The Threepenny Opera

Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht

Grove Press, 1964 - Drama - 110 pages

A reissue of Bertolt Brecht's classic play, including Brecht's Notes and an introduction by the great actress and chanteuse Lotte Lenya.

The Threepenny Opera broke box-office records in its original Berlin run, 1928-1933, and has had many extremely successful runs in the United States ever since.

There have been several English adaptations. The present "book" of Desmond Vesey's renders every word of the German, including Bertolt Brecht's Notes. Eric Bentley's lyrics are also faithful to the German, though they are, of course, written to be sung to the famous Kurt Weill's music.

Kurt Weill's widow, the great actress and chanteuse Lotte Lenya, has written the introduction, telling the story of how The Threepenny Opera came into being.

About the author

Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1898. One of the most influential dramatists of our time, he is best known for his classic plays The Threepenny Opera, Galileo, and Mother Courage and Her Children, as well as many others. He died in Berlin in 1956.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Threepenny Opera; An Evergreen black cat book; Black Cat Books; Brecht, Bertolt Series
• Authors: Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht
• Editor: Eric Bentley
• Translated by: Desmond Ivo Vesey
• Contributor: Lotte Lenya
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Grove Press, 1964
• ISBN: 080215039X, 9780802150394
• Length: 110 pages
• Subjects: Drama / European / General; Music / Genres & Styles / Opera; Poetry / General