A Pirate Productions production.
Directed by Rachel Parker.
Musical direction by Liz Turner and Jackie Fleming.
Performed during the summer in 2004 at Gasperich Parish Hall.
The first in the “Wine and…” series. Consisting of an evening of wine tasting accompanied by, on this occasion, some of our favourite songs.
Excellent fun!
Excerpts from the programme.
Friedrich Hollaender (1896 — 1976)
Hollaender received a classical training but by 1919, in a time of great cultural upheaval, following the First World War, he became the in-house composer for ‘Schall und Rauch’ (‘Noise and Smoke’) one of the leading cabarets of the time. He also became involved in writing for film, most notably Josef von Sternberg’s ‘The Blue Angel’ in 1930, which brought international fame to Hollaender and to the film’s star, Marlene Dietrich.
As a Jew, a satirist and composer of ‘decadent’ music, he was forced to leave Germany with the rise of the Nazis and found immediate employment in the U.S. as a film composer. He returned to Germany after the war and continued composing until his death in 1976.
The Hollaender songs in this concert are from ‘Schall und Rauch’, and ‘The Blue Angel’.
Kurt Weill (1900 — 1950)
A somewhat parallel life story is that of Kurt Weill. Born the son of a synagogue cantor, Weill had a classical training, for a period also with Humperdinck. He also joined Berlin’s avant-garde, but wrote mainly for theatre most notably with Bertolt Brecht on such classic works as The Threepenny Opera. He also left Germany in he 1930’s, going first to Paris and then to the U.S. where he became a successful Broadway composer.
The songs of his are not from his theatre music, but from the collection of ‘stand-alone’ songs called ‘The Unknown Kurt Weill’, collected by his wife Lotte Lenya from the 20’s to the 30’s.
Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976)
Benjamin Britten is one of Britain’s most highly regarded and prolific composers — mainly, though far from exclusively, of vocal works. Aside from an extended stay in the U.S. with friends the tenor Peter Piers and the poet W.H. Auden at the end of the 1930’s he lived a relatively quiet life in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The great scope and influence of the compositions he left is anything but ‘quiet’, ranging from operas such as Peter Grimes and choral works such as the War Requiem .
These Britten cabaret songs (the description was his) are all settings of Auden poetry written before and during their stay in the U.S.
William Bolcom (1938 – )
Born in Seattle, Washington he studied in the U.S. before coming to Europe to study at the Paris Conservatoire and beginning his professional; career writing scores for theatre in West Germany. Returning to the States he began a varied career writing in many varied genres, and winning many awards including the Pulitzer Prize. His most famous epic work is a setting for soloists, 4 choirs and orchestra of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience that was 25 years in the writing.
These settings of the words of Arnold Weinstein date from 1977 — 1985.
