Seven Deadly Sins (complete)

Program Note:

Kurt Weill (1900-1950) was among the most celebrated musicians working in Germany’s Weimar Republic. From a musical family, Weill studied with respected teachers and penned several successful theatrical works in the 1920s. But as his fortunes flourished, political dangers grew in step. As the Nationalist Socialists exerted greater control over Germany in the wake of the 1929 economic crash, Weimarian excesses were severely curtailed. Weill in particular was targeted, both as a Jew and as a leading voice in the decadent theater. Performances dried up, opportunities at home flagged, and Weill astutely looked to strengthen his position in cities outside Germany. During a visit to Paris late in 1932—just before the fateful Reichstag fire which made it nearly impossible to return to Germany—Weill received a commission to compose Die sieben Todesbanden, The Seven Deadly Sins.
One of Weill’s preferred collaborators, Bertholt Brecht, penned the libretto for this satirical ballet chanté (sung ballet). Brecht had also chosen to flee Germany in the face of Nazi condemnation, moving primarily between France and Switzerland. Even though their collaboration only lasted a few years, its importance can hardly be overestimated. Sins marks their last and possibly best collaboration.
In some cases, the details of a work’s commission provide only passing interest. But with Sins, the backstory plays a substantial role. Weill was approached by an English poet, Edward James, independently wealthy and with a rumored (albeit illegitimate) royal pedigree. Quite apart from purely aesthetic considerations, James was motivated to approach Weill after noting a striking physical resemblance between his own wife, dancer Tilly Losch, and Weill’s spouse, actress Lotte Lenya. Even before any notes were on paper and before Brecht became involved, James stipulated a structural duality. Losch would dance as a doppelganger to Lenya at the premiere, inspiring the key split personality between good and evil Annas.
The work premiered in Paris in June 1933. Initial reactions were mixed due in part to its being sung in German. Hastily produced translations helped it reach new audiences, but it was the English setting made by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman that helped it succeed more widely in later years. Nearly 20 years after the premiere, Lenya reprised the role in a version for low voice, adjusted to accommodate the passage of so many years. It is the low voice version that will be performed this evening.
The Seven Deadly Sins is set in America, beginning in Louisiana and moving progressively to various cities as each of the seven sins are handled: Sloth in an unnamed city, Pride in Memphis, Wrath in Los Angeles, and so forth. This itinerant scheme probably stems from Brecht’s own wanderings immediately after leaving Germany. Weill, too, was fascinated by American culture of the Roaring 20s. In coming decades he would gradually abandon the “high art” styles absorbed from his mentors (such as Busoni, Schoenberg, and others) and focus almost exclusively on adapting American ballads, spirituals, and jazz to his music. Weill’s works thus were more commonly heard on Broadway than in opera houses or symphonic halls. As a nod to the southern flavor of Sins’ opening, listeners will note the supporting role of a banjo and prominent klezmer clarinet lines, echoing sounds of Weill’s own past.
The work is organized into nine parts: one for each of the seven sins plus prologue and epilogue. The plot centers on strong-willed Anna and her quest to achieve fame and fortune. Almost immediately she reveals her split personality when talking about her timid double: “she’s the just a little mad, my head is on straight.” Anna I carries the music and text, consistently referring to her “sister” in the third person as one who prudishly resists the necessary path toward money and success (i.e., through sin). By the end, however, it is Anna I who feels the pangs of envy for those (like her proud and proper “sister”) who did not fall victim to sin. Weill’s score waltzes and bristles along with brilliant harmonies and serpentine, cabaret-inspired melodies.
In addition to the two Anna’s, which are nearly always performed by one vocal soloist, Brecht included a chorus that periodically comments upon the action. Scored by Weill for four-part male voices, the covetous “family” is waiting for Anna to send money back home. The chorus sounds at times like something out of Greek tragedy; they are never “present” in the same place and time as Anna herself At other times Weill’s tight harmony and jazz-inspired style makes them sound more like a barbershop quartet. It’s a curious mixture of high and low art that feels very much at home with this composer.
From the outset, the Prologue music drapes Anna in languor; not surprisingly, the first sin dealt with is her sloth. What is surprising is how feverishly the family—led by the bass voice of her mother—rattle through the assessment of her lazy nature. Sloth unfolds in a wicked, C minor Allegro vivace up to the final fire-and-brimstone chorale. Weill indulges a charming waltz as Anna discusses Pride, one that grows more intense as her thoughts turn to the realities of selling herself for money. Her Anger sounds redolent of Shostakovich, opening with agitated strings in forceful unison, but throughout Weill neatly distinguishes Anna lilting personality from the family’s admonishments. Ironically, the following evocation of Gluttony is scored for solo vocal quartet with almost no accompaniment. In a painfully satirical, pseudo-serious chorale style (note Weill’s use of learned counterpoint), this litany of foods Anna cannot eat because of contractual obligations marks the comic highpoint of Sins. Lust is set as an impassioned ballad, followed by the family’s Allegro of Covetousness. Finally, Envy takes hold of Anna I as she sings short phrases punctuated by bursting intrusions of the ensemble. Echoes of the opening Prologue recur in the march section that flows continuously into the closing Epilogue. The circle is closed as Anna—both Anna’s, in fact—come home to Louisiana, back to the home they coveted, “their” fortune made, but at what cost?

(c) Jason Stell