Kurt Weill

Kurt Weill was the son of a synagogue cantor in Dessau, Germany, and his early musical training included composition lessons with Engelbert Humperdinck. But the revolutionary political climate in the aftermath of the First World War, and a period of study with Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin (1921-3), prompted Weill to rethink the style and social role of his music. He embraced Berlin's left-leaning theatrical world, where he met his wife, the singer Lotte Lenya, and his most famous collaborator, the playwright Bertolt Brecht. Although Weill composed two symphonies (1921 and 1934) and a Violin Concerto (1925), he enjoyed his greatest success in 1928 when he collaborated with Brecht on Die Dreigroschenoper – the most influential of a series of stage works (Mahagonny – 1930, Die sieben Todsünden – 1933) that combined punchy, tuneful music with savage political satire. After the Nazis seized power, Weill emigrated to the USA and transferred his skills to film scores and Broadway, scoring hits with musicals such as Lady in the Dark (1941) and the "American opera" Street Scene (1947) before his sudden death at the age of 50. His early stage works are now considered classics of Weimar Berlin, while individual songs such as Mack the Knife, Speak Low and September Song have become standards of the Great American Songbook.