Kurt Weill 1900 – 1950
Kurt Weill was born to the son of a Jewish cantor in Dessau, Germany in the year 1900. His father, Albert Weill, wrote liturgical music and gave lessons in religion at the Synagogue in Dresden. Concerning religion, due to the fact that both of his parents were devout Jews, he had a strict upbringing. In regard to his musical education, he grew up with the Hebrew music tradition. At the early age of nine, he started learning piano from his father. Duke Friedrich II showed a lot of liking for the boy in 1910 and allowed him not only free entry to the performances in his theatre, but also let him go to the rehearsals. This surely had quite an influence upon Weill.
At the age of 12, Kurt Weill started to compose. He seized every opportunity possible to visit the Duke’s theatre as well. From 1918 to 1923, he studied in Berlin under Humperdinck, Busconi and one of Busconi’s students, Phillip Jarnach. The debut performance of his first opera, “the Protagonist” in Dresden in 1926 made Weill quite well known. Right after that, he was truly made famous on account of his next work, “The Threepenny Opera”.
In 1933, Weill was forced to flee to Paris when the Nazis took control of Germany. Then, two years later, he settled down in New York where he started composing for Broadway.
The time in which Kurt Weill lived, namely the 20th century, was not only a time of artistic change, but a time of general upheaval. Horses were the principle means of transportation. Farming was the most prevalent means of earning a living, even in the most developed countries. In 1914, there was war going on in Europe. The Nazis took power in 1933. On account of Arnold Schönberg and Stravinsky(composers I plan on writing about later), music took new shape and form known as atonal music. In addition to this, the radio and phonograph brought a new type of ground-breaking music to listeners; jazz.
Kurt Weill wrote the Threepenny Opera along with the author Bertolt Brecht, who was a great writer at the time, known for his criticism upon the society’s social system. The opera is actually a modernisation of the Beggar’s Opera by the composer John Gay. Weills wife, Lotta Lenya took the main role of Jenny in Weill’s version. It was interesting that he applied elements of jazz and cabaret to the opera as well. I would say that this is one reason why the opera has not only lived on throughout time, but is also known even by amateurs in the field of music. Alongside Bertholt Brecht’s ideas of epic theatre, this opera not only changed the style and the way people looked at opera, but it also made it an instant success.
To listen to music by this great composer click here
