Kurt Weill: The Threepenny Opera

by Stephen Hinton

Overview

This is a book on the best known of the Weill-Brecht collaborations which explores the extent and significance of the composer's contribution. After a detailed reconstruction of the work's genesis and continued revision over three decades, Stephen Hinton examines the spin-offs on which Weill and Brecht participated: the instrumental suite, the film, the lawsuit, the novel, and the musical and textual revisions of songs. In a survey of the stage history, Hinton pays particular attention to pioneering productions in Germany and Great Britain. Kim Kowalke provides an exhaustive account of the history of The Threepenny Opera in America, Geoffrey Abbott addresses questions concerning authentic performance practice, and David Drew analyses large-scale motivic relationships in the music. Among the earliest writings on the work reprinted here, those by Theodor W. Adorno, Ernst Bloch and Walter Benjamin appear for the first time in English translation. The book contains numerous illustrations, a discography, and music examples.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521338882
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/26/1990
Series:	Cambridge Opera Handbooks
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	5.39(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

General preface; List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Synopsis: 1. Brecht's narration for a concert version of Die Dreigroschenoper; Part II. History: 2. 'Matters of intellectual property': the sources and genesis of Die Dreigroschenoper Stephen Hinton; 3. The premiere and after Stephen Hinton; 4. The Threepenny Opera in America Kim H. Kowalke; Part III. Analysis and Criticism: 5. The Threepenny Opera Bertolt Brecht; 6. Correspondence concerning The Threepenny Opera Kurt Weill; 7. 'The Threepenny Opera': a Berlin Burlesque by the Berlin Correspondent of The Times; 8. The Threepenny Opera Theodor Wiesengrund-Adorno; 9. The Threepenny Opera Ernst Bloch; 10. Three-groats Opera Eric Blom; 11. L'Opera de Quat'Sous Walter Benjamin; 12. The Threepenny Opera Hans Keller; 13. Motifs, tags and related matter David Drew; 14. The Dreigroschen-Sound 15. Misunderstanding The Threepenny Opera Stephen Hinton; Notes; Bibliography; Discography Stephen Hinton; Index.