Kurt Weill

Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
Translated title | Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny |
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Text information | Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill |
Genre | Opera In Three Acts |
Text Author | Kurt Weill |
Text Author | Bertolt Brecht |
Publisher | Kurt Weill Music |
Instrumentation | 2(2.pic).1.1.ssax.asax.tsax.2(cbsn)-2.3.2.1-timp.perc-pno.harm ad lib.bnj.bgtr.bandoneon-str; Stage orchestra - 2(2pic).2.3sax(sop., alto, ten.)2-2.2.2.1-perc-pno.zither or xyl.bnj. bandoneon-3vn |
Duration | 140' |
Movements | Three Acts |
Language | German |
Authorized translations | English: David Drew & Michael Geliot; Arnold Weinstein & Lys Symonette; Michael Feingold |
Synopsis | The story of Mahagonny begins with three criminals on the run from the law. They decide to found a city where people can do anything as long as they have money. Anything goes in Mahagonny--drinking, gambling, sex--and the town is soon populated by various kinds of hedonists. Two characters, Jenny, a prostitute, and Jimmy, a lumberjack, become lovers and generally dominate the plot. Mahagonny survives a typhoon at the end of act 1, and act 2 depicts various scenes of debauchery, until Jimmy discovers that he cannot pay his bills. Then he is sentenced to death (in a court where murderers go free), and discontent destroys the city, which burns as the inhabitants march away carrying placards of protest, although they have nowhere to go. |
Roles | Leokadja Begbick (mezzo-soprano), Fatty (tenor), Trinity Moses (baritone), Jenny Hill (soprano), Jimmy Mahoney (tenor), Jack O'Brien (tenor), Bill (baritone), Joe (bass), Tobby Higgins (tenor), Chorus of six girls and the men of Mahagonny |