Perhaps no other work better incarnates the fall of a nation than Weill and Georg Kaiser’s Der Silbersee, composed during—and commenting on—a time of extreme economic despair and political volatility. The date of the triple premiere (18 February 1933) was set before it became clear that the Weimar Republic would be dead by then and Adolf Hitler in power.

Preparing performance materials was a rush job nonetheless. Although Weill had repeatedly asked to proofread both vocal score and full score, he was given no opportunity to do so. Thus the number of errors and discrepancies between vocal score and conductor’s score ran into triple digits. After all three productions had closed under duress—the last performance occurred on 2 March 1933, the composer’s thirty-third birthday—neither Weill nor Kaiser ever had a chance to revisit, correct, or revise their work, and the rental materials made available after World War II perpetuated the old mistakes.

The Kurt Weill Edition finally presents a corrected version and publishes Weill’s full score beautifully engraved for the first time. Elmar Juchem’s introductory essay offers a riveting account of the trying circumstances of Der Silbersee’s genesis and premiere as well as an inspiring reception history. Rental materials matching the critical edition have been created and successfully tested in several productions. The materials are now available for licensing through European American Music Distributors Company.