Weill - Der Kuhhandel/Arms and the Cow

Video: Color Audio: Dolby Surround Subtitles: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), German (Subtitled) Original release: 138 min , German (Original) Weight factor: 1 item(s)

Area Runtime Box Germany 138 min (normal) Rating Not Rated Catalog #: 2960147 UPC: 811691018034

Distributor Notes

Two in exile - "It would be my salvation if someone would finally come who could do what I need. It makes me so nervous to know what I could do - but to waste my energy in searching for a libretto." Kurt Weill to Lotte Lenya, Paris 1934 KURT WEILL had turned his back on Nazi Germany. His accounts in Berlin had been frozen; his contract with his publishing company Universal Edition was about to be terminated. Already famous for his "Threepenny Opera Songs" and his last collaboration with Bertolt Brecht in Paris ("The Seven Deadly Sins"), Weill was looking for new work amid the surroundings of the French avant-garde. The second person in exile: ROBERT VAMBERY, former chief dramatist of the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, suffered a similar fate. Both in search of a new identity, neither resigned to their fate, in 1934 they began to collaborate on a new, original work by Vambery which instantly appealed to the composer: it was to be an operetta, funny and with a social and political background, completely in the spirit of Jacques Offenbach. "This piece bodes well for me, because work on it is going more easily than it has done for a long time," Weill wrote to Lotte Lenya. At the same time, the composer endeavoured to find a suitable theatre for the premiere, which turned out to be much more difficult than expected. He tried in Paris and Zurich, sent an initial synopsis of the work using the title "The Engagement of Santa Maria": "It is an outstanding libretto, following on from the best traditions of operetta but far away from trashy Viennese operetta". However, his efforts did not bear fruit until 1935 in London. The work was to receive its premiere at the Savoy Theatre in June of the same year. However, it was not only necessary to translate and edit all of Vamery's texts; Weill also had to rearrange many parts and compose additional numbers in the style of the London West End productions of the time. In the end, even the title of the work had to be sacrificed: the work finally reached the theatre as "A Kingdom for a Cow" - and finished its run after just 3 weeks. Weill did not want to give up his firm faith in the quality of the work, and attempted to continue work on it until his death in 1950. He immediately distanced himself from the London version, and withdrew the materials and performance rights. Without success, as it turned out - when Weill died, the work was still lying in the drawer, unedited and unfinished. DAVID POUNTNEY, producer and director of the Bregenz Festival, decided to stage the version of the work revised by Robert Vambery in 1978 with the score completed by Lys Simonette. To great acclaim: the reviews were full of praise, not only for the colourful, comical and highly resourceful production, but also for the work itself, which clearly confirmed the quality criteria mentioned by the composer. Anyone only accustomed to the style of the Weill-Brecht "Songspiele" is in for a surprise with this DVD production from the Viennese Volksoper. The plot alone, in which an unscrupulous arms dealer pulls a fast one on an imaginary Southern states island, where the cow belonging to the young farm hand Juan is pawned in exchange for a machine gun, roused the audience to enthusiastic applause. There is of course a happy end - all with imaginative, humorous and lively music by Kurt Weill, in the best tradition of operetta! Source: Phoenix Edition/Naxos

Release Notes

DVD Features:

Region 0
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.78
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby 5.1 Surround - German
Dolby Digital - German
Stereo 2.0 - German
Subtitles - German, English, French - Optional