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There and Back Again: Zeitoper and the Transatlantic Search for a Uniquely American Opera in the 1920s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 June 2019

JOHN GABRIEL
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Abstract

This article argues that in the late 1920s, the German genre of Zeitoper paradoxically became an essential component of the search for a new kind of uniquely American opera, resulting in a transatlantic cycle of mutual influence. This influence was possible because Germans and Americans alike saw the United States as the embodiment of modern life and technology. American producers and composers thus adapted German Zeitoper to bring it more in line with Americans’ self-image. I examine this dynamic by juxtaposing two German and two American Zeitopern, looking specifically at their engagement with jazz, film, race, and American popular musical theater: Paul Hindemith's Hin und zurück, Marc Blitzstein's Triple-Sec (inspired by Hindemith's opera), Ernst Krenek's Jonny spielt auf in the United States, and the unsuccessful effort to stage George Antheil's Transatlantic (modeled on Jonny and revised under the mentorship of Krenek) in New York. Both Germans’ image of America and Americans’ self-image were as much real as imagined, and although the similarities between them facilitated this cultural exchange, their differences also impeded it.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Society for American Music , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , May 2019 , pp. 195 - 215
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Music 2019 

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References

References

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“Music.” New York Amsterdam News, January 23, 1929, 10.Google Scholar
“New Opera Farce.” Musical Leader 56, no. 20 (May 16, 1929): 10.Google Scholar
Pollack, Howard. Marc Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. Bradford. “Jazz Reception in Weimar Germany: In Search of a Shimmy Figure.” In Music and Performance During the Weimar Republic, edited by Gilliam, Bryan, 107–34. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Sammond, Nicholas. “‘Gentlemen, Please Be Seated’: Racial Masquerade and Sadomasochism in 1930s Animation.” In: Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy, edited by Johnson, Stephen, 164–90. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Schwab, Heinrich W. “Jonny spielt auf. Berichte und Bilder vom Auftreten des schwarzen Musikers in Europa.” In Opernstudien. Anna Amalie Abert zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Hortschansky, Klaus, 175–87. Tutzing, Germany: Schneider, 1975.Google Scholar
Shirley, Wayne D. “Another American in Paris: George Antheil's Correspondence with Mary Curtis Bok.” The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress 34, no. 1 (January 1977): 2–22.Google Scholar
The Story of The Theatre Guild, 1919–1947. New York: The Theatre Guild, Inc., 1948.Google Scholar
“Tibbett as Jazz Leader: Takes Title Role in Jonny Spielt Auf with Cabaret Gestures.” New York Times, February 28, 1929, 35.Google Scholar
Trippett, David. “Composing Time: Zeno's Arrow, Hindemith's Erinnerung, and Satie's Instantanéisme.” Journal of Musicology 24, no. 4 (Fall 2007): 522–80.Google Scholar
von der Linn, Michael. “Jonny, Mahagonny, and the Songs of Tin Pan Alley.” In Amerikanismus, Americanism, Weill: Die Suche nach kultureller Identität in der Moderne, edited by Danuser, Hermann and Gottschewski, Hermann, 160–70. Schliengen, Germany: Edition Argus, 2003.Google Scholar
Wipplinger, Jonathan. “Performing Race in Ernst Krenek's Jonny spielt auf.” In Blackness in Opera, edited by André, Naomi, Bryan, Karen, and Saylor, Eric, 236–59. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012.Google Scholar
“Zeitgeschichte.” Die Musik 21, no. 11 (August 1929): 859–62.Google Scholar
Marc Blitzstein Papers. Wisconsin Historical Society. Madison, WI.Google Scholar
Otto H. Kahn Papers. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Princeton University Library. Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
The Metropolitan Opera Archives. The Metropolitan Opera. New York, NY.Google Scholar
Joseph Urban Papers. Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Columbia University Library. New York, NY.Google Scholar
Antheil, George Correspondence with Mary Louise Curtis Bok. George Antheil Collection. Music Division. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Atkinson, J. Brooks. “The Play.” New York Times, 5 June 1930, 35.Google Scholar
Blitzstein, Marc. “Hin und Zurück in Philadelphia.” Modern Music 5, no. 4 (May–June 1928): 35.Google Scholar
Cook, Susan C. “George Antheil's Transatlantic: An American in the Weimar Republic.” Journal of Musicology 9, no. 4 (Autumn 1991): 498–520.Google Scholar
Cook, Susan. Opera for a New Republic: The Zeitopern of Krenek, Weill, and Hindemith. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Craven, H. T. “Marc Blitzstein's Operatic Satire Rocks Ballroom.” Philadelphia Record, May 7, 1929.Google Scholar
Crawford, Richard. “Where Did Porgy and Bess Come From?” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 36, no. 4 (Spring 2006): 728.Google Scholar
Danuser, Hermann, and Gottschewski, Hermann, eds. Amerikanismus, Americanism, Weill: die Suche nach kultureller Identität in der Moderne. Schliengen, Germany: Edition Argus, 2003.Google Scholar
Downes, Olin. “Jonny Spielt Auf Opera of this Age: The Opera's King of Jazz.” New York Times, January 20, 1929, 28.Google Scholar
Eichhorn, Andreas. “‘Amerika als Wunschbild zukünftiger Gesellschaft?’: Zur Rezeption von Ernst Kreneks Oper Jonny spielt auf.” In Amerikanismus, Americanism, Weill: Die Suche nach kultureller Identität in der Moderne, edited by Danuser, Hermann and Gottschewski, Hermann, 171–83. Schliengen: Edition Argus, 2003.Google Scholar
Einstein, Alfred. “George Antheil: ‘Transatlantic.’ Frankfurter Opernhaus.” Berliner Tageblatt, May 28, 1930.Google Scholar
Gabriel, John. “Opera After Optimism: The Fate of Zeitoper at the End of the Weimar Republic.” PhD diss., Harvard University, 2016.Google Scholar
“German Opera Changed about in U.S. Version.” Baltimore Afro-American, January 26, 1929, 7.Google Scholar
Giese, Fritz. Girl-Kultur. Munich: Delphin-Verlag, 1925.Google Scholar
Gordon, Eric. Mark the Music: The Life and Work of Marc Blitzstein. New York: St. Martin's, 1989.Google Scholar
Grosch, Nils. “Ernst Kreneks Jonny spielt auf und der Mediencharakter der Zeitoper.” In Alban Bergs Wozzeck und die zwanziger Jahre, edited by Csobádi, Peter, et al., 521–32. Anif, Germany: Verlag Müller-Speiser, 1999.Google Scholar
Günther, Siegfried. “Gegenwartsoper. Zur Lage des heutigen Opernschaffens.” Die Musik 20, no. 10 (July 1928): 718–26.Google Scholar
Henderson, W. J. “‘Jonny spielt auf’ Performed.” New York Sun, January 21, 1929, 16.Google Scholar
Hindemith, Paul, and Schiffer, Marcellus. Hin und Zurück. Sketch mit Musik. Mainz: Schott, 1927.Google Scholar
Jacobs, W. “Eine amerikanische Oper im Frankfurt a. M. Uraufführung von Transatlantic von Georges [sic] Antheil.” Kölnische Zeitung, Morgen-Ausgabe, May 28, 1930, 2.Google Scholar
“Jazz Opera Makes Debut: Jonny Spielt Auf Crashes Metropolitan Portals with Everything Except Bathtub,” Los Angeles Times, January 20, 1929.Google Scholar
“‘Jazz Opera’ Personnel is Changed.” The Pittsburgh Courier, January 26, 1929, B1.Google Scholar
Kracauer, Siegfried. The Mass Ornament. Edited and translated by Levin, Thomas Y.. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Krenek, Ernst. Jonny spielt auf (piano reduction). Vienna, Austria: Universal Edition, 1926.Google Scholar
Laciar, Samuel. “3 Premieres Here for Modern Music.” Philadelphia Public Ledger, April 23, 1928, 2.Google Scholar
Laciar, Samuel. “Philadelphia Hears New Music.” Christian Science Monitor, May 3, 1928, 11.Google Scholar
Levy, Beth. Frontier Figures: American Music and the Mythology of the American West. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Mai, Julius. “Das Musikleben der Gegenwart. Bern.” Die Musik 21, no. 1 (October 1928): 67.Google Scholar
Martin, Linton. “Modern Music Goes on an Opera Orgy.” Philadelphia Inquirer, Monday Morning, April 23, 1928, 3.Google Scholar
Martin, Linton. “Modern Music Goes on an Opera Spree.” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 7, 1929, 3.Google Scholar
“Metropolitan Opera Company Feared Race Singer.” Baltimore Afro-American, January 19, 1929, 9.Google Scholar
Monchick, Alexandra. “Paul Hindemith and the Cinematic Imagination.” Musical Quarterly 95, no. 4 (Winter 2012): 510–48.Google Scholar
Monchick, Alexandra. “Silent Opera: The Manifestation of Silent Film Techniques in Opera during the Weimar Republic.” PhD diss., Harvard University, 2010.Google Scholar
“Music.” New York Amsterdam News, January 23, 1929, 10.Google Scholar
“New Opera Farce.” Musical Leader 56, no. 20 (May 16, 1929): 10.Google Scholar
Pollack, Howard. Marc Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. Bradford. “Jazz Reception in Weimar Germany: In Search of a Shimmy Figure.” In Music and Performance During the Weimar Republic, edited by Gilliam, Bryan, 107–34. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Sammond, Nicholas. “‘Gentlemen, Please Be Seated’: Racial Masquerade and Sadomasochism in 1930s Animation.” In: Burnt Cork: Traditions and Legacies of Blackface Minstrelsy, edited by Johnson, Stephen, 164–90. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012.Google Scholar
Schwab, Heinrich W. “Jonny spielt auf. Berichte und Bilder vom Auftreten des schwarzen Musikers in Europa.” In Opernstudien. Anna Amalie Abert zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Hortschansky, Klaus, 175–87. Tutzing, Germany: Schneider, 1975.Google Scholar
Shirley, Wayne D. “Another American in Paris: George Antheil's Correspondence with Mary Curtis Bok.” The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress 34, no. 1 (January 1977): 2–22.Google Scholar
The Story of The Theatre Guild, 1919–1947. New York: The Theatre Guild, Inc., 1948.Google Scholar
“Tibbett as Jazz Leader: Takes Title Role in Jonny Spielt Auf with Cabaret Gestures.” New York Times, February 28, 1929, 35.Google Scholar
Trippett, David. “Composing Time: Zeno's Arrow, Hindemith's Erinnerung, and Satie's Instantanéisme.” Journal of Musicology 24, no. 4 (Fall 2007): 522–80.Google Scholar
von der Linn, Michael. “Jonny, Mahagonny, and the Songs of Tin Pan Alley.” In Amerikanismus, Americanism, Weill: Die Suche nach kultureller Identität in der Moderne, edited by Danuser, Hermann and Gottschewski, Hermann, 160–70. Schliengen, Germany: Edition Argus, 2003.Google Scholar
Wipplinger, Jonathan. “Performing Race in Ernst Krenek's Jonny spielt auf.” In Blackness in Opera, edited by André, Naomi, Bryan, Karen, and Saylor, Eric, 236–59. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012.Google Scholar
“Zeitgeschichte.” Die Musik 21, no. 11 (August 1929): 859–62.Google Scholar