Weill, Kurt

Long and important typed letter signed ("Kurt Weill"), 2 pages (9 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.; 240 x 215 mm), Brook House [New City, New York], 13 August 1945, to an unnamed correspondent; some pinholes. Cream cloth folding-case, gilt-stamped title on spine.

An autobiographical account of his composing career since 1933, providing a list of his major "serious" works and providing an account of his beliefs as a composer, in effect his artistic credo.

"... My last German show, 'The Silverlake', a serious musical play ... opened in 11 German cities the same night in February 1933—and was banned for the whole country the next morning. It contained in the 'Ballad of Ceasar's Death' a strong attack on Hitler who had just come into power ... I have considered myself a Theater composer, I believe that the musical theatre is the highest, the most expressive and the most imaginative form of theater ... the distinction between "serious" and "light" music is one of the misconceptions of the Wagnerian period in music, and that the only distinction we should make is the one between good and bad music ... "