Die Dreigroschenoper

The other night, my husband and I watched "Die Dreigroschenoper", a very old film (1931) based on the musical by the same name. In English, it's "The Threepenny Opera". Bertolt Brecht, the German dramatist and Kurt Weill, the composer, wrote the original "opera", which is really a musical. The style can be described as "jazzy" or "cabaret" style. The mood of the music is sarcastic, biting, cynical, sophisticated and bitter. "Mack the Knife" is the famous song from this work, but all of the songs are wonderful and fun. The characters are thieves and prostitutes and the musical can be seen as social commentary.

I have been fascinated by this music for many years. We were lucky enough to be in New York in 1976 to see The Threepenny Opera performed in New York in Central Park! It was sung in English.


The rather exotic Ute Lemper, a contemporary singer, has sung a number of Weill tunes, including "Mackie Messer" ("Mack the Knife"), heard here. She captures the authentic spirit of the times, especially with the exaggerated, trilled "r"s at the ends of some of the words!



This is the second time I have mentioned the music of Kurt Weill. See my previous blog entry here, with another musical example: Click here.