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Sunday, 28 October 2012

Aardvark's Saturday Music Hall Presents

  

Mackie Messer  [the Ballad of Mack the Knife]


 Here the Ballad of Mack the Knife from The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill performed by the latter's wife .... the wonderful Austrian artiste Lotte Lenya as Jenny in the original 1928 stage play. 

Factoid 1

Wikipedia explains.... Lenya and Weill did not meet properly until 1924 through a mutual acquaintance, the writer Georg Kaiser.  They married in 1926, and later divorced in 1933, only to reconcile in September 1935 after emigrating to the United States. They remarried in 1937. In 1941, the couple moved to a house of their own in Rockland, New York State, roughly 50 km north of New York City.  Their second marriage lasted until Weill's death in 1950. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_Lenya

Chill Out

So let us step back now to the he Weimar Republic and into an era not unlike our own, characterised by economic crisis, political upheaval and rumours of war, enjoy now lest we forget how late it is getting here in the West.



This song and indeed this entire musical is an old favourite, I have various versions of the soundtrack on record cassette tape and CD....but this original German version is by far my favourite.


Factoid 2

I went to see an English language production of this great play earlier this year in Ludlow, Shropshire just a few miles from where I live. It was performed by graduates of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. It was an excellent evening at the old Assembly Rooms in the shadow of the ruined 12th century castle.




Ludlow Castle

Factoid 3

The Threepenny Opera is a work of epic theatre. It challenges conventional notions of property as well as those of theatre. It dramatises the question: "Who is the greater criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one?"   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Threepenny_Opera


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8 comments:

  1. Lia Storm28 October 2012 at 13:40

    I've always loved the song. I had no idea it was from a whole musical though. I must expand my horizons AA :-)

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    1. AaranAardvark30 October 2012 at 23:11

      I'm glad you liked that Ms C I posted another song from The Three Penny Opera videod at the performance I mentioned above here

      http://mrsmithsdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/apr-1-12-925-pm-for-everyone-category.html

      I am a big fan of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, I've seen most of their major works performed live at one time or another over the past 40 years. Thanks again Ms C :-)

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  2. Doug's Blog28 October 2012 at 19:22

    Very interesting to read how the "3 Penny Opera" has been revised and refashioned in various American and other international productions. How fitting that Brecht's triumph had it's most successful run off-Broadway ( a 2,100-odd run) during the Red Scare of the 1950's. According to the influential "Village Voice" I gather the latest production was a bit underwhelming compared to the critic's view of the original.
    I've never seen a live version of this musical. The print I saw of the GW Pabst film was not very good, and subtitles were scarce, but I enjoyed a Public Broadcasting showing, something I'm sure would be tough to mount these days with PBS worried about losing funding in a GOP dominated Congress.
    A very interesting juxtaposition--this satirical opera by a Marxist, set right near a medieval English castle. We are fortunate at least that so many great artists like Lotte Lenya and others took their escape from persecutions out of Germany when they did. The cultural and intellectual brain drain from Middle-Europe was perhaps the only benefit to come from the Third Reich.

    Lovely version of the song by the way. I've always enjoyed Lenya's voicals.

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    1. AaranAardvark30 October 2012 at 23:14

      " The cultural and intellectual brain drain from Middle-Europe was perhaps the only benefit to come from the Third Reich."

      There was also Fanta Doug, mustn't forget that.

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    2. AaranAardvark31 October 2012 at 00:32

      Yes its great to think of this play running off-Broadway throughout the Red Scare period and quietly indoctrinating the theatre-goers into becoming rabid communists, or not as the case may be?
      When I was living in the Middle East I subscribed to Village Voice for about 3 years, I had sent to me by airmail every week. The juxtaposition you mention is further complicated by the fact that the play was being performed at the early Victorian (but updated) Assembly Rooms, dating from 1840.

      http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2465428

      Thanks for your comments Doug, they are much appreciated, I'm glad you liked the music :-)

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    3. Doug's Blog31 October 2012 at 22:23

      How could I have forgotten "Fanta"?
      *Slaps forehead*

      Thanks AA.

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  3. Forgetmenot5253 November 2012 at 21:30

    I've not seen it, but I would like to. I do know the song, just didn't know where it came from, makes me want to hear the rest of it even more.

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  4. AaranAardvark4 November 2012 at 09:08

    I had a quick look, I can't find any performances anywhere in Scotland in the near future although I did discover performances back in April/May this year by Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and I think possibly Edinburgh too. I am a great fan of Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill so if any of their plays come near to you I would highly recommend them. 'Mother Courage' is a particular favourite of mine I've see it a couple of times over the past 30 years or so. But anything by Brecht is in my opinion worth checking out.

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