Today is the birthday of composter, Kurt Weill. He was born on March 2, in 1900, and grew up in a religious Jewish family in the "Sandvorstadt", the Jewish quarter in Dessau in Saxony.
When I was in college in the late 50's I discovered Weill (link below) and, as I have done since those days, like a sponge I soaked up everything I could find about him. Besides the famous Threepenny Opera (link below), one of his works I discovered was this "school-opera", a two act piece for singers.
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover photo by Werner Bischoff
detail photo of cover by Styrous®
Der Jasager (literally The Yes Sayer also translated as The Affirmer or He Said Yes) is an opera (specifically a Schuloper or "school-opera") by Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht (link below) (after the Elisabeth Hauptmann translation from the English version by Arthur Waley of the Japanese Nō drama Taniko).
Szenenbilder aus der Schuloper Der Jasager
am Hebbel-Theater Berlin - 1946
photographer unknown
photographer unknown
vinyl LP front cover
cover photo by Werner Bischoff
photo of cover by Styrous®
The work was conceived to be sung by young students and created to be used for educational use. Weill
stated in 1930, "The actual performance of such a work is far less
important than the training derived from rehearsal. ...What we have in
mind is an exercise in collective thinking." This concept was to be repeated 60 years later in the butohdrawing workshop/performances of Tom White with Betty Jo Costanzo collaborating (links below).
The production allows for student participation in virtually every regard: singing and acting, playing, even set design and costume. It serves as a lesson in opera performance, stage production and musical composition.
The production allows for student participation in virtually every regard: singing and acting, playing, even set design and costume. It serves as a lesson in opera performance, stage production and musical composition.
vinyl LP front cover details
detail photos of cover by Styrous® 
The instrumentation for the work is quite interesting; it consists of a small orchestra comprised of flute, clarinet, alto sax; 2 pianos, harmonium, percussion, plucked instruments ad lib. (guitar, banjo, lute) and strings (without violas).
vinyl LP back cover
photo by Styrous® 
Der Jasager had political implications as well. It was also meant to be educational in another regard, likely a
reflection of librettist Brecht's increasingly assertive Marxist
tendencies. The rather merciless story involves a young boy who
undertakes a dangerous journey through the mountains. When he becomes
too ill to complete it, his companions invoke an ancient law stating
that all those who cannot complete the journey must agree to being
hurled into the valley below. Following tradition, the boy does agree
and his companions carry out the task. Brecht's
intention was to present a lesson in the importance of absolute loyalty
and consecration to any community of which one becomes part; by begging
to go along on the journey, the boy took upon himself a certain
commitment to his companions, which is fulfilled in willing execution.
However, when one hears Weill's
music right at the moment that the boy agrees to his death -- which is
perhaps the most expressive moment in the staid score, one suspects that
the composer was not condoning this gruesome scene, but rather
condemning it.
vinyl LP back cover details
detail photos by Styrous® 
vinyl LP, side 1
photos by Styrous® 
vinyl LP, side 2
photos by Styrous® 
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A - Act One
Side 2:
B - Act Two
Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Robert Schumann Saal
Printed By – Loew's Incorporated
Published By – Universal Edition
Published By – Associated Music Publishers
Credits:
Chorus – The Dusseldorf Children's Chorus*
Conductor – Siegfried Kohler*
Engineer – Val Valentin
Music By – Kurt Weill
Orchestra – The Chamber Orchestra Of Dusseldorf*
Photography By – Werner Bischoff
Recording Supervisor – Lotte Lenya Weill-Davis*
Text By – Bert Brecht*
Vocals [The Mother] – Lys Bert
Vocals [The Student] – Josef Protschka
Vocals [The Teacher] – Willibald Vohla
Vocals [Three Students] – Alfons Holte, Hans Markus, Walter Jenckel
Notes:
Sleeve:
An Opera in Two Acts based on an ancient Japanese Nōh play recorded in the Robert Schumann-Saal, Dusseldorf.
Der Jasager is published by Universal Edition of Vienna, represented in the United States of America by Associated Music Publishers (BMI).
A High Fidelity Recording
© Loew's Inc. Printed in U.S.A.
Labels:
M-G-M Records - A Division of Loew's Incorporated - Made in U.S.A.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A): E3270 S1
Matrix / Runout (Side B): E3270 S2
Side 1:
A - Act One
Side 2:
B - Act Two
Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Robert Schumann Saal
Printed By – Loew's Incorporated
Published By – Universal Edition
Published By – Associated Music Publishers
Credits:
Chorus – The Dusseldorf Children's Chorus*
Conductor – Siegfried Kohler*
Engineer – Val Valentin
Music By – Kurt Weill
Orchestra – The Chamber Orchestra Of Dusseldorf*
Photography By – Werner Bischoff
Recording Supervisor – Lotte Lenya Weill-Davis*
Text By – Bert Brecht*
Vocals [The Mother] – Lys Bert
Vocals [The Student] – Josef Protschka
Vocals [The Teacher] – Willibald Vohla
Vocals [Three Students] – Alfons Holte, Hans Markus, Walter Jenckel
Notes:
Sleeve:
An Opera in Two Acts based on an ancient Japanese Nōh play recorded in the Robert Schumann-Saal, Dusseldorf.
Der Jasager is published by Universal Edition of Vienna, represented in the United States of America by Associated Music Publishers (BMI).
A High Fidelity Recording
© Loew's Inc. Printed in U.S.A.
Labels:
M-G-M Records - A Division of Loew's Incorporated - Made in U.S.A.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Side A): E3270 S1
Matrix / Runout (Side B): E3270 S2
Viewfinder links:
Bertold Brecht
Betty Jo Costanzo
ButohDrawing
Kurt Weill
Tom White
Net links:
Plot
Roles
Kurt Weill Foundation for Music ~ Der Jasager
NY Times ~ A Heroic Boy and Two Outcomes to His Tale review
YouTube links:
Der Jasager
Learning To Kneel ~ A class on Bertolt Brecht’s Der Jasager
Learning To Kneel ~ A class on Bertolt Brecht’s Der Jasager
"I have never acknowledged the difference
between serious music and light music.
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