This 10-CD set presents a fascinating survey of music by the collaborating team of composer Kurt Weill and writer Berthold Brecht. Highlights of the set are Weill accompanying his wife Lotte Lenya at the piano in Six Songs, Brecht singing two pieces from ‘The Threepenny Opera’, Otto Klemperer conducting the ‘Little Threepenny Music’, and Frank Sinatra performing the wonderful ‘September Song’.

‘The Threepenny Opera’ was first staged in 1928 in Berlin, and two years later the duo of Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill caused a sensation with the premiere of ‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’, a piece which highlights violence, greed and exploitation and the economic conditions responsible for them.

This box set contains two versions of ‘The Threepenny Opera’, one from 1930 with the same cast as the premiere and the other from 1958, both with the incomparable Lotte Lenya.

Also included are legendary recordings of ‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’, ‘Der Jasager’, ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ and ‘Happy End’, as well as the musicals ‘Lady in the Dark’ and ‘Down in the Valley’.

Artists include Wolfgang Neuss, Willy Trenck-Trebitsch, Erich Ponto, Mary Martin, Kenny Baker, Johanna von Koczian, the Lewis Ruth Band, the Theo Mackeben Orchestra and Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg.

Contents:
CD 1:
The Threepenny Opera
1. Overture and Moritat of Mackie Messer
2. Seeräuberjenny
3. Kanonensong
4. Liebeslied
5. Barbara Song
6. Erstes Dreigroschen-Finale
7. Abschied
8. Zuhälterballade
9. Ballade vom angenehmen Leben
10. Eifersuchtsduett
11. Zweites Dreigroschenfi nale
12. Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens
13. Moritat and Schlusschoral
Cast:
- Ausrufer: Kurt Gerron
- Jenny, Polly: Lotte Lenya
- Macheath: Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
- Frau Peachum, Luca: Erika Helmke
- Peachum: Erich Ponto
Lewis Ruth Band / Theo Mackeben (1930)

14. Die Moritat von Mackie Messer
Berthold Brecht
Lewis Ruth Band / Theo Mackeben (1930)

15. Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens
Berthold Brecht
Orchestra of the Kurfürstendamm Theatres / Hans Sommer (1930)

Six Songs (arr. Weill)
16. Lost In The Stars
17. Lover Man
18. J‘attends un navire
19. Complainte de la Seine
20. Surabaya-Johnny
21. Denn wie man sich bettet
Lotte Lenya; Kurt Weill - piano (1943)

CD 2/3:
The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Cast:
- Jenny: Lotte Lenya
- Jimmy Mahoney: Heinz Sauerbaum
- Mrs Begbick: Gisela Litz
- Fatty: Peter Markwort
- Dreieinigkeitsmoses: Horst Günter
- Bill: Georg Mund
- Jack/Tobby Higgins: Fritz Göllnitz
- Joe: Sigmund Roth
- Speaker: Richard Munch
North German Radio Orchestra & Chorus / Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg (1956)

CD 4:
Der Jasager
Cast:
- The Boy: Joseph Protschka (tenor)
- The Mother: Lys Bert (mezzo soprano)
- Der Lehrer: Willibald Vohla (baritone)
- First Student: Walter Jenckel (tenor)
- Second Student: Hans Markus (tenor)
- Third Student: Alfons Holte (baritone)
Düsseldorf Chamber Orchestra & Children’s Choir / Siegfried Kohler (1954)

CD 5:
The Seven Deadly Sins
Cast:
- Anna: Lotte Lenya
- Family: Julius Katona, Fritz Göllnitz, Siegmund Roth, Ernst Poettgen
Hamburg Symphony Orchestra / Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg (1956)

CD 6:
Happy End
Lotte Lenya
Orchestra / Wilhem Brückner-Rüggeberg (1960)

CD 7:
Lady in the Dark
Cast:
- Liza Elliott: Ann Sothern
- Charley Johnson: James Daly
- Russel Paxton: Carleton Carpenter
- Kendall Nesbitt: Paul McGrath
- Randy Culver (Curtis): Robert Fortier
- Maggie Grant: Luella Gear
Orchestra and Clay Warnick Choir / Charles Sanford (1954)

CD 8:
Down in the Valley - An American Folk Opera
Cast:
- Jennie: Marion Bell
- Brack: William McGraw
- Anführer/Prediger: Kenneth Smith
- Bouché: Ray Jacquemot
- Vater: Richard Barrows
- Peters: Robert Holland
- Wache: Roy Johnston
- Zwei alte Damen: Jeanne Privette, Carole O’Hara
RCA Victor Orchestra & Chorus / Peter Hermann Adler (1950)

The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
- Alabama Song
- Denn wie man sich bettet
Ensemble and Orchesterbegleitung (1930)
- Medley
Kurfürstendamm Theatres Orchestra / Hans Sommer (1932)

CD 9:
Kleine Dreigroschenmusik
1. Die Moritat von Mackie Messer
2. Die Ballade vom angenehmen Leben
3. Tango-Ballade
4. Kanonensong
Kapelle der Staatsoper Berlin (1931)
5. Moritat und Schlusschoral
6. Tango-Ballade und Kanonensong
Blasorchester / Theo Mackeben (1930)

Knickerbocker Holiday
7. September Song
Walter Huston, Orchester / Victor Young (1944)
8. September Song
Frank Sinatra, Orchester / Axel Stordahl (1946)
9. The Scars
Walter Huston, Orchester / Maurice Abranavel (1938)

Ulysses Africanus
10. Lost in the stars
Walter Huston, Orchester / Victor Young (1944)
11. Lover man
Lotte Lenya (1942)

One Touch of Venus
12. I’m a stranger here myself
13. Westwind
14. Foolish speak
15. Speak low
16. That’s him
Mary Martin, Kenny Baker
One Touch of Venus Orchestra / Maurice Abranavel (1943)

CD 10:
The Threepenny Opera
Cast:
- Moritatensänger: Wolfgang Neuss
- Herr Peachum: Willy Trenk-Trebitsch
- Frau Peachum: Trude Hesterberg
- Macheath: Erich Schellow
- Polly Peachum: Johanna von Koczian
- Jenny: Lotte Lenya
- Tiger Brown: Wolfgang Grunert
- Lucy: Inge Wolffberg
Orchestra & Chorus of the Sender Freies Berlin / Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg (1958)