Kurt Weill

Kurt Julian Weill (; German: [vaɪl]; March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he wrote his best-known work, The Threepenny Opera, which includes the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose, Gebrauchsmusik. He also wrote several works for the concert hall and a number of works on Jewish themes. He fled Nazi Germany in 1933, arriving in the United States two years later. Settling in New York, he made a substantial contribution to American musical theater through works such as Lady in the Dark and Street Scene.

Life & Operatic Output

Kurt Weill (1900–1950) stands among the composers represented in the OperaPedia catalogue, with 8 stage works entered into the archive. Working in the German tradition, the composer's operatic output is preserved here in editorial entries that draw on public-domain reference sources and contemporary scholarship.

The Early Modern moment in which Kurt Weill worked offered a particular set of theatrical and musical conventions: the orchestration vocabularies, the formal expectations of audiences, the standards of vocal writing and stagecraft prevailing in the leading houses, and the close relationship between composer and librettist that defined the working life of every opera composer of the period. The works listed below should be read against that broader cultural and institutional background.

Each individual entry on this page links to a complete article giving the synopsis, premiere details, language of performance, and notable arias for the work in question. Readers consulting OperaPedia for the first time may wish to begin with the most frequently performed of Kurt Weill's operas before working outward into the lesser-known corners of the catalogue.

Listeners and students approaching the operatic output of Kurt Weill will find that the entries linked below trace a coherent arc through the composer's career. Each opera's individual page in OperaPedia includes the synopsis, the librettist's contribution, the date and venue of the premiere, the language of performance, and notes on the principal arias and ensembles. Where the source data permits, we also note the relationship of each work to the broader currents of Early Modern opera.

Operas in the OperaPedia Catalogue

The following 8 operas by Kurt Weill are catalogued in OperaPedia, listed in chronological order of premiere. Click any title for the full editorial entry, including synopsis, premiere details, language, and notable arias.

• n/a Der Jasager German
• n/a Der Kuhhandel German
• 1844 Der Silbersee, 1844 German
• 1920 Der Protagonist, 1920 German
• 1927 Der Zar lässt sich photographieren, 1927 German
• 1927 Mahagonny-Songspiel, 1927 German
• 1931 Die Bürgschaft, 1931 Städtische Oper German
• 1945 Down in the Valley, 1945 German

Stylistic Position & Reception

Kurt Weill's position within the operatic canon has been shaped by performance tradition as much as by scholarly judgment. The works that survive in the active repertory of the major houses tend to be those that combine memorable vocal writing with dramatically effective situations · qualities that audiences continue to respond to from one generation to the next. Other works in the catalogue, less frequently performed, often reward closer study by singers, conductors, and dramaturges seeking to broaden the standard repertoire.

Modern scholarship on Kurt Weill has been substantially enriched by the publication of critical editions of the major scores, by the rediscovery of forgotten works and revisions, and by the steady documentation of performance history through recordings, theatre archives, and contemporary criticism. The biographical sketch above and the catalogue of works are compiled from public-domain reference sources, including the structured Wikidata layer and the corresponding English Wikipedia article.

Editorial Note

OperaPedia maintains its composer entries as living documents, revised whenever new editorial work justifies a change. If you encounter a factual error in the biographical material above or in the linked opera entries, please write to the editors using the contact details on our about page.