Kurt Weill
Little Threepenny Music
Suite from ‘The Threepenny Opera’ (1928)
for wind orchestra
Short instrumentation: 2 0 2 2 - 0 2 1 1 - perc(2), pno, alto sax(Eb), t.sax(Bb), band, bjo
Duration: 22'
Instrumentation details:
1st flute (+picc)
2nd flute
1st clarinet in Bb
2nd clarinet in Bb
alto saxophone in Eb
tenor saxophone in Bb (+soprano sax(Bb))
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
1st trumpet in Bb
2nd trumpet in Bb
trombone
bass tuba
percussion(2)
band
piano
bjo (+guit)
Weill - Kleine Dreigroschenmusik for wind orchestra
Audio preview
Work introduction
On 5 February 1929, Kurt Weill wrote a letter to UE (excerpt):
I heard the Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (I deliberately avoided using the word “suite”) yesterday at rehearsal; I am very content with it. There are eight numbers in all new, concert versions, with some new intermediate strophes and an entirely new orchestration: two flutes, two clarinets, two saxophones, two bassoons, two trumpets, one trombone, one tuba, banjo, percussion, piano. I believe the piece can be played an awful lot, since it is precisely what every conductor wants: a snappy piece to end with.
I will send you the score immediately after the performance; Klemperer had the temporary parts made in the opera.
Wiesengrund-Adorno philosophised about the Kleine Dreigroschenmusik in his critique of composition in the 1929 Anbruch (excerpt):
What a potpourri! … that is all, scarcely a melody is lacking, they surge by so urgently that occasionally one of them collides with another; they contain one another in close formation, the maimed, damaged and worn out ones which are yet seditious, forming into a protest march.
I heard the Kleine Dreigroschenmusik (I deliberately avoided using the word “suite”) yesterday at rehearsal; I am very content with it. There are eight numbers in all new, concert versions, with some new intermediate strophes and an entirely new orchestration: two flutes, two clarinets, two saxophones, two bassoons, two trumpets, one trombone, one tuba, banjo, percussion, piano. I believe the piece can be played an awful lot, since it is precisely what every conductor wants: a snappy piece to end with.
I will send you the score immediately after the performance; Klemperer had the temporary parts made in the opera.
Wiesengrund-Adorno philosophised about the Kleine Dreigroschenmusik in his critique of composition in the 1929 Anbruch (excerpt):
What a potpourri! … that is all, scarcely a melody is lacking, they surge by so urgently that occasionally one of them collides with another; they contain one another in close formation, the maimed, damaged and worn out ones which are yet seditious, forming into a protest march.