The seven deadly sins

History of creation

The premiere took place in Paris in the summer of 1933.

"The Seven Deadly Sins was Kurt Weill's first work after his escape from Germany. Again, the composer collaborated with Bertold Brecht to create this "opera-ballet", in which the protagonist Anna is represented by two performers - a singer /Anna I/, who shows the external features of the heroine, and a dancer /Anna II/, the embodiment of her inner character.Although not as popular and well-known as The Majesty and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, this work is also a wonderful example of the deep and darkly ironic social critique that characterises all the collaborative works of the Weill-Brecht tandem.

The conflict presented by the unique dual character seems somehow related to several actual interpersonal clashes of people involved in this project.Just one year before she made the role of Annal and after six years of marriage to composer Kurt Weill - Lotte Lenya divorced him.Similarly, Tillie Losch, whose dancing skills and remarkable physical resemblance to Lenya made her the ideal candidate for the role of Anna II, would divorce impresario Edward James very soon after their work together on the production. And, of course, the librettist Brecht, who furiously pursued litigation - accompanied even by physical violence - against Weill, following the dissent and discontent that accompanied the Berlin production of " The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny." All these disputes and misunderstandings certainly find the strangest resonance in the dual portrayal of Anna, who must resolve dilemmas through two diametrically opposed selves. The recklessly ambitious outer personality / Annal/ that masks a tragically unhappy inner soul / Annal/.

Contents

The opera tells the story of a girl who leaves home to find work in various major American cities, hoping to earn enough money for her family to build a house on the banks of the Mississippi River. Along the way, she is "tempted" by each of the seven biblical sins. Brecht turns things around. He shows them not as moral transgressions but as episodic commentaries on the conflicts between morality and money that inevitably arise in a capitalist society. An example is how Anna's prostitution is not a crime and does not contradict the prohibition against Lust. On the contrary, her sin is falling in love. Her romance threatens her business,because the clients don't pay.Looking for a job, Anna each time vacillates between her dignity or the money to take home.Her family reproaches her/ Brecht and Weil present it dramaturgically and musically as an omniscient quartet/Their observations accompany Anna from town to town, and when she sins again their prayer is the same:" Lord, enlighten our children,that they may find the path to prosperity, that they may not break the laws that make us rich and happy!"

Weill's caustic blend of cabaret sounds and intricate technique of dissonant counterpoint provides the perfect setting for Brecht's text, which employs varying degrees of irony and allusion to create an extremely raw yet deeply expressive work.

Parts:

1 Prologue , 2 Idleness, 3 Pride, 4 Anger, 5 Gluttony, 6 Lust, 7 Greed , 8 Envy, 9 Epilogue.

Duration: 40 min
Performed in German with Bulgarian subtitles
Premiere: 13.03.2018 - Chamber Stage "In Pocket 234"