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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice

Franz Welser-Möst

881 7th Ave, New York, NY 10019, USA

On January 20, Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra officially launch Carnegie Hall’s “bold exploration of the rise and fall of the Weimar Republic” with a program showcasing Ernst Křenek, Gustav Mahler, Béla Bartók, all active during the period in question (1918–1933) but none of them German or conspicuously associated with the Weimar Republic. The MET Orchestra Chamber Ensemble program “The Golden Twenties,” on January 22, includes music by the Germans Kurt Weill and Paul Hindemith, which is more to the point, alongside classic Viennese waltzes orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg, which aren’t. On January 23, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra dilute the Weimar flavor of Weill’s Symphony No. 2 with Stravinsky’s ballet Pétrouchka and Gerwshwin’s Rhapsody In Blue. And so it goes, hit and mostly miss, over some two dozen concerts. For focused attention to the Weimar legacy and sensibility, sign on for the three-concert cabaret series “Weimar Underground,” showcasing Ute Lemper (February 9), Meow Meow (March 23), and Alan Cumming with The Hot Sardines (April 19). N.B. Tickets for those concerts are going fast. —Matthew Gurewitsch

Photo: © Michael Pöhn