Kurt Weill

Mahagonny-Songspiel

Kurt Weill’s Songspiel Mahagonny was commissioned by the music festival 'Deutsche Kammermusik' in Baden-Baden and premiered in 1927. The poetry collection 'Hauspostille' (domestic breviary) by Bertold Brecht served as a textual basis for the newly composed musical mini-drama that requires an ensemble of ten instruments and six singers. The audience’s reaction at the premiere was divided, yet everybody agreed on the quality and innovativeness of Weill’s music. Brecht and Weill extended the Mahagonny-Songspiel to one of the most groundbreaking operas of the 20th century which was first performed in 1930: 'Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny'. This newly edited piano-vocal score follows the text of the critical edition, as published in the Kurt Weill Edition (Series I, Volume 3). The English translation was done by Michael Feingold. Orchestra material is available on hire.