Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

[Anne]

GREAT PERFORMANCES
"Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" From L.A. Opera
Monday, December 17, 2007 9 - 11:30 pm
Four-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald stars in a new
production of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, one
of the great 20th-century operas from composer Kurt Weill and
playwright Bertolt Brecht. Tony Award-winners Patti LuPone and
John Doyle ("Sweeny Todd" re-team for their LA Opera debuts,
joined by acclaimed tenor Anthony Dean Griffey. (CC, Stereo)

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/

Check your own pbs schedule for date and time.

[Wendell_E]

Thanks for the reminder.  I knew it was coming, but probably would have forgotten and missed it.

[bhodges]

I just got a DVD of this last week.  Haven't watched it yet...

--Bruce

[uffeviking]

Sorry to hear, Bruce, that you wasted your hard earned money! I assume it is sung in English.

Bertold Brecht can not be translated, no matter who does it; only the original German language version will give you the real Brecht. Oh yes, there is also Weill, part of the team Weill/Brecht. Weill is a good enough composer, but no match to the intelligence of Brecht.

Edit: Had to delete a sentence because I slipped into the listing of a CD of 'The Three Penny Opera'!

[Wendell_E]

Sorry to hear, Bruce, that you wasted your hard earned money! I assume it is sung in English.

Edit: Had to delete a sentence because I slipped into the listing of a CD of 'The Three Penny Opera'!

Well, there is a CD Mahagonny with Lenya, though it came years after the original production.

There's also a German-language DVD from the Salzburg Festival, with Malfitano, Hadley, and Gywneth Jones.

I saw the LA version on TV last night.  It was pretty good, but I do miss the bite of the original German.

[bhodges]

Sorry to hear, Bruce, that you wasted your hard earned money! I assume it is sung in English.

Not to worry, Lis--it was a gift!    I didn't realize that it was an English-language version, however.  I've heard a number of other audio-only productions, and like you and Wendell, I prefer the sound of the German texts.

--Bruce

[uffeviking]

Don't want to turn you off completely re. the translation. It's not so much the English words being off Brechts's original text, it's his musical rhythm which simply can not be duplicated in any other language. Isn't this true with most interpretations of poetry?

[uffeviking]

Now this is almost a miraculous coincidence - and believe me, I did not make it up - : On another forum the very same opera was the subject of discussion and a young American conductor, with a perfect knowledge of German, working in Germany had this to say:


I know that, of course, but Brecht is just so special, his rhythms are simply so clean and perfect, there's just no way he can be translated with any of the flavor intact.

My remark here preceded his remark over there!