Kurt Julian Weill was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his best-known work, The Threepenny Opera, which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose, Gebrauchsmusik. He also wrote several works for the concert hall and a number of works on Jewish themes. He became a United States citizen in 1943.
Weill in 1932
Berlin memorial plaque, Berlin-Hansaviertel, Germany
Weill and Lenya at home in 1942
German stamp commemorating Weill
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht, known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a playwright in Munich and moved to Berlin in 1924, where he wrote The Threepenny Opera with Elisabeth Hauptmann & Kurt Weill and began a life-long collaboration with the composer Hanns Eisler. Immersed in Marxist thought during this period, he wrote didactic Lehrstücke and became a leading theoretician of epic theatre and the Verfremdungseffekt.
Brecht in 1954
Brecht's house in Santa Monica, 1063 26th Street (2014)
Brecht and Weigel on the roof of the Berliner Ensemble during the International Workers' Day demonstrations in 1954
Graves of Helene Weigel and Bertolt Brecht in the Dorotheenstadt Cemetery