ARMS AND THE COW (2000 BBC Radio)
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Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950)
German, and in his later years American, composer active from the 1920s until his death. He was a leading composer for the stage. He also wrote a number of works for the concert hall.
Weill had an interview with Ferruccio Busoni in December 1920. After examining some of Weill's compositions, Busoni accepted him as one of five master students in composition at the Preußische Akademie der Künste in Berlin. In 1921, he composed his first symphony, Sinfonie in einem Satz, as well as the lieder Die Bekehrte (Goethe) and two Rilkelieder for voice and piano. In 1922, Weill composed a psalm, a divertimento for orchestra, and Sinfonia Sacra: Fantasia, Passacaglia, and Hymnus for Orchestra. On November 18, 1922, his children's pantomime Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night) premiered at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm; it was the first public performance of any of Weill's works in the field of musical theatre. In February 1924 Weill was introduced to the dramatist Georg Kaiser, with whom Weill would have a long-lasting creative partnership resulting in several one-act operas.
Although he had some success with his first mature non-stage works (such as the String Quartet, Op. 8 or the Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12), which were influenced by Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, Weill tended more and more to vocal music and musical theatre. His musical theatre work and his songs were extremely popular with the wider public in Germany at the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. Weill's music was admired by composers such as Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Darius Milhaud and Stravinsky. His best-known work is The Threepenny Opera (1928), a reworking of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera written in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Engel directed the original production of The Threepenny Opera in 1928.
Der Kuhhandel (A Kingdom for a Cow or Arms and the Cow) is an operetta by Kurt Weill. The German libretto was written by Robert Vambery. Weill and Vambery, both refugees from Nazi Germany, met in Paris in 1933 and began work on the operetta in 1934. Following the completion of the libretto, attempts to interest theatre managers in Paris and Zürich in staging the operetta proved abortive, and Weill turned to other projects, leaving most of the musical numbers complete but unorchestrated. In 1978, Lys Symonette, Weill's friend and assistant, prepared a reconstruction of the original two-act operetta, and this was published by Schott Musik in 1981. This version was first performed in concert in Düsseldorf on 22 March 1990 and on stage at the Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater in 1994.
Synopsis:
Place: The fictional country of Santa Maria, which shares a Caribbean island with another state, Ucqua.
Act 1
Juan owns a cow, whose milk generates enough money to enable him to marry his sweetheart, Juanita, who has no dowry. Meanwhile, the peace-loving President Mendez and his advisor Ximenes are approached by Jones, an American arms dealer, who fabricates reports that Ucqua is re-arming and persuades them to buy weapons from him.
As Santa Maria is short of money, Mendez and Ximenez introduce a new tax to pay for the weapons. Juan cannot pay, his cow is impounded and the wedding with Juanita is called off. Juan works as a stevedore to earn enough money to get the cow back, but a second attempt at a wedding is again foiled by the impounding of the cow. This is because a second tax has had to be imposed at the behest of the war-mongering General Conchas, who plans manoeuvres on the border with Ucqua. Juan is called up into the army, and, to earn money for a replacement cow, Juanita goes into the city to work as a prostitute at Madame Odette's establishment. Jones and Ximenes conspire to replace Mendez as President by Conchas, who organises a putsch and takes power.
Act 2
Conchas visits Madame Odette's to celebrate his takeover and is captivated by Juanita. Next day, despite a hangover, he takes part in a military parade organised by Ximenes. Juan, who has no desire to be a soldier, punches the General and is sentenced to death. Luckily, the guns that Jones has sold to Santa Maria fail to go off, whereupon it turns out that the guns that he has also sold to Ucqua are also defective. President Conchas opts for peaceful coexistence with Ucqua and pardons Juan, who can now reclaim his cow with the help of his army pay and Juanita's earnings, and at last the couple can get married.
ARMS & THE COW (DER KUHHANDEL)
An English-language performing version by Jeremy Sams after Lys Symonette's adaptation
and Robert Vambery's original libretto.
Broadcast: BBC Radio 3, 17 January 2000.
Tenor: Daniel Norman
Tenor: Andrew Murgatroyd
Baritone: Simon Preece
Baritone: John Fletcher
Juanita Sanchez: Juanita Lascarro (soprano)
Juan Santos: Mark Tucker (tenor)
Mr Jones: David Firth
President Mendez: Hugh Heatherington (tenor)
General Garcias Conchaz: Roderick Earle (bass-Baritone)
Ximenez: Alasdair Elliott (tenor)
Emilio Sanchez: Gordon Sandison (bass)
Bailiff: Harry Nicoll (tenor)
Juan's mother: Susan Gorton (mezzo)
Editor: Richard Lloyd-Morgan (baritone)
Minister of Ucqua: Geoffrey Dolton (baritone)
Madame Odette: Cynthia Buchan (mezzo)
Girl: Amanda Dean (soprano)
The Maida Vale Singers
BBC Concert Orchestra
Robert Ziegler, conductor
Synopsis
Act I
The Chorus sings the Prologue, praising the peace and bounty of their Caribbean island, which is divided into two countries, Santa Maria, where the action takes place, and Ucqua. Act I begins as Juan and Juanita of Santa Maria sing a duet ("Siehst Du keine?"). Juan shows Juanita his cow and says it gives them the means to get married; Juanita promises to persuade her father to bless the union. The scene shifts suddenly to a telephone conversation in which Jones, an arms dealer, orders his agent, Chao, to manipulate the Santa Maria government into buying weapons. In the palace, President Mendez rejects Chao's wiles, until Minister Ximenez, the president's right-hand man, shows the president planted press accounts of an arms buildup in Ucqua. Mendez abruptly decides to order machine guns and rifles. The fearsome Minister of War Garcia Conchas approaches. Mendez and Ximenez are afraid of Conchas ("Leise, nur leise"), the president’s populist rival. Conchas recounts his exploits ("Schockschwerenot!"). After he leaves, Mendez and Ximenez agree to levy a special tax to pay for the weapons, and they agree to conceal the arms purchase from Conchas.
Back in the village, Juanita’s father agrees to the marriage. Juan begins the local marriage ritual, a mock abduction of the bride ("Der Mädchenraub"). As they approach the chapel, a marshal appears and confiscates Juan's cow for failure to pay the special tax. The wedding is postponed, and Juan decides to move to the city to earn the cow back ("Auf wiedersehen"). He goes off to join a work crew ("Pharao"); in a short time, he has saved enough to buy another cow ("Seit ich in diese Stadt"). Meanwhile, Ximenez has taken delivery from Chao; he wakes up the president to tell him that first, they still can't pay for the weapons they've bought, and second, that Conchas knows about the deal. Conchas bursts in and threatens them ("Das Erlebnis im Café"); Ximenez placates him with a gift from the public treasury, requiring another special tax, that will allow Conchas to pay his debts. As they look out over Santa Maria in the moonlight ("Schlafe, Santa Maria"), the three officials decree a military draft and agree to provoke an arms race with Ucqua.
Back in the village, Juan is about to marry Juanita when the marshal appears and confiscates his new cow ("Lied des Gerichtsvollziehers"). The wedding is postponed again, and as Juan prepares to go back to work, the draft is announced ("O trüber Tag"). He goes off to fight; Juanita decides to go to town to earn money ("Es zog zu Salomon"). The dignitaries, meanwhile, are hosting a banquet for the foreign minister of Ucqua. As the occasion proceeds (Act I Finale), Chao and Jones persuade Conchas to launch a coup.
Act II
The establishment of Mme. Odette, next door to the palace, where Juanita has found work. She is sent off to do laundry as the other prostitutes welcome the drunken Conchas. He is unimpressed with their rendition of the national anthem ("Nationalhymne") and tries unsuccessfully to remember a song from his childhood. When he spills wine on his pants, Odette calls for Juanita to remove the stain. She begins humming the same song and Conchas asks her to sing ("Ballade vom Räuber Esteban"). By then he is thoroughly drunk and launches into a drinking song ("Fandango"). The scene shifts to Juan’s troop; Juan continues to lament his cow ("Ich habe eine Kuh gehabt"). In the palace, Ximenez awakens Conchas so he can announce the new government; they agree that he should be an elected dictator. He proclaims war with Ucqua; when Ximenez notes that the treasury is empty again, Conchas orders another special tax. Juan and Juanita reunite when his troop arrives at the palace. Then Juan agrees to act as Conchas's stooge during his forthcoming speech, but Juanita reminds him that the General's plans to go to war will prevent them from getting married. Conchas delivers his speech and closes with the question that Juan is to answer. Juan punches him instead and is sentenced to death forthwith. Members of the firing squad get out their recently purchased rifles and discover that not a single one works. Conchas hastily reverses himself, pardons Juan, and calls for peace. Juan and Juanita pledge their troth at last (Act II Finale).
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