- 1900 | Born on March 2 in Dessau, Germany, to a cantor’s family
- 1915 | Begins formal music training with Albert Bing at the Dessau Court Theatre
- 1918 | Studies at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik under Engelbert Humperdinck and later Ferruccio Busoni
- 1920s | Establishes himself in Berlin as a composer of operas and theatre music; collaborations with playwright Bertolt Brecht begin
- 1926 | Marries Austrian-born American singing actress Lotte Lenya (1898-1981)
- 1933 | March, Flees Nazi Germany
- 1933 | April, The Threepenny Opera premieres on Broadway
- 1935 | Settles in the United States; becomes an American citizen and adapts to Broadway and concert music traditions
- 1950 | Dies in New York City on April 3 from a heart attack
Choral Works
1920 | Sulamith
Choral Fantasy
Soprano soloist, female chorus, orchestra
part lost
1921 | Psalm viii
6 voices
part lost
1921-22 | Divertimento, Op. 5
male chorus, small orchestra
part lost
1923 | Recordare, Op. 11
Bible: Lamentations
SATB, 3-part children’s chorus
1923-24 | Das Stundenbuch
6 songs (Rilke)
T/S, orchestra
part lost
1925 | Der neue Orpheus, Op. [16]
cantata (Y. Goll)
S, vn, orch
1929 | Der Lindberghflug
cantata (Brecht)
tenor soloist, baritone soloist, chorus, orchestra
1929 | Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen
(Brecht)
TTBB
1940 | The Ballad of Magna Carta
cantata (Anderson)
bass soloists, chorus, orchestra
1929 | Die Legende vom toten Soldaten
(Brecht)
SATB
1946 | Kiddush
tenor soloist, SATB, organ
Selected Works
Der Lindberghflug/Der Ozeanflug (1929)
No. 3: Aufbruch des Fliegers Charles Lindbergh in New York zu seinem Fluge nach Europa
VOCAL SCORE PDF | AUDIO
No. 8: Während des ganzen Fluges sprachen alle amerikanischen Zeitungen unaufhörlich von Lindberghs Glück
VOCAL SCORE PDF | AUDIO
No. 11: Lindberghs Gespräch mit seinem Motor
VOCAL SCORE PDF | AUDIO
The Ballad of Magna Carta (1940)
Rehearsal sections 32-37
VOCAL SCORE PDF | AUDIO
Kiddush (1946)
University of Arizona Choral Literature Intensive
Publications
Choral Journal | Volume 64, No. 8 (May 2024), p. 89
Choral Review: Kurt Weill’s Kiddush
Recommended Reading
Shrock, Dennis. Choral Repertoire. New York: Oxford University Press, 2023.
Strimple, Nick. Choral Music in the Twentieth Century. Portland: Amadeus Press, 2002.