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KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ Morning Concert: Brecht Composers: A Musical Brecht-fest, 2 of 2

Analog Audio

Event Type
Interview and Music
Origin
KPFA
Identifier
MC.1986.11.10.B
Program Series
Morning Concert
Program Length
130 min
Part
2 of 2
Dates
1986-11-10 | broadcast
| 1986-11-06 | created
Description
Russ Jennings is joined by theatrical director R. G. Davis in a program dedicated to the various composers that worked with Bertolt Brecht. Davis describes the evolution of Brecht’s political philosophy and how that was reflected in the composers he chose to work with. Particular attention is paid to the period of 1927 to 1933 which saw Brecht’s most successful collaborations with Kurt Weill give way to the more Marxist influenced agitprop theater he created with Hanns Eisler. Davis also plays excerpts from a number of early operas by Arnold Schoenberg that illustrate the early influences of both Eisler and Weill, and set the stage for their transition of serious music from concert halls to musical theaters.
Genres
Operas
Music Theater
Musical Selections
Die Massnahme (“The Measure Taken”) [excerpt, text by B. Brecht] (1930) / Hanns Eisler -- Profit & Loss: The Traders Song [from “The Measure Taken”] / Hanns Eisler -- The Ballad of Black Jim / Hanns Eisler -- Kuhle Wampe [excerpt, text by B. Brecht] (1931) / Hanns Eisler -- [unidentified song] / Hanns Eisler --The Mother Cantata [excerpt, text by B. Brecht] (1930-32) / Hanns Eisler
Performers
Robyn Archer, vocals (Trader’s Song ; unidentified song)
Mordecai Bauman, vocals (Ballad)
Ernst Busch, vocals (Kuhle)
Subjects
Operas -- Excerpts
Music theater
Communism
Agitprop theater
Motion picture music
Acknowledgment
Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by Save America’s Treasures, a program of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Related places
Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)
Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
Jennings, Russ
Davis, R. G.
Eisler, Hanns, 1898-1962
Brecht, Bertolt, 1898-1956
Archer, Robyn, 1948-
Bauman, Mordecai
Busch, Ernst, 1900-1980