WEILL KURT: (1900-1950) German-American Composer. Weill held the ideal of writing music that would s

WEILL KURT: (1900-1950) German-American Composer. Weill held the ideal of writing music that would s

Der Weg der Verheisung

WEILL KURT: (1900-1950) German-American Composer. Weill held the ideal of writing music that would serve a social purpose. An excellent and rare A.M.Q.S., Kurt Weill, one page, 8.5 x 10.5, (21,5 x 27 cm), on a page removed from an autograph album, in German. In bold, dark fountain pen ink the German composer has carefully penned four bars of music, which he identifies as being from his opera Der Weg der Verheisung, ''The Eternal Road''. Signed and inscribed beneath the musical quotation `For Marina Chaliapin´ also dated in Salzburg, 1935 in Weill´s hand. Small overall minor age toning to edges, otherwise G to VG Weill´s opera-oratorio in four acts The Eternal Road is based on Franz Werfel´s playwright Der Weg der Verheisung, (''The Way of the Covenant''), a biblical drama. The work was conceived by Zionist activist Meyer Weisgal to alert public to Hitler´s persecution of the Jews in Germany. He enlisted the help of Max Reinhardt who chose Weill to compose the music and Werfel to write the libretto. The Eternal Road premiered at the Manhattan Opera House in January 1937, with a spectacular production involving 245 actors. Provenance: The present page originates from the personal autograph album of Marina Chaliapin (1912-2009), the daughter of Russian opera singer Feodor Chaliapin (1873-1938), widely regarded as one of the finest bass singers of the 20th century, and his mistress Marina Petsold (1882-1964) who became the singer's second wife in 1927. Chaliapin's daughter was married to Luigi Freddi (1895-1977) the Italian journalist and politician who edited the journal Il Popolo d'Italia and who was also hugely influential in Italian political cinema in the second half of the 1930s and beginning of the 1940s