Editing Kurt Weill

{{Short description|German composer (1900–1950)}}
{{distinguish|Curt Vile|Kurt Vile|Kurt Weil}}
{{Lead too short|date=August 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2011}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0119, Kurt Weill.jpg|thumb|upright|200px|Weill in 1932]]
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{{Infobox person
| name          = Kurt Weill
| image         = Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0119, Kurt Weill.jpg
| imagesize     = 
| caption       = Photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]], 1962
| birth_name    = Kurt Julian Weill
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|df=yes|1900|3|2}}
| birth_place   = [[Dessau]], [[Province of Saxony|Saxony]]
| death_date    = {{death date and age|1950|4|3|1900|3|2|df=yes}}
| death_place   = New York City, New York, U.S.
| occupation    = Composer
| spouse        = [[Lotte Lenya]] (1926–33, 1937–50; his death)
| years_active  = }} -->

'''Kurt Julian Weill''' ({{IPAc-en|w|aɪ|l}};<ref>{{Cite Dictionary.com|Weill}}</ref> {{IPA|de|vaɪl|lang}}; March 2, 1900{{spaced ndash}}April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer{{efn|In 1947 Weill explicitly disavowed ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine's characterization of him as "a German composer", writing in a letter to ''Life'', "Although I was born in Germany I do not consider myself a 'German composer'.... I am an American citizen and during my dozen years in this country have composed exclusively for the American stage.... I would appreciate your straightening out your readers on this matter."<ref>The letter, reprinted in Henry Marx (ed.), ''Weill-Lenya'' Goethe House, (New York, 1976), is cited in {{harvnb|Jarman|1982|p=140}}.</ref>}}<ref>The editors of ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. {{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kurt-Weill |title=Kurt Weill |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=November 29, 2022}}</ref> active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States.<ref>[http://www.steynonline.com/7344/mack-the-knife "Mack the Knife" – Sinatra Song of the Century #95] by [[Mark Steyn]], December 8, 2015</ref> He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with [[Bertolt Brecht]]. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his best-known work, ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'', which included the ballad "[[Mack the Knife]]". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose,<ref name="cjschuler.net">[http://www.cjschuler.net/weill.htm Kurt Weill]. Cjschuler.net. Retrieved on August 22, 2011. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311215544/http://www.cjschuler.net/weill.htm |date=March 11, 2012 }}</ref> ''[[Gebrauchsmusik]]''.{{sfn|Jarman|1982|p=34}} He also wrote several works for the concert hall and a number of works on Jewish themes. He became a United States citizen in 1943.

== Family and childhood ==
Weill was born on March 2, 1900,<ref name="NYCcyclopedia">{{Cite enc-nyc|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300055368/page/1252 1252]}}</ref> the third of four children to Albert Weill (1867–1950) and Emma Weill (née Ackermann; 1872–1955). He grew up in a religious [[Jewish]] family in the "Sandvorstadt", the Jewish quarter in [[Dessau]] in [[Province of Saxony|Saxony]], where his father was a [[Hazzan|cantor]].<ref name="nytimesobit">{{cite news|title=Kurt Weill Dead; Composer, Was 50|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0D1EFD385F177A93C6A9178FD85F448585F9|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=28|date=April 4, 1950|access-date=November 5, 2020}}</ref> At the age of twelve, Weill started taking piano lessons and made his first attempts at writing music; his earliest preserved composition was written in 1913 and is titled "''Mi Addir'': Jewish Wedding Song".{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|p=540}}

In 1915, Weill started taking private lessons with Albert Bing, [[kapellmeister]] at the "Herzogliches Hoftheater zu Dessau", who taught him piano, composition, music theory, and conducting. Weill performed publicly on piano for the first time in 1915, both as an accompanist and soloist. The following years he composed numerous [[lieder]] to the lyrics of poets such as [[Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff|Joseph von Eichendorff]], [[Arno Holz]], and [[Anna Ritter]], as well as a cycle of five songs titled ''Ofrahs Lieder'' to a German translation of a text by [[Yehuda Halevi]].{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|pp=540–541}}

Weill graduated with an [[Abitur]] from the ''Oberrealschule'' of Dessau in 1918, and enrolled at the [[Berlin University of the Arts|Berliner Hochschule für Musik]] at the age of 18, where he studied composition with [[Engelbert Humperdinck (composer)|Engelbert Humperdinck]],<ref name="nytimesobit" /> [[conducting]] with [[Rudolf Krasselt]], and [[counterpoint]] with [[Friedrich E. Koch]], and also attended philosophy lectures by [[Max Dessoir]] and [[Ernst Cassirer]]. The same year, he wrote his first [[string quartet]] (in B minor).{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|pp=541}}

== Musical career ==
=== Early work and compositions ===
Weill's family experienced financial hardship in the aftermath of World War I, and in July 1919, Weill abandoned his studies and returned to Dessau, where he was employed as a [[répétiteur]] at the Friedrich-Theater under the direction of the new [[Kapellmeister]], [[Hans Knappertsbusch]]. During this time, he composed an [[orchestral suite]] in E-flat major, a [[symphonic poem]] on [[Rainer Maria Rilke]]'s ''The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke'', and ''Schilflieder'' ("Reed Songs"), a [[song cycle|cycle]] of five songs to poems by [[Nikolaus Lenau]]. In December 1919, through the help of Humperdinck, Weill was appointed as Kapellmeister at the newly founded Stadttheater in [[Lüdenscheid]], where he directed opera, operetta, and [[singspiel]] for five months. He subsequently composed a [[cello sonata]] and ''[[Ninon de Lenclos]]'', a now lost [[one-act]] operatic adaptation of a 1905 play by [[Ernst Hardt]]. From May to September 1920, Weill spent a few months in [[Leipzig]], where his father had become the director of a Jewish orphanage, residing in the [[Gottschedstrasse (Leipzig)|Gottschedstrasse]]. Before he returned to Berlin, in September 1920, he composed ''Sulamith'', a choral fantasy for soprano, female choir, and orchestra.

=== Studies with Busoni ===
[[File:Berliner Gedenktafel Altonaer Str 22 (Hansa) Kurt Weill.jpg|thumb|[[Berlin memorial plaque]], Berlin-[[Hansaviertel]], Germany]]
Back in Berlin, Weill had an interview with [[Ferruccio Busoni]] in December 1920. After examining some of Weill's compositions, Busoni accepted him as one of five master students in composition at the [[Akademie der Künste|Preussische Akademie der Künste]] in Berlin.{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|pp=541–542}}

From January 1921 to December 1923, Weill studied music composition with him and also counterpoint with [[Philipp Jarnach]] in Berlin. During his first year he composed his first [[symphony]], ''Sinfonie in einem Satz'', as well as the lieder ''Die Bekehrte'' ([[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Goethe]]) and two ''Rilkelieder'' for voice and piano.{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|p=542}} Busoni, then approaching the end of his life, was a major influence on Weill. Where Weill's early compositions reflect the post-[[Richard Wagner|Wagnerian]] [[Romanticism]] and [[Expressionism]] common in German classical music of that era, Busoni was a [[Neoclassicism#Music|Neoclassicist]]. Busoni's influence can be seen especially in Weill's vocal and stage works, which moved steadily away from having the music reflect the characters' emotions to have it function as (often ironic) commentary. This was Weill's own path to some of the same notions of [[Epic theater]] and the ''Verfremdungseffekt'' ([[distancing effect]]) advocated by his future collaborator Brecht.{{sfn|Jarman|1982|pp=98 ''et. seq.}}

To support his family in Leipzig, Weill also worked as a pianist in a Bierkeller tavern. In 1922, Weill joined the [[November Group (German)|November Group]]'s music faction. That year he composed a psalm, a [[divertimento]] for orchestra, and ''Sinfonia Sacra: Fantasia, Passacaglia, and Hymnus for Orchestra''. On November 18, 1922, his children's [[pantomime]] ''Die Zaubernacht'' (''The Magic Night'') premiered at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm; it was the first public performance of any of Weill's works in the field of musical theatre.{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|p=542}}

Out of financial need, Weill taught music theory and composition to private students from 1923 to 1925. Among his students were [[Claudio Arrau]], [[Maurice Abravanel]], [[Henry Jolles|Heinz Jolles (later known as Henry Jolles)]],<ref name=Musica>{{cite web|url=http://www.musica-reanimata.de/komponisten.html|title=Musica Reanimata of Berlin, Henry Jolles|website=Musica-reanimata.de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010306061122/http://www.musica-reanimata.de/komponisten.html |access-date=September 28, 2008|archive-date=March 6, 2001 }}</ref> [[Nikos Skalkottas]], and [[Esther Zweig]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohen|first=Aaron I.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/16714846|title=International Encyclopedia of Women Composers|date=1987|isbn=0-9617485-2-4|edition=2nd edition, revised and enlarged|location=New York|oclc=16714846}}{{page needed|date=February 2022}}</ref> Arrau, Abravanel, and Jolles remained members of Weill's circle of friends thereafter,<ref name=KWF>{{cite journal|last=Lenya|first=Lotte|author-link=Lotte Lenya|author2=George Davis|date=Spring 1997|title=Weill and His Collaborators|journal=Kurt Weill Newsletter|volume=15|issue=1|pages=4–9|publisher=Kurt Weill Foundation for Music|issn=0899-6407|url=http://www.kwf.org/kwf/images/newsletter/kwn151p1-24.pdf|access-date=October 24, 2010}}</ref> and Jolles's sole surviving composition predating the rise of the [[Nazi]] regime in 1933 is a fragment of a work for four pianos he and Weill wrote jointly.<ref name=Musica/>

Weill's compositions during his last year of studies included ''Quodlibet'', an orchestral suite version of ''Die Zaubernacht''; ''Frauentanz'', seven medieval poems for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon; and ''Recordare'' for choir and children's choir to words from the [[Book of Lamentations]]. Further premieres that year included a performance of his ''Divertimento for Orchestra'' by the [[Berlin Philharmonic]] under the direction of [[Heinz Unger]] on April 10, 1923, and the [[Amar Quartet|Hindemith-Amar Quartet]]'s rendering of Weill's ''String Quartet'', Op. 8, on June 24, 1923. In December 1923, Weill finished his studies with Busoni.{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|pp=542–543}}

=== Success in the 1920s and early 1930s ===
In 1922 he joined the ''Novembergruppe'', a group of [[leftist]] Berlin artists that included [[Hanns Eisler]] and [[Stefan Wolpe]].<ref>[http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/weill-kurt "Music and the Holocaust"], holocaustmusic.ort.org; retrieved August 22, 2011.</ref> In February 1924 the conductor [[Fritz Busch]] introduced him to the dramatist [[Georg Kaiser]], with whom Weill would have a long-lasting creative partnership resulting in several one-act operas. At Kaiser's house in [[Grünheide]], Weill first met the singer and actress [[Lotte Lenya]] in the summer of 1924.{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|p=543}} The couple were married twice: in 1926 and again in 1937 (after their divorce in 1933). She took great care to support Weill's work, and after his death she took it upon herself to increase awareness of his music, forming the [[#Kurt Weill Foundation for Music|Kurt Weill Foundation]]. From November 1924 to May 1929, Weill wrote hundreds of reviews for the influential and comprehensive radio program guide ''Der deutsche Rundfunk''; Hans Siebert von Heister had already worked with Weill in the November Group, and offered Weill the job shortly after becoming editor-in-chief.{{sfn|Hinton|Schebera|2000|pp=208–209}}

[[File:Luisenplatz 3 - pano 01.jpg|thumb|left|After their 1926 marriage, Weill and Lenya lived for a time in Georg Kaiser's apartment at Luisenplatz 3, Berlin-Charlottenburg; Kaiser preferred to live at his lake house.]]
Although he had some success with his first mature non-stage works (such as the String Quartet, Op. 8, and the Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12), which were influenced by [[Gustav Mahler]], [[Arnold Schoenberg]] and [[Igor Stravinsky]], Weill tended more and more towards vocal music and musical theatre. His musical theatre work and his songs were extremely popular in Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Weill's music was admired by composers such as [[Alban Berg]], [[Alexander von Zemlinsky]], [[Darius Milhaud]] and Stravinsky, but it was also criticized by others: Schoenberg, who later revised his opinion, and [[Anton Webern]].

His best-known work is ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'' (1928), a reworking of [[John Gay]]'s ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]'', written in collaboration with [[Bertolt Brecht]]. Engel directed the original production of ''The Threepenny Opera'' in 1928. It contains Weill's most famous song, "[[Mack the Knife]]" ("{{Lang|de|Die Moritat von Mackie Messer}}").<ref name=Spartacus /> Textually ''Threepenny Opera''&mdash;like the ''Beggar's Opera'' before it&mdash;is satire and social commentary;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newlinetheatre.com/3pochapter.html|title=Inside ''Threepenny'': Background and Analysis|author=Scott Miller|publisher=[[New Line Theatre]]|access-date=2020-02-17}}</ref> but for Weill, coming from a musical perspective, it was something else as well: "It gives us the opportunity to make opera the subject matter for an evening in the theater",{{sfn|Hinton|2012|p=xiii}} part of what Weill saw as a lifelong process to "reform" opera for the modern stage.{{sfn|Hinton|2012|loc=preface, ''passim'', esp. pp. ix, xiii}} The stage success was filmed by [[G. W. Pabst]] in two language versions: ''[[The Threepenny Opera (1931)|Die 3-Groschen-Oper]]'' and ''L'opéra de quat' sous''. Weill and Brecht tried to stop the film adaptation through a well publicized lawsuit—which Weill won and Brecht lost. 

Weill continued to work with Brecht on the musical ''[[Happy End (musical)|Happy End]]'' (1929), best known for the songs "Surabaya Johnny", "Bilbao Song", and "Sailor's Tango"; the children's opera ''[[Der Jasager]]'' (1930); and the opera ''[[Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny]]'' (1930), best known for "[[Alabama Song]]" (later recorded by [[The Doors]], among many others).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Partnership: Brecht, Weill, Three Women, and Germany on the Brink|first=Pamela|last=Katz|year=2015|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=9780385534925}}</ref> Weill's working association with Brecht, although successful, came to an end over politics in 1930. Though Weill associated with socialism,<ref name=Spartacus>[https://spartacus-educational.com/USAweill.htm Kurt Weill] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205031534/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAweill.htm |date=December 5, 2013 }}. Spartacus-Educational.com (April 3, 1950). Retrieved on August 22, 2011.</ref> after Brecht tried to push their work even further in a left-wing direction, Weill commented, according to his wife Lotte Lenya, that he was unable to "set the ''[[Communist Manifesto]]'' to music."<ref>[http://www.ata-divisions.org/LD/newsletter/2009/2009Source_july3.pdf Profile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130809000749/http://www.ata-divisions.org/LD/newsletter/2009/2009Source_july3.pdf |date=August 9, 2013 }}, ata-divisions.org; accessed June 6, 2014.</ref>

While in Germany in the early 1930s, Weill also collaborated with the American virtuoso banjoist [[Mike Danzi]] in an early production of his opera ''Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny''. During a rehearsal, Weill congratulated Danzi for his accurate interpretation of the chords found in his score while noting that most other banjoists had complained that they were not actually written for the banjo at all.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kwf.org/images/newsletter/kwn051p15-24.pdf|title=''The Kurt Weill Newsletter'' - Books "An American Musician in Berlin" by Geoffrey Abbott. The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, New York 1987 p. 19 Biography of Mike Danzi and book review "In 1923 he (Danzi) went to Germany and established himself as Berlin's foremost banjo player throughout the roaring Twenties and into the Thirties....Weill congratulated him (Danzi) with the revealing observation: "this is the first time I have heard the chords played as written: most banjo players have told me that the part was not written for banjo!" Mike Danzi on Google Books|website=Kwf.org|access-date=March 2, 2025}}</ref>

=== Life in Paris and New York ===
Weill fled [[Nazi Germany]] in March 1933.<ref name="Mercado">{{harvnb|Mercado|1989}}</ref> A prominent and popular Jewish composer, Weill was officially denounced for his political views and sympathies,<ref>[https://www.stljewishlight.com/features/arts_culture/life-of-composer-kurt-weill-is-told-in-compelling-love-song/article_e92df04e-a228-11e2-8651-001a4bcf887a.html "Life of composer Kurt Weill is told in compelling ''Love Song''"] by Burton Buxerman, ''[[St. Louis Jewish Light]]'', 10 April 2013</ref> and became a target of the Nazi authorities, who criticized and interfered with performances of his later stage works, such as ''[[Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny]]'' (''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'', 1930), {{lang|de|[[Die Bürgschaft (opera)|Die Bürgschaft]]}} (1932), and ''[[Der Silbersee]]'' (1933). With no option but to leave Germany, he went first to Paris, where he worked once more with Brecht (after a project with [[Jean Cocteau]] failed) on the ballet ''[[The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté)|The Seven Deadly Sins]]''.

On April 13, 1933, his musical ''The Threepenny Opera'' was given its premiere on Broadway, but closed after 13 performances to mixed reviews.<ref name="NYCcyclopedia" /> In 1934 he completed his Symphony No. 2, his last purely orchestral work, conducted in Amsterdam and New York by [[Bruno Walter]], and also the music for [[Jacques Deval]]'s play ''{{ill|Marie Galante (play)|fr|Marie Galante (pièce de théâtre)|lt=Marie Galante}}''.<ref name="Mercado" /> A production of his operetta ''[[Der Kuhhandel]]'' (''A Kingdom for a Cow'') took him to London in 1935, and later that year he went to the United States in connection with ''[[The Eternal Road (opera)|The Eternal Road]]'',<ref name="nytimesobit" /> a "Biblical Drama" by [[Franz Werfel]] that had been commissioned by members of New York's Jewish community and was premiered in 1937 at the [[Manhattan Opera House]], running for 153 performances.

[[File:Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya at home 1942.jpg|thumb|Weill and Lenya at home in 1942]]
He and Lotte moved to New York City on September 10, 1935, living first at the St. Moritz Hotel before moving to an apartment at 231 East 62nd Street, between Third and Second Avenues.<ref name="NYCcyclopedia"/> They rented an old house with [[Paul Green (playwright)|Paul Green]] during the summer of 1936 near [[Pine Brook Country Club]] in [[Nichols, Connecticut]], the summer home of the [[Group Theatre (New York)|Group Theatre]], while finishing ''[[Johnny Johnson (musical)|Johnny Johnson]]''. Some of the other artists who summered there in 1936 were [[Elia Kazan]], [[Harry Morgan]], [[John Garfield]], [[Lee J. Cobb]], [[Will Geer]], [[Clifford Odets]], [[Howard da Silva]] and [[Irwin Shaw]].<ref>[http://www.pinewoodlake.org/ Pinewood Lake website retrieved on September 10, 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727174723/http://www.pinewoodlake.org/ |date=July 27, 2011 }}. Pinewoodlake.org (May 20, 2009). Retrieved on August 22, 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Images of America – Trumbull|author=[[Trumbull, Connecticut|Trumbull]] Historical Society|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=1997|page=123|isbn=9780752409016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Wendy|title=Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and America, 1931–1940|page=264}}{{full citation needed|date=February 2022|reason=Year? 1990, 1992, or 2013? Edition?}}</ref>

Rather than continue to write in the same style that had characterized his European compositions, Weill made a study of American popular and stage music. His American output contains individual songs and entire shows that not only became highly respected and admired, but have been seen as seminal works in the development of the American [[Musical theatre|musical]]. In 1939 he wrote the music for ''Railroads on Parade,'' a musical spectacular put on at the [[1939 World's Fair]] in New York to celebrate the American railroad industry (book by Edward Hungerford). Unique among Broadway composers of the time, Weill insisted on writing his own orchestrations (with some very few exceptions, such as the dance music in ''Street Scene'').<ref>"The Boys That Make the Noise", Music section, ''[[Time (magazine)]]'', July 5, 1943.</ref> He worked with writers such as [[Maxwell Anderson]] and [[Ira Gershwin]], and wrote a film score for [[Fritz Lang]] (''You and Me'', 1938). Weill himself strove to find a new way of creating an American opera that would be both commercially and artistically successful. The most interesting attempt in this direction is ''[[Street Scene (opera)|Street Scene]]'', based on a play by [[Elmer Rice]], with lyrics by [[Langston Hughes]]. For his work on ''Street Scene'' Weill was awarded the inaugural [[Tony Award]] for [[Tony Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]].<ref>[http://www.broadwayworld.com/tonyawardscategoryinfo.cfm?catname=Score Tony Award for Best Original Score]. Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved on August 22, 2011.</ref>

In the 1940s Weill lived in [[downstate New York]] near the [[New Jersey]] border and made frequent trips both to New York City and to Hollywood for his work for theatre and film. Weill was active in political movements encouraging American entry into World War II, and after America joined the war in 1941, Weill enthusiastically collaborated in numerous artistic projects supporting the war effort both abroad and on the [[home front]]. He and Maxwell Anderson also joined the volunteer civil service by working as air raid wardens on [[High Tor State Park|High Tor Mountain]] between their homes in [[New City, New York]] and [[Haverstraw (village), New York|Haverstraw, New York]] in [[Rockland County, New York|Rockland County]]. Weill became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States on August 27, 1943.<ref name="nytimesobit" />

Weill had ideals of writing music that served a socially useful purpose. In the US, he wrote ''[[Down in the Valley (opera)|Down in the Valley]]'', an opera including the [[Down in the Valley (folk song)|song of the same name]] and other American folk songs. He also wrote a number of songs in support of the American war effort, including the satirical "Schickelgruber" (with lyrics by [[Howard Dietz]]), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (with [[Oscar Hammerstein II|Oscar Hammerstein]]) and – with Brecht again as in his earlier career – the "Ballad of the Nazi Soldier's Wife" ("Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?"). Intended for broadcast to Germany, the song chronicled the progress of the Nazi war machine through the gifts sent to the proud wife at home by her man at the front: furs from Oslo, a silk dress from Paris etc., until finally, from Russia, she receives her widow's veil.<ref name="cjschuler.net" />

Apart from "[[Mack the Knife]]" and "[[Pirate Jenny]]" from ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'', his most famous songs include "[[Alabama Song]]" (from ''Mahagonny''), "Surabaya Johnny" (from ''Happy End''), "[[Speak Low]]" (from ''[[One Touch of Venus]]''), "Lost in the Stars" (from [[Lost in the Stars|the musical of that name]]), "[[My Ship]]" (from ''[[Lady in the Dark]]''), and "[[September Song]]" (from ''[[Knickerbocker Holiday]]'').

==Death==
Weill suffered a heart attack shortly after his 50th birthday and died on April 3, 1950, in New York City.<ref name="Mercado" /> He was buried in Mount Repose Cemetery in [[Haverstraw, New York]]. The text and music on his gravestone come from the song "A Bird of Passage" from ''[[Lost in the Stars]]'', itself adapted from a quotation from the [[Venerable Bede]]:<ref>''Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum'' (History of the English Church and People) Book 2, Ch. 13</ref>

<poem style="margin-left: 1.67em;">This is the life of men on earth:
Out of darkness we come at birth
Into a lamplit room, and then –
Go forward into dark again.
:(lyric: [[Maxwell Anderson]])</poem>

An excerpt from Maxwell Anderson's eulogy for Weill read:
:I wish, of course, that he had been lucky enough to have had a little more time for his work. I could wish the times in which he lived had been less troubled. But these things were as they were – and Kurt managed to make thousands of beautiful things during the short and troubled time he had ...<ref name="cjschuler.net" />

==Influence==
[[File:Stamp Germany 2000 MiNr2100 Kurt Weill.jpg|thumb|German stamp commemorating Weill]]
[[File:Musik Meile Wien, Kurt Weill (23).jpg|thumb|Star on ''Musik Meile Vienna'']]
Weill's music continues to be performed both in [[popular music|popular]] and [[classical music|classical]] contexts. In Weill's lifetime, his work was most associated with the voice of his wife, [[Lotte Lenya]], but shortly after his death "[[Mack the Knife]]" was established by [[Louis Armstrong]] and [[Bobby Darin]] as a jazz standard. His music has since been recorded by many performers, ranging from [[Nina Simone]], [[Judy Garland]], [[Frank Sinatra]], [[The Doors]], [[Ella Fitzgerald]], [[David Bowie]], [[Robbie Williams]], [[Judy Collins]], [[John Zorn]], [[Dagmar Krause]], [[Steeleye Span]], [[The Young Gods]], and [[PJ Harvey]] to New York's [[Metropolitan Opera]] and the [[Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra]]. Singers as varied as [[Teresa Stratas]], [[Ute Lemper]], [[Gisela May]], [[Anne Sofie von Otter]], [[Max Raabe]], [[Heinz Karl Gruber]], [[Dee Dee Bridgewater]] and [[Marianne Faithfull]] have recorded entire albums of his music.

In 1985, [[Hal Willner]] produced ''[[Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill]]'', a [[tribute album]] in which Weill's songs were interpreted by a variety of artists, including [[Todd Rundgren]], [[Tom Waits]], [[Lou Reed]], [[Charlie Haden]] and [[Sting (musician)|Sting]].<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=mw0000194694|title=''Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill''|author=Viglione, Joe}}</ref>

[[Amanda Palmer]], singer-pianist of the Brechtian Punk Cabaret duo [[The Dresden Dolls]], has Kurt Weill's name on the front of her keyboard (a pun on the name of the instrument maker [[Kurzweil Music Systems|Kurzweil]]) as a tribute to the composer. In 1991, the seminal [[Switzerland|Swiss]] [[industrial music|industrial]] band [[The Young Gods]] released an album of Kurt Weill songs, ''[[The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill]]''. Weill has also been often cited as an influence on [[Goldfrapp]]'s ''[[Felt Mountain]]''. In 2008, Weill's songs were performed by Canadian musicians (including [[Sarah Slean]] and [[Mary Margaret O'Hara]]) in a tribute concert as part of the first annual Canwest Cabaret Festival in Toronto. In 2009 [[Duke Special]] released an EP, [[Huckleberry Finn (EP)|''Huckleberry Finn'']], of five songs from an unfinished musical by Kurt Weill based on [[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn|the novel]] by [[Mark Twain]].

Kurt Weill is a member of the [[American Theater Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theaterhalloffame.org/members.html#VW|title=Theater Hall of Fame members|website=Theaterhalloffame.org|access-date=February 7, 2019}}</ref>

==Kurt Weill Centre==
{{main|Kurt Weill Centre}}
The Kurt Weill Centre (German:''Kurt-Weill-Zentrum'') in Dessau was founded in 1993. It provides a museum, library, archive and media centre and organises an annual festival celebrating the composer's work. It is housed in the Feininger house, a house designed by the architect [[Walter Gropius]] which was originally lived in by the artist [[Lyonel Feininger]]. The property is part of the World Heritage site the [[Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar, Dessau and Bernau]]. The centre, with its collection of material on Weill, is listed as a cultural memorial of national importance.<ref>[https://www.kurt-weill-fest.de/pages_en/kwz_1_0_0_0.html Kurt Weill Centre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406144200/https://www.kurt-weill-fest.de/pages_en/kwz_1_0_0_0.html |date=April 6, 2019 }}. Retrieved 6 April 2019</ref> The centre is one of the "Beacons of light" of the [[Konferenz Nationaler Kultureinrichtungen]] (Conference of National Cultural Institutions), a union of cultural institutions in the [[new states of Germany]] i.e. area that was formerly [[East Germany]].<ref>[http://www.konferenz-kultur.de/EN/mitglieder/kulturelle-gedaechtnisorte.php Konferenz Nationaler Kultureinrichtungen. 23 Cultural Beacons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406150306/http://www.konferenz-kultur.de/EN/mitglieder/kulturelle-gedaechtnisorte.php |date=April 6, 2019 }}. Retrieved 6 April 2019</ref>

== Kurt Weill Foundation for Music ==
Founded by [[Lotte Lenya]] in 1962, the non-profit, private foundation is dedicated to promoting understanding of Weill's life and works and preserving the legacies of Weill and Lenya. The foundation administers the internationally recognized Lotte Lenya Competition, a grant program, various sponsorships and fellowships, the Weill-Lenya Research Center, and the Kurt Weill Prize, and publishes the ''Kurt Weill Edition'' and the ''Kurt Weill Newsletter''. Trustees of the New York-based organization have included [[Harold Prince]], [[Victoria Clark]], [[Jeanine Tesori]], [[Tazewell Thompson]], and [[Teresa Stratas]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music|url=https://www.kwf.org/|access-date=2020-11-05|website=www.kwf.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-05-01|title=Kurt Weill Foundation for Music to World Premiere New Documentary on 2020 Lotte Lenya Competition|url=https://operawire.com/kurt-weill-foundation-for-music-to-world-premiere-new-documentary-on-2020-lotte-lenya-competition/|access-date=2020-11-05|website=Opera Wire}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=BWW News Desk|title=The Kurt Weill Foundation Responds To Pandemic With The Lotte Lenya Competition Songbook|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/The-Kurt-Weill-Foundation-Responds-To-Pandemic-With-The-Lotte-Lenya-Competition-Songbook-20201027|access-date=2020-11-05|website=BroadwayWorld.com}}</ref>

==Relatives==
Weill's grandmother was Jeanette Hochstetter of Liedolsheim in [[Baden-Württemberg]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Farneth|first=David|title=Kurt Weill – A Life in Pictures and Documents|year=2000|publisher=Harry N. Abrams|isbn=9780879517212|pages=Family Tree, p. 3}}</ref> Weill was one of four members of the same Hochstetter family to lead distinguished careers in the fields of music and literature. His first cousin once removed was [[Caesar Hochstetter]] (born January 12, 1863, in [[Ladenburg]], a suburb of [[Mannheim]] – his date and place of death are unknown but this was probably during [[The Holocaust]]), a composer and arranger who collaborated with [[Max Reger]] and who dedicated ''Aquarelles'', Op. 25, to him.<ref>{{IMSLP|work=5 Aquarelles, Op.25 (Reger, Max)|cname=5 Aquarelles, Op.25 (Reger)}} (see the Wirth Urtext edition)</ref>

Caesar's younger brother was {{Interlanguage link|Gustav Hochstetter|de}} (born May 12, 1873, [[Mannheim]] – died 1942, [[Theresienstadt concentration camp]]), Professor of Literature at the University of Brussels, writer and poet and friend of [[Wilhelm Busch]]. His second cousin was the childhood prodigy pianist, [[Lisy Fischer]] (born August 22, 1900, Zürich, Switzerland – died June 6, 1999, [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], England).{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

==Compositions==
===Stage works including operas, musical plays and operettas ===
{{Main|List of works for the stage by Kurt Weill}}

===Concert works===

====Cantatas====
*1920 : ''Sulamith'', choral fantasy for soprano, female chorus and orchestra (lost)
*1927 : ''Der neue Orpheus'', [[cantata]] for soprano, solo violin and orchestra, Op. 16 (text: [[Yvan Goll]])
*1927 : ''Der Tod im Wald'', cantata for bass and band (originally belonged to ''Das Berliner Requiem'')
*1928 : [[The Berlin Requiem (Weill)|''Das Berliner Requiem'']], cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus (or three male voices) and wind orchestra (text: [[Bertolt Brecht]])
*1929 : ''[[Der Lindberghflug]]'', cantata for tenor, baritone and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: Bertolt Brecht, first version with music by [[Paul Hindemith]] and Weill, second version, also 1929, with music exclusively by Weill)
*1940 : ''The Ballad of Magna Carta'', cantata for tenor and bass soloists, chorus and orchestra (text: [[Maxwell Anderson]])
*1946 : "Kiddush", commissioned by cantor David Putterman, premiered at a [[Kiddush]] on May 10, 1946, at [[Park Avenue Synagogue]]<ref>[https://www.milkenarchive.org/music/volumes/view/swing-his-praises/work/kiddush-weill/ "Kiddush liner notes"] by [[Neil W. Levin]], ''Swing His Praises'', [[Milken Archive of Jewish Music]]</ref><ref>[https://www.kwf.org/pages/ww-kiddush.html "Kiddush" (1946)], work details, Kurt Weill Foundation for Music</ref>

====Chamber music====
*1918 : String Quartet in B minor (without opus number)
*1923 : String Quartet, Op. 8
*1919–1921 : Sonata for Cello and Piano

====Piano music====
*1917 : ''Intermezzo''
*1937 : ''Albumblatt for Erika'' (transcription of the pastorale from ''Der Weg der Verheissung'')

====Orchestral works====
*1919 : Suite for orchestra
*1919 : ''Die Weise von Liebe und Tod'', symphonic poem for orchestra after [[Rainer Maria Rilke]] (lost)
*1921 : Symphony No.1 in one movement for orchestra
*1922 : Divertimento for orchestra, Op. 5 (unfinished, reconstructed by [[David Drew (music critic)|David Drew]])
*1922 : ''Sinfonia Sacra, Fantasia, Passacaglia and Hymnus'' for orchestra, Op. 6 (unfinished)
*1923 : ''Quodlibet'', suite for orchestra from the pantomime ''Zaubernacht'', Op. 9
*1925 : Concerto for violin and wind orchestra, Op. 12
*1927 : ''Bastille Musik'', suite for wind orchestra (arranged by David Drew, 1975) from the stage music to ''Gustav III'', by [[August Strindberg]]
*1929 : ''Kleine Dreigroschenmusik'', suite from ''[[Die Dreigroschenoper]]'' for wind orchestra, piano and percussion, (premiere conducted by [[Otto Klemperer]])
*1934 : ''Suite panaméenne for chamber orchestra'', (from ''{{ill|Marie Galante (play)|fr|Marie Galante (pièce de théâtre)|lt=Marie Galante}}'')
*1934 : Symphony No. 2 in three movements for orchestra, (premiere by Royal Concertgebouw orchestra under [[Bruno Walter]])
*1947 : ''Hatikvah'', arrangement of the Israeli National Anthem for orchestra

====''Lieder'', ''Lieder'' cycles, songs and ''chansons''====
*1919 : "Die stille Stadt", for voice and piano, text: [[Richard Dehmel]]
*1923 : ''Frauentanz'', Op. 10, [[song cycle]] for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, horn and bassoon (after medieval poems)
*1923 : ''Stundenbuch'', song cycle for baritone and orchestra, text: [[Rainer Maria Rilke]]
*1925 : "Klopslied", for high voice, two piccolos and bassoon ("Ick sitze da un' esse Klops" – Berliner Lied)
*1927 : ''Vom Tod im Wald'' (''Death in the Forest''), Op. 23, ballad for bass solo and ten wind instruments, text: Bertolt Brecht
*1928 : "Berlin im Licht-Song", slow-fox, text: Kurt Weill; composed for the exhibition ''Berlin im Licht'', first performance in Wittenbergplatz (with orchestra) on October 13, and on October 16 in the [[Krolloper|Kroll Opera]] (with voice and piano)
*1928 : "Die Muschel von Margate: Petroleum Song", slow-fox, text: Felix Gasbarra for the play by Leo Lania, ''Konjunktur''
*1928 : "Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen" ("In Potsdam under the Oak Trees"), song for voice and piano, alternatively male chorus a cappella, text: Bertolt Brecht
*1928 : "Das Lied von den braunen Inseln", text: [[Lion Feuchtwanger]], from the play by same author, ''Petroleum Inseln''
*1930?: "Lied vom weißen Käse" ("Song of the White Cheese") – unpublished, discovered in Berlin at the [[Free University of Berlin]] in 2017<ref>{{cite news|last=Barone|first=Joshua|date=2017-11-06|title=Hear a Newly Found Kurt Weill Song That Surprised Experts|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/arts/music/kurt-weill-song-of-the-white-cheese-discovered.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=2017-11-08}}</ref>
*1933 : "Der Abschiedsbrief", text: [[Erich Kästner]], intended for [[Marlene Dietrich]]
*1933 : "La complainte de Fantômas", text: [[Robert Desnos]]; for a broadcast of ''[[Fantômas]]'' in November 1933 (the music was lost, and later reconstructed by [[Jacques Loussier]] for Catherine Sauvage)
*1933 : "Es regnet" ("It's Raining"), text: [[Jean Cocteau]] (direct into German)
*1934 : "Je ne t'aime pas", text: [[Maurice Magre]] for the soprano [[Lys Gauty]]
*1934 : "Les Filles de Bordeaux", text: [[Jacques Deval]], from ''{{ill|Marie Galante (play)|fr|Marie Galante (pièce de théâtre)|lt=Marie Galante}}''
*1934 : "[[J'attends un navire]]", text: Jacques Deval, from ''Marie Galante''; as an independent song for Lys Gauty; used for the "Hymne der Resistance" during the Second World War
*1934 : "Youkali" (originally the "Tango habanera", instrumental movement in ''Marie Galante''), Text: {{ill|Roger Fernay|fr}}
*1934 : "Complainte de la Seine", text: Maurice Magre
*1939 : "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", song for voice and piano, text: [[Robert Frost]] (unfinished)
*1939 : "Nanna's Lied", text: Bertolt Brecht, the song of a prostitute, from a play satirizing the Nazi party, written as a Christmas present for his wife Lotte Lenya; quotes ''[[Ballade des dames du temps jadis]]''
*1942–47 : ''Three Walt Whitman Songs'', later ''Four Walt Whitman Songs'' for voice and piano (or orchestra), text: [[Walt Whitman]]<ref>The introduction by Kim H. Kowalke in the published score (European American Music Corporation EA 584) gives the background and chronology for the songs.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kwf.org/works/walt-whitman-songs-for-voice-and-piano/|title=Four Walt Whitman Songs|website=Kwf.org|access-date=March 2, 2025}}</ref>
#Oh Captain! My Captain! (Christmas 1941)
#Dirge for Two Veterans (January 1942)
#Beat! Beat! Drums! (Spring 1942)
#Come Up From The Fields, Father (1947)
*1942 : ''Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory'', patriotic song arrangements for narrator, male chorus, and orchestra, of the "[[Battle Hymn of the Republic]]" (text: [[Julia Ward Howe]]), "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]" (text: [[Francis Scott Key]]), "[[My Country, 'Tis of Thee|America]]" (text: [[Samuel Francis Smith]]) and "Beat! Beat! Drums!" (text: [[Walt Whitman]])
*1942–44 : ''Propaganda Songs'', for voice and piano; written for the ''Lunch Hours Follies'' performed for the workers of a shipbuilding workshop in New York, then broadcast:
**1942 : "Buddy on the Nightshift", text: [[Oscar Hammerstein II|Oscar Hammerstein]]
**1942 : "Schickelgruber", text: [[Howard Dietz]]
*1942 : "Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?" ("And what was sent to the soldier's wife?"), ballad for voice and piano, text: Bertolt Brecht
*1944 : "Wie lange noch?", text: [[Walter Mehring]]; premiere: Lotte Lenya

====Choral====
*1923 : ''Recordare'', Op. 11

===Film music===
*1931 : ''[[The Threepenny Opera (film)|The Threepenny Opera]]'', director [[G. W. Pabst]], two versions: in German and French
*1938 : ''[[You and Me (1938 film)|You and Me]]'', director [[Fritz Lang]]
*1945 : ''[[Where Do We Go from Here? (1945 film)|Where Do We Go from Here?]]'', text: [[Ira Gershwin]]
*1948 : ''[[One Touch of Venus (film)|One Touch of Venus]]'', starring: [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]], [[Ava Gardner]] and [[Dick Haymes]]

==Select discography==

===Orchestral, chamber, choral and other works===
*''Berliner Requiem'' / Violin Concerto, Op. 12 / ''Vom Tod im Walde''. Ensemble Musique Oblique/ Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi, 1997)
*''Kleine Dreigroschenmusik'' / ''Mahagonny Songspiel'' / ''Happy End'' / ''Berliner Requiem'' / Violin Concerto, Op. 12 / ''Ballade vom Tod im Walde'', Op. 23 / ''Pantomime I'' (from ''Der Protagonist'', Op. 14) [[London Sinfonietta]], [[David Atherton]], Nona Liddell (violin), Meriel Dickinson (mezzo-soprano), Mary Thomas (mezzo-soprano), Philip Langridge (tenor), Ian Partridge (tenor), Benjamin Luxon (baritone), Michael Rippon (bass), (Deutsche Grammophon 4594422, 1999)
*''Kurt Weill à Paris, Marie Galante and other works''. Loes Luca, Ensemble Dreigroschen, directed by Giorgio Bernasconi, assai, 2000
*''Melodie Kurta Weill'a i coś ponadto'' [[Kazik Staszewski]] (SP Records, 2001)
*''Complete String Quartets''. Leipziger Streichquartett (MDG 307 1071–2)
*Symphonies 1 & 2. [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]], [[Gary Bertini]] (EMI, 1968)

===Song collections===
*''Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs'' (Sony 1997)
*''Speak Low – Songs by Kurt Weill'' – [[Anne Sofie von Otter]], conducted by [[John Eliot Gardiner]] ([[Deutsche Grammophon]] 1995)
*''Youkali: Art Songs by Satie, Poulenc and Weill''. Patricia O'Callaghan (Marquis, 2003)
*''The Unknown Kurt Weill'' (Nonesuch LP D-79019, 1981) – [[Teresa Stratas]], soprano, [[Richard Woitach]], piano. Track list: "Nanna's Lied" (1939), "Complainte de la Seine" (1934), "Klops-Lied" (1925), "Berlin im Licht-song" (1928), "Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?" (1943), "Die Muschel von Margate: Petroleum Song" (1928), "Wie Lange Noch?" (1944), "Youkali: Tango Habanera" (1935?), "Der Abschiedsbrief" (1933?), "Es Regnet" (1933), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (1942), "Schickelgruber" (1942), "Je ne t'aime pas" (1934), "Das Lied von den Braunen Inseln" (1928)
*[[Georgia Brown (English singer)|Georgia Brown]]: ''September Song – Music of Kurt Weill'', Decca LP SKL 4509 (1962), conducted by [[Ian Fraser (composer)|Ian Fraser]]
*[[Dee Dee Bridgewater]]: ''[[This Is New (Dee Dee Bridgewater album)|This is New]]'' (2002)

===Tributes===
*''[[Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill]]'' – produced by [[Hal Wilner]], with performances by [[Tom Waits]], [[Lou Reed]], [[Sting (musician)|Sting]], [[Marianne Faithfull]], [[Carla Bley]], [[Charlie Haden]], [[John Zorn]] and others. (A&M Records, 1985)
*''[[September Songs – The Music of Kurt Weill]]'' – also produced by Wilner, with performances by [[Elvis Costello]], [[PJ Harvey]], [[Nick Cave]], [[William S. Burroughs]], and others (Sony Music, 1997)
*[[Gianluigi Trovesi]]/[[Gianni Coscia]]: ''Round About Weill'' (ECM, 2005)
*''[[The Young Gods Play Kurt Weill]]'' (Pias, April 1991), studio recording of the songs performed live in 1989.
*[[Ben Bagley]]'s ''Kurt Weill Revisited'' and ''Kurt Weill Revisited, Vol. 2'', with performances by [[Chita Rivera]], [[Ann Miller]], [[Estelle Parsons]], [[John Reardon (baritone)|John Reardon]], [[Tammy Grimes]], [[Nell Carter]], [[Arthur Siegel]], and [[Jo Sullivan]], among others. ([[Painted Smiles]])
*''An Evening of Kurt Weill'', starring [[Bebe Neuwirth]], [[Roger Rees]], and Larry Marshall, was performed in New York City at [[Alice Tully Hall]]; Rees directed the production.

==See also==
* ''[[A Kurt Weill Cabaret]]'' (Broadway 1979), originally ''The World of Kurt Weill in Song'' (off-Broadway 1963)
* ''[[Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill]]'' (off-Broadway 1971, Broadway 2000)
* ''[[LoveMusik]]'' (Broadway 2007)

==Notes and references==
'''Notes'''
{{Notelist}}
'''References'''
{{reflist|30em}}
'''Sources'''
*{{cite book|editor-last1=Hinton|editor-first1=Stephen|editor-link1=Stephen Hinton|editor-first2=Jürgen|editor-last2=Schebera|title=Musik und musikalisches Theater – Gesammelte Schriften|year=2000|publisher=Schott Musik International|location=Mainz|isbn=3-7957-0423-5}}
*{{cite book|last=Hinton|first=Stephen|title=Weill's Musical Theater: Stages of Reform|publisher=University of California Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0520271777}}
*{{Cite book|last=Jarman|first=Douglas|title=Kurt Weill: An Illustrated Biography|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington|year=1982|isbn=025314650X}}
*{{cite book|last=Mercado|first=Mario R.|title=Kurt Weill: A Guide to His Works|publisher=Kurt Weill Foundation for Music|year=1989}}

==Further reading==
*[[David Drew (music critic)|David Drew]]. ''Kurt Weill: A Handbook'' (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987). {{ISBN|0-520-05839-9}}.
*David Drew (editor). ''Über Kurt Weill'' (Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1975) {{in lang|de}} – collection of texts, including an introduction by Drew and texts by [[Theodor W. Adorno]]
*[[Pamela Katz]]. ''The Partnership: Brecht, Weill, Three Women, and Germany on the Brink'' ([[Nan A. Talese]], Doubleday, 2015). {{ISBN|978-0385534918}}
*Kim H. Kowalke. ''A New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986). {{ISBN|0-300-03514-4}}.
*{{cite book|last=Mordden|first=Ethan|author-link=Ethan Mordden|title=Love Song: The Lives of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya|year=2012|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York|isbn=9781250017574|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WFXJWdPoye8C|ref=none}}
*Ronald Sanders. ''The Days Grow Short: The Life and Music of Kurt Weill'' (New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980). {{ISBN|0-03-019411-3}}.
*{{ill|Jürgen Schebera|de}}, ''Kurt Weill'' (Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2000) {{in lang|de}}
*[[Donald Spoto]]. ''Lenya A Life'' (Little, Brown and Company 1989).
*[[Lys Symonette]] & Kim H. Kowalke (ed. & trans.) ''Speak Low (When You Speak Love): The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya'' (University of California Press, 1996)

==External links==
{{Commons category|Kurt Weill}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20190406144200/https://www.kurt-weill-fest.de/pages_en/kwz_1_0_0_0.html Kurt Weill Centre, Dessau]
*[http://www.kwf.org/ Kurt Weill Foundation, including a detailed list of works]
*[https://en.schott-music.com/shop/autoren/kurt-weill Profile], [[Schott Music]]
*[http://orelfoundation.org/index.php/composers/article/kurt_weill/ The OREL Foundation – Kurt Weill's biography and links to bibliography, discography and media.]
*{{IBDB name}}
*{{iobdb name|1536|Kurt Weill}}
*{{IMDb name|id=0918044|name=Kurt Weill}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140810091248/http://www.laco.org/performances/120/?program=1 Program note to Kurt Weill's Symphony No. 2] from the [[Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra]]
* [http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/saxon/SaxonServlet?style=http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/saxon/EAD/yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&source=http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/fedora/get/music:mss.0030/EAD&query=weill&filter=&hitPageStart=1 Yale University's Gilmore Music Library has an important collection of Kurt Weill's Papers and Music, especially from his years in America]
*[https://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/specialcollections/findingaids/weill/ Finding aid to Universal Edition-Kurt Weill Archives – Manuscripts on deposit at the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections Department, Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester]
*{{Find a Grave|1086}}
*[https://www.universaledition.com/kurt-weill-764 Universal Edition]
*[https://www.culturalnotes.com/post/kurt-weill-exile-in-america Driven into Paradise: Some Notes on Kurt Weill´s Exile in America] on [https://culturalnotes.com Cultural Notes]

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