Work of the Week - Kurt Weill: 2. Sinfonie

The Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, Germany begins on 24 February with Hotel Montparnasse, an evening of ballet loosely based on the time that Weill spent exiled in Paris before immigrating to America in 1935. Set in the Montparnasse district of 1930s Paris, the ballet will bring the French metropolis back to life along with the dreams and fears of the immigrants who lived there. The work begins with Weill's 2. Sinfonie which was composed during his time in Paris. The Anhaltisches Staatstheater will be the venue for this spectacular evening which brings together the Anhaltisches Staatstheater Ballet, choreography by Tomasz Kajdanski and the Anhaltische Philharmonie conducted by Daniel Carlberg.

Weill began work on the drafts for his second symphony in 1933 whilst living in Berlin and finished the piece one year later in Paris. The work was to become Weill’s last instrumental work of this kind since once in America he turned exclusively to composing film scores and music for Broadway. 2. Sinfonie is characterised by clear classical shapes and romantically interwoven gestures and although the composer initially neglected to give programmatic meaning to the work, he later stated that the work was an expression of renewal.

Three further works composed around the same period complete the music for the ballet. Weill's Marie Galanteand Gershwin's Klavierlieder and famous An American in Paris.

• Kurt Weill - Profile
• Website of the Kurt Weill Fest 2012