A Staged Music Theater Production
Premiered 26.08.2023 at Utrecht Early Music Festival - Paardenkathedraal, 70min, no break
PROLOGUE in the FOYER
Kurt Weill 1900-1950
Morning chorale of Peachum about the wickedness of the world
Moritat on Mackie Messer, from: The Threepenny Opera
PROGRAM
Walter Leigh 1905-1942
Concertino for harpsichord & string orchestra : Allegro
Mischa Spoliansky 1898-1985 & Kurt Schwabach 1898-1966
Improvisation on Das lila Lied (Unofficial homosexual anthem from 1920 with the refrain "We are different from the others")
Willy Engel-Berger 1890-1946 & Fritz Löhner-Beda 1883-1942, arr. Michael Hell
Song: In der Bar zum Krokodil - In the crocodile bar
Johann Pachelbel 1653-1706
Canon for 3 violins & basso continuo
Georg Friedrich Händel 1685-1759
Aria: Fra l’ombre e gli orrori - Between shadows and horrors, from: Sosarme
Friedrich Hollaender 1896-1976, arr. Michael Hell
Song: Ich weiß nicht, zu wem ich gehöre - I don't know who I belong to, from the movie: Storms of Passion
Georg Friedrich Händel
Aria: Wherever you walk, from: Semele
Walter Leigh
Concertino for harpsichord & string orchestra - Andante
Georg Friedrich Händel
Aria: Sorge infausta - Rough tempests arise, from: Orlando
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791
Aria: Im fremden Land gefangen - Caught in a Foreign Land, from: The Abduction from the Seraglio
Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
Sonata in c minor BWV 1017 for violin and harpsichord - Largo
Carl Friedrich Graun 1704/1705-1759
Aria: Voglio strage - I want revenge, from: Cesare e Cleopatra
Robert Stolz 1880-1975, arr. Michael Hell
Song: Frag nicht, warum ich gehe - Don’t Ask Why I'm Leaving, from the movie: The Song is Over
Walter Leigh
Concertino for harpsichord & string orchestra - Allegro
Robert Stolz, arr. Michael Hell
Song: Auch du wirst mich einmal betrügen - You too will cheat on me sometime, from the movie: Two hearts in three-four time
Werner Richard Heymann 1896-1961, arr. Michael Hell
Song: Irgendwo auf der Welt - Somewhere in the world there's a little happiness, from the movie: A blonde dream
***
In 1935, the "Nuremberg Laws" of Hitler's government laid the basis for the expulsion and destruction of Jewish life in Germany. Jewish artists were banned from performing, among others the famous "Comedian Harmonists", who had made the hit song "In der Bar zum Krokodil" famous, were disbanded. At the same time, the tightening of §175 justified the persecution of same-sex love. In Berlin, where the work of Magnus Hirschfeld and his Institute for Sexual Sciences gave legal legitimacy to homosexuality and transsexuality for the first time in the Western world, cabarets and entertainment establishments like the famous ELDORADO and SCHALL & RAUCH closed down by the dozen, even though Nazi celebrities like the notorious Sturmabteilung leader Ernst Röhm were regulars there.
Jewish artists saved themselves into emigration or trusted too long in the return of normality. Werner Richard Heymann, who directed the cabaret "Schall und Rauch", went into exile, as did Mischa Spoliansky, Kurt Weill and Friedrich Hollaender. Fritz Löhner-Beda, the lyricist of "In der Bar zum Krokodil", was murdered in Auschwitz. Walter Leigh, who learned to appreciate historical instruments as a student of Paul Hindemith in Berlin, joined the English army and fell in the Battle of Tobruk in 1942. Robert Stolz donated the money he earned from his film hits to a Jewish underground organisation and smuggled Jews into neutral Switzerland in his Mercedes-Benz until he was betrayed and also fled into exile.
Thomas Höft, 2023
Premiered 26.08.2023 at Utrecht Early Music Festival - Paardenkathedraal, 70min, no break
PROLOGUE in the FOYER
Kurt Weill 1900-1950
Morning chorale of Peachum about the wickedness of the world
Moritat on Mackie Messer, from: The Threepenny Opera
PROGRAM
Walter Leigh 1905-1942
Concertino for harpsichord & string orchestra : Allegro
Mischa Spoliansky 1898-1985 & Kurt Schwabach 1898-1966
Improvisation on Das lila Lied (Unofficial homosexual anthem from 1920 with the refrain "We are different from the others")
Willy Engel-Berger 1890-1946 & Fritz Löhner-Beda 1883-1942, arr. Michael Hell
Song: In der Bar zum Krokodil - In the crocodile bar
Johann Pachelbel 1653-1706
Canon for 3 violins & basso continuo
Georg Friedrich Händel 1685-1759
Aria: Fra l’ombre e gli orrori - Between shadows and horrors, from: Sosarme
Friedrich Hollaender 1896-1976, arr. Michael Hell
Song: Ich weiß nicht, zu wem ich gehöre - I don't know who I belong to, from the movie: Storms of Passion
Georg Friedrich Händel
Aria: Wherever you walk, from: Semele
Walter Leigh
Concertino for harpsichord & string orchestra - Andante
Georg Friedrich Händel
Aria: Sorge infausta - Rough tempests arise, from: Orlando
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791
Aria: Im fremden Land gefangen - Caught in a Foreign Land, from: The Abduction from the Seraglio
Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
Sonata in c minor BWV 1017 for violin and harpsichord - Largo
Carl Friedrich Graun 1704/1705-1759
Aria: Voglio strage - I want revenge, from: Cesare e Cleopatra
Robert Stolz 1880-1975, arr. Michael Hell
Song: Frag nicht, warum ich gehe - Don’t Ask Why I'm Leaving, from the movie: The Song is Over
Walter Leigh
Concertino for harpsichord & string orchestra - Allegro
Robert Stolz, arr. Michael Hell
Song: Auch du wirst mich einmal betrügen - You too will cheat on me sometime, from the movie: Two hearts in three-four time
Werner Richard Heymann 1896-1961, arr. Michael Hell
Song: Irgendwo auf der Welt - Somewhere in the world there's a little happiness, from the movie: A blonde dream
***
In 1935, the "Nuremberg Laws" of Hitler's government laid the basis for the expulsion and destruction of Jewish life in Germany. Jewish artists were banned from performing, among others the famous "Comedian Harmonists", who had made the hit song "In der Bar zum Krokodil" famous, were disbanded. At the same time, the tightening of §175 justified the persecution of same-sex love. In Berlin, where the work of Magnus Hirschfeld and his Institute for Sexual Sciences gave legal legitimacy to homosexuality and transsexuality for the first time in the Western world, cabarets and entertainment establishments like the famous ELDORADO and SCHALL & RAUCH closed down by the dozen, even though Nazi celebrities like the notorious Sturmabteilung leader Ernst Röhm were regulars there.
Jewish artists saved themselves into emigration or trusted too long in the return of normality. Werner Richard Heymann, who directed the cabaret "Schall und Rauch", went into exile, as did Mischa Spoliansky, Kurt Weill and Friedrich Hollaender. Fritz Löhner-Beda, the lyricist of "In der Bar zum Krokodil", was murdered in Auschwitz. Walter Leigh, who learned to appreciate historical instruments as a student of Paul Hindemith in Berlin, joined the English army and fell in the Battle of Tobruk in 1942. Robert Stolz donated the money he earned from his film hits to a Jewish underground organisation and smuggled Jews into neutral Switzerland in his Mercedes-Benz until he was betrayed and also fled into exile.
Thomas Höft, 2023