Frankfurt’s Alte Oper hosts a powerhouse five-day festival centering on German music and film from the 1920s, with several screenings and concerts. Participating orchestras include Ensemble Modern, the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, and the HR-Bigband; several well-known films of the era will be screened, often with live orchestral accompaniment. Spectators can choose among Le chien andalou (Luis Buñuel), Der müde Tod (Fritz Lang), Berlin – Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Walter Ruttmann), animated films by Lotte Reiniger and Walt Disney, and many more.
Weill did not compose any film music during the 1920s aside from a scene in his one-act opera Royal Palace, but the festival acknowledges his central position among German composers in the Weimar Republic with performances of two infrequently encountered works: Symphony no. 1, composed in 1921 during his studies with Busoni; and the Suite panaméenne, derived from his 1934 stage work Marie Galante. Ensemble Modern presents the Suite under the direction of David Philip Hefti on 16 March, while the Symphony is performed on 18 March by the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Frank Strobel.
Features
Festival program (PDF)
Learn more about Symphony no. 1
Learn more about Suite panaméenne
