European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

Kurt Weill's Sonata for Violoncelloand Piano Available in New Performing Edition

Feb. 28, 2008

We are pleased to announce that Kurt Weill's Sonata for Violoncello and Piano is now available in a newly released performing edition, based on the existing critical edition by Wolfgang Rathert and Jürgen Selk. The Sonata reflects Weill's departure from the classical idiom with expanded and unconventional harmonic vocabulary which suggests the influence of Debussy rather than Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner and Max Reger as was the case with his earlier chamber music. Little is known about the genesis of the Sonata for Violoncello and Piano; Weill mentioned work on a cello sonata in a letter to his brother Hans from June 1919. Its premiere was scheduled to be performed in Hanover by Albert Bing and cellist Fritz Rupprecht, to both of whom the sonata was dedicated. For reasons unknown, this performance did not materialize, and no formal premiere seems to have taken place during Weill's lifetime. The first known public performance of the sonata took place in September 1975 during Berlin's Festwochen at the West Berlin Akademie der Künste by the cellist Siegfried Palm and pianist Aloys Kontarsky.

In other Weill news, following a successful run of performances of Weill's Propheten in January, the Cantata Singers and Ensemble of Boston continue their season long "Unveiling Weill" program with performances of his Concerto for Violin and Wind Instruments on Friday, March 14 and Sunday, March 16. The concerts take place at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall.

For sales inquiries on the music of Kurt Weill, please contact the Hal Leonard Corporation at www.halleonard.com or visit your favorite online music retailer.

For more information regarding the life and works of Kurt Weill please visit www.kwf.org, www.schott-music.com and www.universaledition.com.

For precise ticketing information on the Cantata Singers and Ensemble performances, go to www.cantatasingers.org.

Kurt Weill
Sonata for Violoncello and Piano (1920)
23'
EA 847

Concerto for Violin and Wind Instruments, Op. 12 (1924)
2(pic)122-2100-timp.perc-db
32'

News