"In your face", this rather sloganeering title is given by author Pieter Bergé to the introduction to his booklet devoted to Kurt Weill Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny. It has been published in the Operatheek series of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and Universitaire Pers Leuven. The first sentence is indeed taken from a far from gentle sport, boxing, but that will become clear further on.
Already that very witty introduction provides in a nutshell a good introduction to the content and significance of Kurt Weill's opera (1900-1950). If you want to discover the hidden subtleties of this opera, then this guide is an absolute must-read, almost a necessity.
In four chapters, Pieter Bergé outlines how Kurt Weill arrived at the final result of the opera.
1) Towards Mahagonny
An important element is the criticism of Wagner's world-removed and outdated Walhalla world and the striving for "themes with recognizable, contemporary relevance". Political subjects should not be avoided and the music must seek connection with jazz and folk music. From Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) he borrowed the idea of epic theatre, the viewer must not allow himself to be swept away. Their collaboration for Mahagonny-Songspiel (Baden-Baden 1927) is a first step and direct preparation for the later opera. Through the outspoken socially critical Dreigroschenoper they arrive at the plan for Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny which must be the ultimate proof that "the purest form of epic theatre is also the purest form of musical theatre" (quote from Weill).
2) The Paradise City
In the second part, the Weimar Republic period is first sketched briefly and sharply as an unmistakable occasion for the themes that Brecht and Weill work out in their piece. Despair, hyperinflation and resistance, communist sympathies contrasting with far-right colours, a society seeking distraction in perversion. A "disturbing context", in which Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny premieres on 9 March 1930 in Leipzig, barely four months after the Wall Street stock market crash. The apocalyptic situation of the city is reflected in the art of that period (e.g. Otto Dix). In this context, Brecht creates his Mahagonny, a new city as utopia, which soon sinks into decline again. The city is the protagonist, the characters are more types than individuals with whom one can empathize. The opera is divided into three acts, the rise, the flourishing and the decline of the city. Most episodes of the city's "chronicle" are given an introductory heading, which is then further developed in the scenes. The deceptive paradise city soon gets bogged down in crime, selfish profit-seeking, corruption and decadence. The fact that Brecht/Weill make the current political problems an unadulterated subject of their opera is an essential part of their innovation.
3) Babylon/Berlin/New York
This chapter is a particularly engaging and surprising exploration of the deeper layers of the epic Mahagonny opera. A first part is "Biblical language". Pieter Bergé points to the Biblical influence recognizable in Brecht's language and traceable back to his Protestant upbringing. Weill, too, as a Jew has a religious background - which ultimately forced him into exile. The elements that point to the Bible are easy to grasp. And we get a fascinating series listed! "Paradise" and the name "Trinity Moses" are obvious. But there is much more, and the third act can even be linked to the Passion narrative! In the chapter on the music of Mahagonny, reference is also made to the chorale.
The second part of this chapter is "America". Besides the Biblical parable content, the references to America are also legion. Weill and Brecht are fascinated by America, the continent that in the nineteen-twenties captured the imagination and became a utopia of progress, while Berlin was a symbol of decline. On the other hand, the danger of dehumanization lurked in the industrialized New World. The choice of name, the use of English and the appearance of the hurricane are distinct elements that refer to America. For the switch from German to English for two songs (including the most popular "Oh! Moon of Alabama"), Bergé suggests as a possible interesting reason, "couleur locale".
The third part is "Goldrush in Hollywood", which of course deals with gold mining in America and especially the wealth to be gained from it, a subject that was regularly the subject of Hollywood films that reached Germany. The link with the gold rushes in America is right there in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny and even with Charlie Chaplin's film Gold Rush (1925), which also has a socially critical dimension, by the way. The adventurous gold rush is also an exponent of the "Zivilisationsmüdigkeit" (civilization fatigue) in Germany, which leads to a surprising slapstick song in the opera. (I would gladly let you discover the content of the song in the booklet yourself – but it has to do with a venereal disease). From another silent film comedy, namely The great Navigator by Buster Keaton, Brecht and Weill have also parodied a passage. Weill's opera thus immediately shows a clear blurring of boundaries between film and opera, "with the explicit intention of giving that older art form a more recognizable topicality and relevance"
The fourth section was titled: An epic uppercut, referring to another surprising "American" aspect. The uppercut naturally has to do with boxing, a sport that had blown in from America and for which Brecht had more than a passing interest. And – as evidenced by the text of the boxing match in the second act - things can indeed get rough and brutal! Moreover, he had great respect for the "sports audience" within the cultural world!
4) Do (not) let yourself be seduced. The music of Mahagonny
The music of the opera is a broad expansion of the previously created Songspiel, still featuring a "predominant wind sonority". In the expanded orchestral palette there is room for: "schlagers, opera music, religious music, folk music, ceremonial music and even old-fashioned instrumental music". In what follows, the author not only explains the varied styles and techniques of Weill briefly and particularly clearly, but also expounds the often connecting and especially symbolic meaning of them. (e.g. the funeral march and several song themes that recur repeatedly with each time varied and deepened content). The choral-like pieces align with the style of the oratorio, but in a secular sense. But however ingeniously Weill has interwoven the themes with each other, sometimes across scenes, the work remains accessible to the listener. A staging can contribute to this, especially if it respects the musical tempo that is strictly determined by the tempo of the action.
Conclusion
This edition of Operatheek in which Pieter Bergé examines the opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny by Kurt Weill under the microscope is extremely illuminating. It brings you closer to the essence of the piece, elevates it above its entertainment value. It makes you realize that the piece is well worth a deepening of the theatrical experience and gains considerably in meaning. The opera-goer gets a chance to appreciate more of what he experiences on stage. A successful move therefore by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen to offer this edition with the programme booklet of the performance.
P.S.: quotes by P. Bergé from the book are in italics and between quotation marks.
WHO: Pieter Bergé
WHAT: Kurt Weill Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
PUBLICATION: Operatheek, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and Universitaire Pers Leuven (ISBN 9789462703346)