The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Weimar Republic: Germany 1918 – 1933 series continues this weekend with four performances of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Seven Deadly Sins. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts.
The concerts open with Murderer, Hope of Women, a one-act opera by Paul Hindemith. The libretto is taken from a play of the same name by Oskar Kokoschka. It takes places in the ancient past and depicts a confrontation between a man with his warriors and a woman with hers. Violence, flirtation and carnage ensue.
The next work is The Berlin Requiem by Weill and Brecht. This work was written in 1928 while the composer was taking a break from writing their opera, The Rise and Fall of The City of Mahagonny. The Requiem was written for orchestra and male voices to be heard on the radio. Issues with the censors postponed the performance by a year.
Of the work Weill said, “It is an attempt to express what the city-dweller of our time has to say about the idea of death.”
Anchoring each concert is The Seven Deadly Sins, the last collaboration between Weill and Brecht. The work is a ballet that employs the use of orchestra and five singers (soprano, two tenors, baritone and bass).
As you would imagine, it is centered around the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth, Pride, Anger, Gluttony, Lust, Covetousness (aka Avarice) and Envy.
This is not going to be a small concert. In addition to the already listed needs for soloists, Simon McBurney is the Director of the concert and his brother Gerald McBurney serves as Music Consultant and Dramaturge. The Los Angeles Master Chorale, eight actors and a phalanx of video, lighting and sound designers along with a choreographer are employed for what will be a unique presentation of this material.
Note that this concert is performed without an intermission.
For tickets for Thursday go here.
For tickets for Friday go here.
For tickets for Saturday go here.
For tickets for Sunday go here.
Photo of Kurt Weill courtesy of the Kurt Weill Foundation
