Editing Kurt Weill (section)

=== Life in Paris and New York ===
Weill fled [[Nazi Germany]] in March 1933.<ref name="Mercado">{{harvnb|Mercado|1989}}</ref> A prominent and popular Jewish composer, Weill was officially denounced for his political views and sympathies,<ref>[https://www.stljewishlight.com/features/arts_culture/life-of-composer-kurt-weill-is-told-in-compelling-love-song/article_e92df04e-a228-11e2-8651-001a4bcf887a.html "Life of composer Kurt Weill is told in compelling ''Love Song''"] by Burton Buxerman, ''[[St. Louis Jewish Light]]'', 10 April 2013</ref> and became a target of the Nazi authorities, who criticized and interfered with performances of his later stage works, such as ''[[Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny]]'' (''Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny'', 1930), {{lang|de|[[Die Bürgschaft (opera)|Die Bürgschaft]]}} (1932), and ''[[Der Silbersee]]'' (1933). With no option but to leave Germany, he went first to Paris, where he worked once more with Brecht (after a project with [[Jean Cocteau]] failed) on the ballet ''[[The Seven Deadly Sins (ballet chanté)|The Seven Deadly Sins]]''.

On April 13, 1933, his musical ''The Threepenny Opera'' was given its premiere on Broadway, but closed after 13 performances to mixed reviews.<ref name="NYCcyclopedia" /> In 1934 he completed his Symphony No. 2, his last purely orchestral work, conducted in Amsterdam and New York by [[Bruno Walter]], and also the music for [[Jacques Deval]]'s play ''{{ill|Marie Galante (play)|fr|Marie Galante (pièce de théâtre)|lt=Marie Galante}}''.<ref name="Mercado" /> A production of his operetta ''[[Der Kuhhandel]]'' (''A Kingdom for a Cow'') took him to London in 1935, and later that year he went to the United States in connection with ''[[The Eternal Road (opera)|The Eternal Road]]'',<ref name="nytimesobit" /> a "Biblical Drama" by [[Franz Werfel]] that had been commissioned by members of New York's Jewish community and was premiered in 1937 at the [[Manhattan Opera House]], running for 153 performances.

[[File:Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya at home 1942.jpg|thumb|Weill and Lenya at home in 1942]]
He and Lotte moved to New York City on September 10, 1935, living first at the St. Moritz Hotel before moving to an apartment at 231 East 62nd Street, between Third and Second Avenues.<ref name="NYCcyclopedia"/> They rented an old house with [[Paul Green (playwright)|Paul Green]] during the summer of 1936 near [[Pine Brook Country Club]] in [[Nichols, Connecticut]], the summer home of the [[Group Theatre (New York)|Group Theatre]], while finishing ''[[Johnny Johnson (musical)|Johnny Johnson]]''. Some of the other artists who summered there in 1936 were [[Elia Kazan]], [[Harry Morgan]], [[John Garfield]], [[Lee J. Cobb]], [[Will Geer]], [[Clifford Odets]], [[Howard da Silva]] and [[Irwin Shaw]].<ref>[http://www.pinewoodlake.org/ Pinewood Lake website retrieved on September 10, 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727174723/http://www.pinewoodlake.org/ |date=July 27, 2011 }}. Pinewoodlake.org (May 20, 2009). Retrieved on August 22, 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Images of America – Trumbull|author=[[Trumbull, Connecticut|Trumbull]] Historical Society|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=1997|page=123|isbn=9780752409016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Wendy|title=Real Life Drama: The Group Theatre and America, 1931–1940|page=264}}{{full citation needed|date=February 2022|reason=Year? 1990, 1992, or 2013? Edition?}}</ref>

Rather than continue to write in the same style that had characterized his European compositions, Weill made a study of American popular and stage music. His American output contains individual songs and entire shows that not only became highly respected and admired, but have been seen as seminal works in the development of the American [[Musical theatre|musical]]. In 1939 he wrote the music for ''Railroads on Parade,'' a musical spectacular put on at the [[1939 World's Fair]] in New York to celebrate the American railroad industry (book by Edward Hungerford). Unique among Broadway composers of the time, Weill insisted on writing his own orchestrations (with some very few exceptions, such as the dance music in ''Street Scene'').<ref>"The Boys That Make the Noise", Music section, ''[[Time (magazine)]]'', July 5, 1943.</ref> He worked with writers such as [[Maxwell Anderson]] and [[Ira Gershwin]], and wrote a film score for [[Fritz Lang]] (''You and Me'', 1938). Weill himself strove to find a new way of creating an American opera that would be both commercially and artistically successful. The most interesting attempt in this direction is ''[[Street Scene (opera)|Street Scene]]'', based on a play by [[Elmer Rice]], with lyrics by [[Langston Hughes]]. For his work on ''Street Scene'' Weill was awarded the inaugural [[Tony Award]] for [[Tony Award for Best Original Score|Best Original Score]].<ref>[http://www.broadwayworld.com/tonyawardscategoryinfo.cfm?catname=Score Tony Award for Best Original Score]. Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved on August 22, 2011.</ref>

In the 1940s Weill lived in [[downstate New York]] near the [[New Jersey]] border and made frequent trips both to New York City and to Hollywood for his work for theatre and film. Weill was active in political movements encouraging American entry into World War II, and after America joined the war in 1941, Weill enthusiastically collaborated in numerous artistic projects supporting the war effort both abroad and on the [[home front]]. He and Maxwell Anderson also joined the volunteer civil service by working as air raid wardens on [[High Tor State Park|High Tor Mountain]] between their homes in [[New City, New York]] and [[Haverstraw (village), New York|Haverstraw, New York]] in [[Rockland County, New York|Rockland County]]. Weill became a [[naturalized citizen]] of the United States on August 27, 1943.<ref name="nytimesobit" />

Weill had ideals of writing music that served a socially useful purpose. In the US, he wrote ''[[Down in the Valley (opera)|Down in the Valley]]'', an opera including the [[Down in the Valley (folk song)|song of the same name]] and other American folk songs. He also wrote a number of songs in support of the American war effort, including the satirical "Schickelgruber" (with lyrics by [[Howard Dietz]]), "Buddy on the Nightshift" (with [[Oscar Hammerstein II|Oscar Hammerstein]]) and – with Brecht again as in his earlier career – the "Ballad of the Nazi Soldier's Wife" ("Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib?"). Intended for broadcast to Germany, the song chronicled the progress of the Nazi war machine through the gifts sent to the proud wife at home by her man at the front: furs from Oslo, a silk dress from Paris etc., until finally, from Russia, she receives her widow's veil.<ref name="cjschuler.net" />

Apart from "[[Mack the Knife]]" and "[[Pirate Jenny]]" from ''[[The Threepenny Opera]]'', his most famous songs include "[[Alabama Song]]" (from ''Mahagonny''), "Surabaya Johnny" (from ''Happy End''), "[[Speak Low]]" (from ''[[One Touch of Venus]]''), "Lost in the Stars" (from [[Lost in the Stars|the musical of that name]]), "[[My Ship]]" (from ''[[Lady in the Dark]]''), and "[[September Song]]" (from ''[[Knickerbocker Holiday]]'').