and released in limited numbers by The Midnite Music Company in 1977. The New York production also made extensive use of ballad-like songs woven into the production, as was common in many if not most of the productions of Brecht's plays in the 1920s, in particular Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) which Brecht wrote with Kurt Weill during the period of the writing of ""Fatzer"", 1926-1928. The songs in ""Fatzer"" made comment"
"Xiu covered the song in their Nina Simone tribute album ""Nina"". Shilpa Ray covered the song with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis on """" (2013). Pirate Jenny ""Pirate Jenny"" (German: """") is a well-known song from ""The Threepenny Opera"" by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht. The English lyrics are by Marc Blitzstein. It is probably the second most famous song in the opera, after ""Mack the Knife"". The song depicts Low-Dive Jenny (German: Spelunken-Jenny), a character based on Jenny Diver (1700–1741). Low-Dive Jenny is a lowly maid at a ""crummy old hotel"", imagining avenging herself for the contempt"
"was one of four members of the same Hochstetter family to lead distinguished careers in the fields of music and literature. His first cousin once removed (also a Hochstetter descendant) was Kurt Weill (born 2 Mar 1900 in Dessau and died 3 April 1950 in Haverstraw, New York), the famous music composer of ""The Threepenny Opera"" and ""Mack the Knife"" who married Lotte Lenya (born 18 October 1898 in Vienna and died 27 November 1981 in Haverstraw, New York), the famous Austrian singer and actress. Caesar's younger brother was Professor (born 12 May 1873 in Mannheim and died in 1942"
"home by her man at the front: furs from Oslo, a silk dress from Paris etc., until finally, from Russia, she receives her widow's veil. Apart from ""Mack the Knife"" and ""Pirate Jenny"" from ""The Threepenny Opera"", his most famous songs include ""Alabama Song"" (from ""Mahagonny""), ""Surabaya Johnny"" (from ""Happy End""), ""Speak Low"" (from ""One Touch of Venus""), ""Lost in the Stars"" (from the musical of that name), ""My Ship"" (from ""Lady in the Dark""), and ""September Song"" (from ""Knickerbocker Holiday""). Weill suffered a heart attack shortly after his 50th birthday and died on April 3, 1950, in New York"
"were sympathetic towards Marxist themes, or were overt experiments in propaganda, such as the agitprop theatre by Brecht and Weill. Agitprop theatre is named through a combination of the words ""agitation"" and ""propaganda"". Its aim was to add elements of public protest (agitation) and persuasive politics (propaganda) to the theatre, in the hope of creating a more activist audience. Among other works, Brecht and Kurt Weill collaborated on the musical or opera ""The Threepenny Opera"" (1928), also filmed, which remains a popular evocation of the period. Toller was the leading German expressionist playwright of the era. He later became one"
"im Erziehungshaus"", Directed by Georg Asagaroff sound films: 1930 ""The Last Company"", Directed by Curtis Bernhardt (as Kurt Bernhardt) 1931 ""The Threepenny Opera"", Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst; Treatment by Bertolt Brecht based upon the musical by Bertolt Brecht with the music by Kurt Weill. Screenplay by Leo Lania, Ladislaus Vajda and Béla Balázs 1931 ""The Theft of the Mona Lisa"", in collaboration with Robert A. Dietrich; Directed by Geza von Bolvary 1931 ""His Highness Love"", in collaboration with Erich Kettelhut; Directed by Robert Péguy and Erich Schmidt 1931 """", in collaboration with Robert A. Dietrich; directed by Geza von"
"Pirate Jenny ""Pirate Jenny"" (German: """") is a well-known song from ""The Threepenny Opera"" by Kurt Weill, with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht. The English lyrics are by Marc Blitzstein. It is probably the second most famous song in the opera, after ""Mack the Knife"". The song depicts Low-Dive Jenny (German: Spelunken-Jenny), a character based on Jenny Diver (1700–1741). Low-Dive Jenny is a lowly maid at a ""crummy old hotel"", imagining avenging herself for the contempt she endures from the townspeople. A pirate ship – with eight sails, and with 50 cannons – enters the harbor, fires on the city and"
"on Villon's trial called ""Hodina mezi psem a vlkem""—translated to ""Dog and Wolf"" but literally translates as ""The Hour Between Dog and Wolf."" The Juilliard School in New York City mounted a production of the play directed by Michael Mayer with music by Michael Philip Ward in 1994. Bertolt Brecht's ""Baal"" was written from 1918 to 1919. He based the main character Baal after François Villon. Some of the lyrics Brecht wrote for ""Threepenny Opera"" are translations or paraphrases of poems by Villon. John Erskine wrote ""The Brief Hour of Francois Villon"" in 1937, a work of historical fiction. Henry"
"sobriety and political undertones, ""Die Bürgschaft"" is a musical turning point for Weill. Weill characterized it as ""a return to real music-making."" Multiple scholars have noted its departure from the ""number opera"" formula of works such as ""The Threepenny Opera"" and ""Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"" in exchange for a more continuous sound, as well as a minimizing of satire and irony. Certain of these scholars have also noted influences ranging from Handel and Verdi in its oratorio-like features to a detached and unemotional character indebted to Stravinsky's ""Oedipus Rex"". ""Die Bürgschaft"" concerns the rise to power"
"Mahagonny-Songspiel Mahagonny-Songspiel, also known as The Little Mahagonny, is a ""small-scale 'scenic cantata'"" written by the composer Kurt Weill and the dramatist Bertolt Brecht in 1927. Weill was commissioned in the spring to write one of a series of very short operas for performance that summer, and he chose to use the opportunity to create a ""stylistic exercise"" as preparation for a larger-scale project that they had begun to develop together (the two had met for the first time in March), their experimental 'epic opera' ""The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"" (1930). ""The Little Mahagonny"" was based"
"appreciated condescension"" . Adorno cites as the most consequent surrealist compositions those works by Kurt Weill, such as ""The Threepenny Opera"" and ""Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"", along with works by others drawn from the middle-period music of Igor Stravinsky—most particularly that of ""L'Histoire du soldat""—and defines this surrealism as a hybrid form between the ""modern"" music of Arnold Schoenberg and his school, and the ""objectivist"" neoclassicism/folklorism of the later Stravinsky. This surrealism, like objectivism, recognizes alienation but is more socially alert. It thereby denies itself the positivist notions of objectivism, which are recognised as illusion. Its"
"and was a great success, although there were no immediate plans for a revival. Stephen Sondheim was asked to translate this piece once with W. H. Auden, but declined. He said of this event, ""But, I'm not a Brecht/Weill fan and that's really all there is to it. I'm an apostate: I like Weill's music when he came to America better than I do his stuff before...I love The Threepenny Opera but, outside of The Threepenny Opera, the music of his I like is the stuff he wrote in America—when he was not writing with Brecht, when he was writing"
"but conceived in terms of 20th-century musical theatre, has led to discussion as how it can best be characterised. According to critic and musicologist Hans Keller, the work is ""the weightiest possible lowbrow opera for highbrows and the most full-blooded highbrow musical for lowbrows"". The Weill authority Stephen Hinton notes that ""generic ambiguity is a key to the work’s enduring success"", and points out the work's deliberate hybrid status: For Weill [""The Threepenny Opera""] was not just ‘the most consistent reaction to [Richard] Wagner’; it also marked a positive step towards an operatic reform. By explicitly and implicitly shunning the"
"of working-class hunger and deprivation: The success of ""The Threepenny Opera"" was followed by the quickly thrown together ""Happy End"". It was a personal and a commercial failure. At the time the book was purported to be by the mysterious Dorothy Lane (now known to be Elisabeth Hauptmann, Brecht's secretary and close collaborator). Brecht only claimed authorship of the song texts. Brecht would later use elements of ""Happy End"" as the germ for his ""Saint Joan of the Stockyards"", a play that would never see the stage in Brecht's lifetime. ""Happy End""'s score by Weill produced many Brecht/Weill hits like"