Presenters and performers continue to grapple with restrictions imposed by coronavirus, unlike any we have seen before. As the performing arts community searches for ways to restart, Kurt Weill’s ingenious, innovative scores offer a wide range of proven audience-pleasers. In both theaters and concert halls, producers may choose from a panoply of compositions–in original orchestrations or in authorized arrangements–that call for smaller ensembles and simplify the process of resuming live performances.
Stage Works
- Die Dreigroschenoper (Listen)
- Happy End (Listen)
- Johnny Johnson
- Mahagonny Songspiel (Listen)
- One Touch of Venus: reduced orchestration for 10 players
- Die sieben Todsünden: a) Version for 15 players (for a perusal recording, please write to eharsh@kwf.org); b) version for two pianos and percussion
- Zaubernacht (Listen)
Requests to perform Weill’s stage works with the authorized piano reductions alone are routinely approved because of the organization’s limited pit size, theater size, or budget.
Concert Works
- Das Berliner Requiem (Listen)
- Chansons des quais: Suite of songs from Marie galante (Listen)
- Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra: recommended by the New York Times! (Listen)
- Entr’acte from Lady in the Dark
- Entr’acte from Lost in the Stars (Listen)
- Frauentanz (Listen)
- Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (Listen)
- Kleine Zaubernachtmusik: 20-minute suite from Zaubernacht (see above)
- Vom Tod im Wald (Listen)
Also available
- Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock (Listen)
- LoveMusik by Alfred Uhry and Harold Prince, based on the correspondence of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya (Listen)
- Lenya Story
- “The Next Whisky Bar” (Weill revue)
These stage and concert works represent only a fraction of the possibilities from the catalogue, which also includes chamber music, arrangements of popular melodies from operas and musicals, songs for voice and piano, and revues. Please see the complete list of Weill’s works for additional ideas. We urge you to write to eharsh@kwf.org for help or further suggestions.
