Editing Kurt Weill (section)

=== 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.