Synopsis

On today’s date in 1980, a new production of a seldom-heard work by German composer Kurt Weill was staged by the New York City Opera. Its production of Silver Lake, starring Joel Grey, opened on the eve of the 47th anniversary of Weill’s hasty departure from Nazi Germany after being tipped off that the Gestapo was hunting for him.

Silver Lake, or Der Silbersee in its original German title, was Weill’s last work to premiere in Germany, shortly before the Nazis’ total ban of his music. As early as 1930, at a rally in Augsburg, Hitler had railed against anti-Nazi intellectuals and singled out by name novelist Thomas Mann, scientist Albert Einstein and Weill. Astonishingly, Weill happened to be in Augsburg observing the crowds that day.

Despite violent Nazi protests at performances of his music, Weill courageously stayed in his native land until 1933.

In 1935, after two unhappy years in Paris and London, Weill arrived in New York, applied for U.S. citizenship and reinvented himself as a successful Broadway composer, insisting on Anglicizing the pronunciation of his last name from “Vile” to “While” and refusing even to speak German.

Music Played in Today's Program

Kurt Weill (1900-1950): Overture, 'Der Silbersee' ('The Silver Lake'); London Sinfonietta; Markus Stenz, cond. RCA 63447