Kurt Weill – Inventor of Broadway Opera
15 min.


WDR 2000, Rückblende
Beta SP, 4:3, Mono, German version
Photography: Ulrich Prinz
Editor: Sabine Kalk
Producer: Monika Hey


Along with George Gershwin, Kurt Weill ranks among the most notable composers of musicals in the United States. In Germany, however, his American compositions are virtually ignored. The composer of the successful “Threepenny Opera” by Brecht and student of Busoni switched musical camps after his emigration.
In New York City, Weill wrote for a mainstream audience and did not even shy away from making use of popular music themes. What was often criticized as assimilation, even self-renunciation, was seen by Weill himself in a completely different way. Broadway enabled him to put his dream into practice - a dream of a new kind of musical theater in which spoken language, songs and instrumental music merged into a new form of art.
With “Street Scene” he created his first Broadway opera.







Further reading
Jürgen Schebera:
Weill
Schott Verlag 1990
ISBN 3-7957-0208-9