[Dixielandjazz] Threepenny Opera.

[macjazz]

Can someone recommend a good recording of this?  I've never heard it and I'm 
getting damn tired of having to say that.
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No one has responded because its a very hard question to answer.

To my knowledge there is are no recordings of the general music of the show 
other than the cast albums themselves.  There are several of those. About 
the most accessible is MGM E3121.  It is quite good, authentic and does well 
with the English translations.

There are others in German, but I do not have access to the numbers.

The New York Shakespeare Company also issued one a few years ago as a 
Columbia Master works.. Columbia 1925(?). I don't like it as well but that 
may just be because I'm used to the first one.

I believe there is another (in German) on London, but have not heard it in 
years.

(WARNING: The rest of this is more than you want to know unless you want to 
know it )

The problem is the music itself.  (Bertolt) Brecht and composer (Kurt) Weill 
were doing "something special."  Both were German, Weill was Jewish (Brecht 
may have been, I don't know) and they were Naturalists in the late 
20's/early 1930s.  They worked to reflect the very difficult times Europe in 
general and Germany in particular were going through.  (This is the same era 
and the same style of music you find a later show, Cabaret, but Cabaret is 
much more commercial and smoothed out, as coarse as it is.)

Brecht chose to adapt a play from the 1700s called "The Beggars Opera."  It 
was based on pimps, prostitutes, thieves and pickpockets and so is Three 
Penny.

The music reflects the coarse times and people and is performed on "whatever 
was available to be stolen" Again (as was copied in Cabaret) the harmonies 
are very open and harsh. The general feeling reflects deep American blues in 
that it is very "Low Down" as done by lowdown people. (Don't misunderstand 
that line.  It is not a blues or even bluesy. Just nasty low down.)

At the same time Weill is a major composer and working to make "good" low 
down nasty music. ^The original score called for Player 1: Trumpet, Player 
2: Tenor sax/clarinet/bassoon/Soprano sax. Player 3: Also 
Sax/Flute/pic/clarinet/Soprano sax/ Bari sax. Player 4 (my favorite) 
Tymps/percussion/2nd trumpet.  Player 5: Trombone/Double Bass  Player 6: 
Tenor banjo, Bandoneon (?) cello/guitar/Hawaiian Guitar/Mandolin and the 
leader  Harmonium/piano/celesta.

Almost all of these are REQUIRED, particularly the Harmonium.  The last 
production I was in had to have 17 players just to cover all the 
instruments.

While some of the songs (Mac the knife, obviously) adapt well to popular 
performance (in spite of the words) most don't.  Still it is a fascinating 
show to do and to well worth the listen if you can find a cast record.

I think the reason it hasn't been picked up in jazz more is that (A) the 
songs are very text bound and (B) the sounds created by Weill are so unique 
that it doesn't adapt well to the jazz band (or standard OKOM combinations). 
When you do try to do it, the public that isn't used to the music doesn't 
like it and the public that does know the music doesn't like "what you have 
done to it."

This is true even though it has some magnificent themes.

I will be glad to discuss this further, on or off line, if anyone is 
interested.

Mart

Martin D. McKay (Designated Listener)
St. Augustine, Florida.  (Come on down ---and bring money)