Weill, Kurt

Kurt Weill Popular and theatrical music composer Kurt Julian Weill, Dessau, Germany, March 2, 1900; New York City, April 3, 1950. Weill began his career in Germany as musical director for a small opera company. He wrote a symphony in 1921 (it went unperformed at the time) and then wrote several short operas, mostly on social-political topics. He collaborated with playwright Bertolt Brecht in 1927 on Mahagonny, a satire of American capitalism. The duo then created the 1928 The Threepenny Opera…