“Mahagonny ein Songspiel”, also known as “The Little Mahagonny,” is a “small-scale 'scenic cantata,'” written by composer Kurt Weill and dramatist Bertolt Brecht in 1927. Weill was commissioned in the spring of that year to write one of a series of very short operas for performance that summer.

The Little Mahagonny was based on five 'Mahagonny Songs,' which had been published earlier that year in Brecht's collection of poetry, “Devotions for the Home” (“Hauspostille”), together with tunes by Brecht. With these five songs, the new poem, “Poem on a Dead Man,” was added to form the finale.
Two of the songs were English-language parodies, written by Elisabeth Hauptmann: the “Alabama Song” and “Benares Song.” Using one or two of Brecht's melodies as a starting-point, Weill began in May to set the songs to music and compose orchestral interludes.

After the break, the ensemble will perform a rarely known and performed arias by Kurt Weill from his lesser known operas and musicals.

This is a production by the “Musiktheater Wien,” in cooperation with the Galicia Jewish Museum.
Under the patronage of Dr. Michael Groß, Consul General of the Republic of Germany in Krakow

Partner: : Austrian Consulate General in Krakow