The Threepenny Opera: How Brecht and Weill Forever Changed Musical Theater

The Threepenny Opera is a musical play written by Bertolt Brecht with music by Kurt Weill that premiered in Berlin in 1928. This year marked the height of the Weimar Republic but also stood on the eve of a global economic crash. The story adapts The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay. Gay originally used the story to mock the hypocrisy of the British ruling class in the eighteenth century. Brecht updated this setting to critique the corrupt society of his own time. It focuses on the criminal Macheath and his rival Peachum, who controls the beggars of London.

The work represented the peak of Weimar modernism. It acted as a theatrical parallel to the visual art of George Grosz and Otto Dix, who used expressionism to expose the moral decay of the era. It stood in sharp contrast to the sentimental and nationalist art that the Nazis would soon impose on the country.

Why Threepenny Opera was unique for the time

Theater in the 1920s was largely focused on illusion and emotional immersion. This included the strict realism of authors like Gerhart Hauptmann and the lavish, hypnotic spectacles of directors like Max Reinhardt. Brecht wanted to destroy this tradition. He developed a theory known as Epic Theater. The goal was to keep the audience emotionally detached so they could think critically about the social themes. Actors stepped out of character to address the audience directly. The stage lighting was visible rather than hidden, which reminded viewers they were watching a performance.

The work also redefined what an opera could be. It replaced the grand orchestras of Wagner or Verdi with a small band of cabaret musicians. The characters were not noble heroes but criminals, prostitutes, and corrupt officials. This grit was a deliberate attack on the bourgeois idea of theater as a place for comfortable entertainment.

Here are some examples of stage and film adaptations amongst countless others:

Influence on popular culture

The opening ballad of the show is “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” or “Die Moritat von Mackie Messer.” This song became one of the most covered tracks in music history. Louis Armstrong recorded a famous jazz version in the 1950s that smoothed out the rough edges of the original. Bobby Darin later turned it into a swing pop hit that topped the charts. These versions often obscured the dark lyrics about murder and arson.

The influence of the work extends beyond a single song. The dark and cynical tone of the show paved the way for later musicals like Cabaret and Chicago. It demonstrated that musical theater could tackle serious political subjects and feature antiheros. The aesthetic of the show also influenced rock musicians like The Doors and David Bowie, who admired the blend of high art and street culture.

Musical style

Kurt Weill composed a score that mixed various genres to create a sound that was distinct and jarring. He avoided the lush strings of the late Romantic era. Instead, he used a small ensemble that included saxophones, banjos, and percussion. The music drew heavily from American jazz and German cabaret music of the 1920s.

Weill also used a technique of parody. He wrote songs that sounded like Lutheran chorales or operatic arias but paired them with lyrics about crime and betrayal. The vocal style was often rough and untraversed. Lotte Lenya, who played Jenny, used a singing style that was closer to speech than traditional operatic singing. This made the music feel urgent and accessible to the common person rather than just the elite.

Conclusion

The Threepenny Opera proved that a musical could be political, aggressive, and popular all at once. The collaboration between Brecht and Weill captured the anxiety of an era that was teetering on the edge of disaster.

The modern relevance of the play lies in its famous line: “What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?” It remains a symbol of a time that was rebellious, urban, and sophisticated and paved the way for much of the popular theater to follow. While modern practitioners of popular theater may see Brecht as being too didactic (rightly so!), I do think they’re forever influenced by Brecht and Weill.

While Threepenny Opera did not have the wit of Gilbert and Sullivan, it demonstrated how to make musical theater that deals with the ugly realities of the world with a lot of lyricism and poetic charm.