William Robert Thornhill, Ph.D. 1990

Advisor: Thomas Warburton

Dissertation Title: Kurt Weill’s Street Scene

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Dissertation Abstract:

In the dissertation, I attempt to answer some of the questions raised by Weill concerning the essential character and nature of Street Scene. What role should it assume in the overall scheme of his career? Does it contain within it a partial solution to the reconciliation of his European and American careers? Did he ascribe to it an importance beyond its scope and aesthetic value, or was it instead the most ideal representation of his thoughts on the American musical theater to that point? In order to discuss these questions I have divided the dissertation into three sections, each of which should lead cumulatively to a clearer perception of what the work represented for Weill, and what relationship it bore to his vision for the American musical theater.

The first section of the dissertation attempts to reconstruct Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, tracing its development from Weill’s original conception to the final preparation of the Broadway production. In addition to all the relevant secondary sources, I have utilized all the available primary sources from Weill’s diaries, letters, project notes, and, most importantly, his own annotated copy of Elmer Rice’s original Street Scene play. The evidence from the primary sources presents an earlier version of Street Scene than hitherto known; in certain statements made by Weill in letters, he indicated that he was not adverse to certain additions which would be of benefit in future productions. Also, I have concentrated on Weill’s own constantly evolving ideas for the show and the consequences of the collaborative process which led inevitably to something quite different from the original conception.

The second section represents an examination of selected American writings by Weill, their relationship to his European and American careers, and their influence on what he sought to achieve in Street Scene. Here I emphasize Weill’s notions of opera and Broadway opera, how these are connected to his ideas formulated in Europe, and how in Street Scene he attempted to reconcile seemingly disparate genres. The third section focuses on Street Scene‘s music, seeking to synthesize an examination of the music with the discussion presented in the previous two sections. By considering the piano-vocal score, along with the musical drafts and sketches, I hope to clarify the relationship of the music to his writings on music, and to demonstrate that some aspects of the music represent a thread of continuity with that which he had achieved already in Europe. Finally, the dissertation contains an appendix that illustrates the transformation of the original play to the musical theater work, a synopsis corresponding to the individual musical numbers, and a complete list of all the cuts, omissions, and projected numbers from the annotated play, all coordinated with Rice’s original work.