Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson

The New York Times published an interesting piece today: "Rare Reprises for an Unlikely Collaboration," a look at Kurt Weill's partnership with the playwright Maxwell Anderson, and Weill's post-Germany career in New York. Two Weill/Anderson pieces - Knickerbocker Holiday (1938) and Lost in the Stars (1949) - are receiving performances in the coming weeks.

Several commentators note the disparate genres that influenced Weill's music at different points in his career. The piece also points out that it wasn't until the 1954 production of Marc Blitzstein's adaptation of The Threepenny Opera in New York that Weill's reputation was secured (Madison Opera is producing the Blitzstein adaptation). Additionally, it's fascinating to think that Weill and Anderson were working on a musical version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn at the time of Weill's death in 1950.

Here is Weill's famous "September Song" from Knickerbocker Holiday and "Lost in the Stars" from Lost in the Stars: