TRACCE
- Nanna’s Lied (Bertolt Brecht)
- Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib? (Bertolt Brecht)
- Das Lied von den braunen Inseln (Lion Feuchtwanger)
- Es regnet (Kurt Weill based on a suggestion by Jean Cocteau)
- Le grand Lustucru (da Marie Galante) (Jacques Duval)
- Je ne t’aime pas (Maurice Magre)
- Complainte de la Seine (Maurice Magre)
- Youkali Tango Habanera (Roger Fernay)
- My Ship (da Lady in the Dark) (Ira Gershwin)
- Speak low (da One Touch of Venus) (Ogden Nash)
- Sing Me Not a Ballad (da Firebrand of Florence) (Ira Gershwin)
- September Song (da Knickerbocker Holiday) (Maxwell Anderson)
- The Saga of Jenny (da Lady in the Dark) (Ira Gershwin)
- I’m a Stranger Here Myself (da One Touch of Venus) (Ogden Nash)
Anita Azzi piano
10.1.2019 – News – ICAMUS the international center for american music
27.12.2018 – News – ICAMUS the international center for american music2
#ICAMUS #Kurtweillfestival
Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill nasce a Dessau il 2 marzo del 1900, terzogenito di Albert, chazan (cantore) della sinagoga e di Emma, figlia di un rabbino.
I genitori incoraggiano il precoce talento musicale di Kurt, che, dopo i primi insegnamenti paterni, prosegue gli studi presso il Herzogliches Hoftheater della propria città. Nel 1918 s’iscrive alla Hochschule für Musik di Berlino, dove segue i corsi di composizione e direzione d’orchestra tenuti rispettivamente da Engelbert Humperdinck e Rudolf Krasselt, e si perfeziona con Ferruccio Busoni e Hermann Scherchen. A soli ventidue anni arriva il primo successo con il balletto per bambini Die Zaubernacht e presto la notorietà di Kurt Weill travalica i confini della Germania. Raggiunge l’apice della notorietà con le opere teatrali su testi di Bertolt Brecht come Die Dreigroschenoper (prima rappresentazione a Berlino nel 1928) o Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1930).
Con l’avvento del nazismo i lavori di Weill vengono sempre di più ostacolati e nel 1933 il compositore si trova costretto a lasciare la Germania. Inizia così il suo esilio, prima in Francia e poi in Inghilterra e, nonostante l’appoggio di grandi musicisti come Darius Milhaud o Arthur Honegger, Weill deve affrontare anni molto difficili.
Finalmente nel 1935 si rifugia negli Stati Uniti dove, nel 1937, richiede la cittadinanza che gli viene concessa nel 1943. Compone quasi esclusivamente per il Broadway Theatre, per la Radio americana e per Hollywood affermandosi con importanti musical come Johnny Johnson, Lady in the Dark, One Touch of Venus, The Fireband of Florence, Street Scene e Lost in the Stars. Muore a New York il 3 aprile del 1950.
Sono un estraneo qui…
Kurt Weill, come tanti altri, si sentiva ebreo, certo, ma innanzi tutto cittadino tedesco. “Discendo da una famiglia ebrea che può rintracciare il suo passato tedesco fin dall’anno 1340”, dirà con un certo orgoglio in un’intervista del 1942.
Tanto più doloroso dev’essere stato per lui, compositore noto e stimato, vero protagonista della vita culturale tedesca, diventare nel giro di pochi anni un “estraneo”, uno “straniero” perseguitato nel proprio paese.
E rimarrà un po’ straniero per il resto della sua vita, anche se vuole essere americano, anche se l’America lo accoglie e lui dice di sentirsi finalmente “a casa”.
Sente il bisogno di lasciarsi definitivamente alle spalle l’Europa e si distacca anche dalla musica d’arte del periodo europeo.
Le composizioni scelte per questo CD intendono seguire Weill nel suo esilio. Infatti, anche i brani in lingua tedesca (a parte Das Lied von den braunen Inseln del 1928) non appartengono
più al periodo tedesco. L’affascinante Es regnet (1933) è scritto a Parigi su un testo proprio, nato dall’incontro con Jean Cocteau, (che forse possiamo immaginare come una lunga notte di confidenze in una boite parigina). Su consiglio del compositore Alessandro Magini, che ringrazio, ho scelto di trasportare quasi tutta la linea del canto di questo Lied all’ottava bassa per fare emergere maggiormente il carattere malinconico e tormentato.
Nanna’s Lied (1939) e Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib? (1943), quindi scritti in America, sono tutti e due su testi di Bertolt Brecht e sono forse gli unici brani che in qualche modo si allacciano, (momenti di nostalgia?), al periodo compositivo tedesco. (Claudia M.Th. Hasslinger)
Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill was born in Dessau on March 2nd, 1900 as the third-born of Albert, chazan (cantor) of the local synagogue and of Emma, the daughter of a rabbi.
Kurt’s precocious musical talent was encouraged by his parents. After his early music education with his father, he studied at the Herzogliches Hoftheater of his home town.
In 1918 he enrolled at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he studied composition and conducting under the guidance of Engelbert Humperdinck and Rudolf Krasselt. Later on, he continued his studies with Ferruccio Busoni and Hermann Scherchen.
At the age of twenty-two, Kurt Weill gained his first success with the children’s ballet Die Zaubernacht and soon his notoriety reached beyond the borders of Germany.
With his theatrical works on librettos by Bertolt Brecht, such as Die Dreigroschenoper (premiered in Berlin in 1928) or Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1930) he achieved international recognition.
But with the advent of Nazism, Weill’s works were increasingly hindered and in 1933 the composer had to leave Germany. Thus began his exile, first in France and in England where, despite the support of great musicians such as Darius Milhaud or Arthur Honegger, Weill faced very difficult years.
Finally, in 1935 he took refuge in the United States; in 1937, he applied for American citizenship, which was granted to him in 1943. During his American years, he composed almost exclusively for Broadway, for t h e American Radio and for Hollywood, establishing his reputation with important musicals, such as Johnny Johnson, Lady in the Dark, One Touch of Venus, The Firebrand of Florence, Street Scene and Lost in the Stars. Kurt Weill died in New York on April 3rd, 1950.
I’m a Stranger Here…
Kurt Weill, like many other European Jews, did of course consider himself a Jew, but maybe even more he considered himself simply a German citizen: “I come from a Jewish family who can trace its German past back to the year 1340”, he stated with some pride during an interview in 1942.
How painful it must have been for the well-known and esteemed composer, a true protagonist of the German cultural life, to be suddenly considered a “stranger”, persecuted in his own homeland. And a stranger somehow he would remain for the rest of his life, even when he was welcomed in America, where he said that he was finally feeling “at home”, to the extent of becoming an American citizen.
Anyway, Weill really felt the need to leave Europe behind permanently and maybe even to detach himself from the art music of his European period.
With the songs chosen for this CD we intend to follow Kurt Weill in his exile.
Even the songs on German lyrics (apart from Das Lied von den braunen Inseln dated 1928), in fact do not belong to his German period.
The fascinating Es regnet (1933) was composed in Paris. The lyrics were written by Weill himself, inspired by his meeting with Jean Cocteau. (Meeting which I like to imagine as a long night of confidences in a Parisian boîte).
On advice of composer Alessandro Magini whom I thank, I chose to transpose most of the vocal part of this song down an octave, in order to accentuate its melancholic and tormented character.
Nanna’s Lied (1939) and Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib? (1943), both on lyrics by Bertolt Brecht and composed when Weill was already living in America, are perhaps the only works that in some way are still connected (moments of nostalgia?) to his German compositional period. (Claudia M.Th. Hasslinger)