Kurt Weill
German-born American composer of stage works and Gebrauchsmusik.
Kurt Julian Weill was a composer born in Germany who later became an American citizen. He worked mainly for the stage, first in his home country and then in the United States. He is most famous for his partnership with Bertolt Brecht, which produced *The Threepenny Opera* and its well-known song "Mack the Knife." Weill believed music should have a social purpose, an idea he called *Gebrauchsmusik*. He also composed concert works and pieces with Jewish themes. After leaving Nazi Germany in 1933, he arrived in the United States two years later. Based in New York, he became a major figure in American musical theater with shows like *Lady in the Dark* and *Street Scene*.
Weill was born on March 2, 1900, in Dessau, Germany, the third of four children. His father, Albert Weill, was a cantor, and the family lived in the Jewish quarter. He began piano lessons at twelve and wrote his first surviving piece, "Mi Addir: Jewish Wedding Song," in 1913. In 1915, he studied privately with Albert Bing, a local theater conductor, learning piano, composition, theory, and conducting. That same year, he performed publicly for the first time. Over the next few years, he composed many songs set to poems by writers like Joseph von Eichendorff and a cycle called *Ofrahs Lieder* based on a text by Yehuda Halevi. He graduated high school in 1918 and enrolled at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik, studying composition with Engelbert Humperdinck, conducting with Rudolf Krasselt, and counterpoint with Friedrich E. Koch, while also attending philosophy lectures.
After World War I, his family faced money troubles, so he left school in July 1919 and returned to Dessau to work as a répétiteur at the Friedrich-Theater under Hans Knappertsbusch. During this time, he wrote an orchestral suite, a symphonic poem based on Rainer Maria Rilke, and a song cycle. With Humperdinck’s help, he became a Kapellmeister at a theater in Lüdenscheid for five months. He then composed a cello sonata and a lost one-act opera. In 1920, he spent time in Leipzig, where his father ran a Jewish orphanage, and wrote *Sulamith*, a choral piece. Back in Berlin, he met Ferruccio Busoni in December 1920 and was accepted as one of five master students at the Preussische Akademie der Künste. From 1921 to 1923, he studied composition with Busoni and counterpoint with Philipp Jarnach. His first symphony, *Sinfonie in einem Satz*, and several songs date from this period. Busoni’s neoclassical approach influenced Weill, pushing his music away from emotional expression toward ironic commentary, a style that later aligned with the Epic theater ideas of his future collaborator Brecht. To support his family, Weill played piano in a beer hall. In 1922, he joined the November Group and composed a psalm, a divertimento, and *Sinfonia Sacra*. That November, his children’s pantomime *Die Zaubernacht* premiered, his first public stage work. From 1923 to 1925, he taught private students, including Claudio Arrau and Maurice Abravanel, to make ends meet. His later student compositions included *Quodlibet*, *Frauentanz*, and *Recordare*.
- born
- March 2, 1900
- died
- April 3, 1950
- field
- Composer
- nationality
- German-born American
- known_for
- Collaborations with Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera, 'Mack the Knife'
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
Weill was born on March 2, 1900, the third of four children to Albert Weill and Emma Weill (née Ackermann). He grew up in a religious Jewish family in the "Sandvorstadt", the Jewish quarter in Dessau in Saxony, where his father was a cantor. At age twelve, Weill started taking piano lessons and made his first attempts at writing music; his earliest preserved composition was written in 1913 and is titled "Mi Addir: Jewish Wedding Song". In 1915, he started private lessons with Albert Bing, kapellmeister at the "Herzogliches Hoftheater zu Dessau", who taught him piano, composition, music theory, and conducting. Weill graduated with an Abitur from the Oberrealschule of Dessau in 1918, and enrolled at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik at age 18, where he studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck, conducting with Rudolf Krasselt, and counterpoint with Friedrich E. Koch. The same year, he wrote his first string quartet (in B minor). After financial hardship in 1919, he abandoned his studies and worked as a répétiteur at the Friedrich-Theater under Hans Knappertsbusch. In December 1919, through Humperdinck's help, he was appointed Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater in Lüdenscheid. Back in Berlin, he studied with Ferruccio Busoni from January 1921 to December 1923; Busoni's neoclassical influence moved Weill's music toward ironic commentary, aligning with Epic theater and the Verfremdungseffekt later used by Brecht. In the summer of 1924, Weill first met the singer and actress Lotte Lenya; they were married twice: in 1926 and again in 1937 (after their divorce in 1933). She later formed the Kurt Weill Foundation.
Reader's Guide
Kurt Weill's significance lies in his fusion of popular and classical elements to create socially engaged music for the stage. His best-known work is The Threepenny Opera (1928), a reworking of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, written in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. It contains Weill's most famous song, "Mack the Knife" ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"). For Weill, the work gave "the opportunity to make opera the subject matter for an evening in the theater", part of a lifelong process to "reform" opera for the modern stage. The stage success was filmed by G. W. Pabst in two language versions: Die 3-Groschen-Oper and L'opéra de quat' sous. Weill and Brecht tried to stop the film adaptation through a well publicized lawsuit—which Weill won and Brecht lost. Weill continued to work with Brecht on the musical Happy End (1929), best known for the songs "Surabaya Johnny", "Bilbao Song", and "Sailor's Tango"; the children's opera Der Jasager (1930); and the opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930), best known for "Alabama Song". Their working association ended over politics in 1930; after Brecht tried to push their work further left, Weill commented he was unable to "set the Communist Manifesto to music." Weill fled Nazi Germany in March 1933. A prominent and popular Jewish composer, he was officially denounced for his political views. Arriving in the United States two years later, he settled in New York and contributed to American musical theater with works such as Lady in the Dark and Street Scene.
Did You Know?
- Weill's earliest preserved composition, written in 1913 at age 13, is titled 'Mi Addir: Jewish Wedding Song'.
- He studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik.
- Weill and Lotte Lenya were married twice: in 1926 and again in 1937, after divorcing in 1933.
- The stage success of The Threepenny Opera was filmed by G. W. Pabst in two language versions: Die 3-Groschen-Oper and L'opéra de quat' sous.
- Weill commented that he was unable to 'set the Communist Manifesto to music' after Brecht pushed their work further left.
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