Theodore "Ted" Weill (July 25, 1925 – November 20, 2009) was the nominee for President of the United States of the Reform Party of the United States of America in the 2008 election. He was nominated at the party's national convention on July 20, 2008 in Dallas, Texas.^[1] During a 2009 interview with Monmouth University's school newspaper, Weill expressed interest in running again in 2012, but he died at his home on November 20, 2009.^[2][3]

Early life[link]

Weill, a graduate of Michigan State University, was also a decorated World War II veteran, who earned four Battle Stars and served aboard the USS Pennsylvania. He was also a Boy Scout instructor. He was invited to the White House Conference on Small Business three times; in 1980, 1985, and 1990.

Political background[link]

In the 1990s, Weill founded the Independent Party of Mississippi. In 1997, the Independent Party of Mississippi became the official state affiliate of the national Reform Party and renamed itself the Mississippi Reform Party.^[4]

Weill was the chairman of the Mississippi Reform Party and a Reform Party National Committeeman.^[4]

In 1996, Weill ran for a United States Senate seat from Mississippi finishing third with 2% of the vote (13,600 votes).^[4]

In 2000, Weill endorsed Natural Law Party candidate John Hagelin instead of Pat Buchanan.

In 2004, Weill campaigned for the Reform Party's 2004 presidential nomination, but withdrew his candidacy after Ralph Nader announced his intention to seek the party's nomination. Weill ultimately endorsed Nader^[4] and contributed thousands of dollars to his political campaigns.^[5]

During his acceptance speech at the 2004 Reform Party National Convention in Irving, Texas, Ralph Nader thanked Weill for his support.^[6]

2008 presidential campaign[link]

At the Reform Party's 2008 national convention, Frank McEnulty of California, the 2008 presidential candidate of the New American Independent Party, was nominated to be Weill's vice-presidential running-mate. However, the party could not announce the results of the national convention on its web site until October, due to a court order obtained by another faction of the party.^[7] The rebel faction also prevented Weill from appearing on the ballot in any of the states in which the party retained access, excluding Mississippi.

Therefore, the Weill/McEnulty ticket appeared on the ballot in only Mississippi and received only 470 votes in that state.^[8][9] He also received write-in votes in Alabama.^[10]

Legacy[link]

Weill died in November 2009. His former running-mate, Frank McEnulty, stated: "Ted truly believed in trying to do what was best for the country and it is what had driven him to spend so much time, money and effort on his campaign and in support of the Reform Party."

Quotes[link]

• "I have six children, 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and they don't have a chance in hell of being free if we don't turn things around and do it quick. Otherwise, there's only one other route, revolution, and the American people don't have the guts for that. We've become couch potatoes."^[11]

• "I thought the world of Ross Perot. I put him up there with our founding fathers. I liked the way he talked. He’d say 'We’ve got to clean out the barn!' and I agreed with everything he said." ^[12]

• "My reason for joining the third party movement was to save my country from special interests." ^[2]

• "We know there are a lot more people today that are looking to change things in this country." ^[13]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Reform Party National Committee official homepage
• FEC presidential campaign disclosure report

Edmundo William Ros OBE (7 December 1910 – 21 October 2011)^[1] was a Trinidadian musician, vocalist, arranger and bandleader who made his career in Britain. He directed a highly popular Latin American orchestra, had an extensive recording career and owned one of London's leading nightclubs.

Life[link]

Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad. His mother was an Afro-Venezuelan and his father was of Scottish descent. He was the eldest of four children, having two sisters, Ruby and Eleanor, followed by a half-brother, Hugo. His parents separated after Hugo was born, and after various false steps Edmundo was enrolled in a military academy. There he became interested in music and learned to play the euphonium. From 1927-37 his family lived in Caracas, Venezuela. He played in the Venezuelan Military Academy Band as well as being a tympanist in the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra. Later he received a music scholarship from the government, and, from 1937–42, studied harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music.^[2] At the same time he was the vocalist and percussionist in Don Marino Baretto's band at the Embassy Club, and also recorded several sides as a sideman to Fats Waller, who was visiting London in 1938.

In the 2000 New Year's Honours List, Ros (then aged 90), was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He turned 100 on 7 December 2010.^[3]

Affiliations[link]

Ros was a Freeman of the City of London, having been admitted to the Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Poulters on 5 January 1965 and subsequently clothed with the Livery of the Poulters' Company on 22 June 1965. He was a Mason, a member of Sprig of Acacia Lodge No 41, Javea, Spain.

Personal life[link]

Ros married twice: first to Britt Johansen in 1950. The first marriage produced two children, Douglas and Louisa. He designed and built a large house in Page Street, Mill Hill, London NW7, which he named Edritt House, after himself and his first wife. The house still stands, next to Copthall Girls' School. He remarried in 1971.

Orchestra[link]

In August 1940, Ros formed his own rumba band, performing as Edmundo Ros and His Rumba Band. In 1941 he cut his first tracks with Parlophone, the first number being "Los Hijos de Buda". The band played regularly at the Coconut Grove club in Regent Street, attracting members of high society.^[4] Ros's bands were always based in London nightclubs or restaurants. The first was the Cosmo Club in Wardour Street; then followed the St Regis Hotel, Cork Street, the Coconut Grove and the Bagatelle Restaurant. At the Bagatelle a visit from Princess Elizabeth and party made his name. The future queen danced in public for the first time to Edmundo's music. In later years his orchestra was often invited to play at Buckingham Palace.^[5]

By 1946 Ros owned a club, a dance school, a record company and an artistes' agency. His band grew to 16 musicians and was renamed Edmundo Ros and His Orchestra. His number "The Wedding Samba", 1949, sold three million 78s. His album Rhythms of The South (1958) was one of the first high-quality LP stereo records: it sold a million copies. He was with Decca Records from 1944 to 1974, and altogether he made more than 800 recordings.^[4]

In 1951 Ros bought the Coconut Grove on Regent Street and in 1964 renamed it Edmundo Ros's Dinner and Supper Club. The club became popular for its atmosphere and music, but it closed in 1965, when legalised casino gambling had drawn away many of its best customers. During the 1950s and 1960s the Ros orchestra appeared frequently on BBC Radio, continuing into the early 1970s on Radio Two Ballroom.^[5]

In 1975, during Ros's seventh tour of Japan, his band's Musicians' Union shop steward tried to usurp Ros's authority by making arrangements with venues behind his back. Upon their return to the UK Ros organised a celebratory dinner after a BBC recording session and announced the disbanding of the orchestra. He destroyed almost all the charts (arrangement sheets), which conclusively ended the orchestra's existence.^[4]

Death[link]

Ros retired and moved to Jávea, Alicante, Spain. He gave his last public performance on 8 January 1994.

Discography[link]

Harlequin CDs[link]

This set of ten CDs includes all the known 78s recorded up to and including 1951; the source material was the 78rpm collection of Christian af Rosenborg; the notes were by Pepe Luhtala; the remastering by Charlie Crump. The series was never completed, but most of the later Ros material is available on LP or CD. Some of the Harlequin series is available on Naxos. Although the title of these CDs describes his group as "Rumba Band", in the post-war period it expanded to 16 members, and was known as "Edmundo Ros and his Orchestra".

• Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band 1939-41, Harlequin CD 15. Includes about 8 minutes of Edmundo Ros discussing the early days of his career.
• Tropical Magic: Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band, vol 2 1942–1944. Harlequin CD 50. Includes four sets of Edmundo Ros continuing his autobiographic reminiscences.
• Cuban Love Song: Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band, vol 3 1945. Harlequin CD 73.
• Chiquita Banana: Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band, vol 4 1946–1947. Harlequin CD 105.
• La Comparsa: Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band, vol 5 1948. Harlequin CD 129.
• Chocolate Whisky and Vanilla Gin: Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band, vol 6 1948–1949. Harlequin CD 147.
• Mambo Jambo: Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band, vols 7 & 8 1949–1950. Harlequin CD 164/165.
• Playtime in Brazil: Edmundo Ros and his Orchestra, vols 9 & 10 1951. Harlequin CD 180/181.

10" LPs[link]

Decca issued an initial series of 33rpm 10-inch LPs in the early 1950s, consisting of previously issued 78rpm sides. Labels were Decca (UK and Commonwealth), and London (a subsidiary) in the USA.

• Latin-American Rhythms, Edmundo Ros and his Rumba Band, Decca LF 1002. Latin Rhythms, Edmundo Ros and his Orchestra, London 155, is identical in content.
• Mambo with Ros. Decca LF 1038, and London LPB 341.
• Samba with Ros. Decca LF, and London LB 367.
• Latin-American Rhythms with Ros. Decca LP 1051, and London LPB 368.
• Ros presents Calypsos. Decca LF 1067, and London LB 367.
• Dance the Samba. Decca LF, and London LB 742.

12" LPs[link]

Three labels, all owned by Decca: Decca in UK & Commonwealth; London in USA, and Richmond, a cut-price reissue label in USA.

• Latin-American Novelties. London LL 1090.
• Ros Mambos. London LL 1092. Decca 1956
• Latin Melodies. London LL 1093.
• Ros Album of Sambas. London LL 1117. Richmond B 20032 has same content, but only 10 numbers where Decca/London has 14.
• Ros Album of Calypsos. Decca LK 4102. 1956
• Ros Album of Baions. Decca LK 4111. One side baiãos; the other boleros.
• Latin Carnival. Richmond B 20023.

• Rhythms Of the South (Decca 1958),
• Calypso Man (Decca 1958),
• Perfect for Dancing (Decca 1958),
• Ros on Broadway (Decca 1959),
• Hollywood Cha Cha Cha (Decca 1959),
• Bongos From the South (Decca 1961),
• Dance Again (Decca 1962),
• Sing and Dance with Edmundo Ros (Decca 1963),
• Heath versus Ros (Decca Phase 4 1964),
• Heath versus Ros, Round Two (Decca Phase 4 1967),
• This is My World (Decca 1972),
• Ros Remembers (Decca 1974),
• Edmundo Ros Today (Decca 1978),
• Show Boat/Porgy & Bess, LP
• Ros at the Opera
• Broadway goes Latin
• New Rhythms of the South
• Latin Boss...Señor Ros
• Arriba
• Latin Hits I Missed
• Hair Goes Latin
• Heading South of the Border
• The Latin King
• This is My World
• Caribbean Ros
• Sunshine and Olé!
• Give My Regards to Broadway
• That Latin Sound
• Latin Favourites (Gold Crown 1979),
• Latin Song and Dance Men (Pye 1980),
• Music For the Millions (Decca 1983),
• Strings Latino (London 1985),
• Latin Magic (London 1987),
• That Latin Sound (Pulse 1997)

• Doin' the Samba, CD
• Rhythms of the South/New Rhythms of the South, CD
• Good! Good! Good! CD
• Strings Latino/Latin Hits I Missed CD

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Robert Farnon Society webpage

Chelsea Clinton
Clinton speaking during a campaign stop in Philadelphia (2008)
Born	(1980-02-27) February 27, 1980 (age 32) Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Alma mater	Stanford University University College, Oxford Columbia University New York University
Political party	Democratic
Religion	United Methodism[1]
Spouse	Marc Mezvinsky (2010–present)

Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is the only child of former U.S. President William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton and current U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She is a Special Correspondent for NBC News, and works with the Clinton Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative.

Clinton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas during her father's first term as Governor of Arkansas. She attended public schools there until her father's election to the Presidency of the United States at which time she attended and graduated from the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. She pursued her undergraduate education at Stanford University and also earned master's degrees from University College, Oxford, and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at University of Oxford. She has worked for McKinsey & Company, Avenue Capital Group, New York University and serves on the board of the School of American Ballet, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Clinton Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative, Common Sense Media, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Weill Cornell Medical College and IAC/InterActiveCorp.^[2][3]

Between December 2007 and the end of the 2008 primaries, she campaigned extensively across the country, appearing mostly on college campuses, for her mother's ultimately unsuccessful Democratic presidential nomination bid and introduced her mother at the August 2008 Democratic National Convention.

On July 31, 2010, Clinton married investment banker Marc Mezvinsky in Rhinebeck, New York.

Early years[link]

Chelsea Victoria Clinton was born three weeks early on February 27, 1980 in Little Rock, Arkansas to Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Hillary described the birth of her daughter as "the most miraculous and awe-inspiring event in my life". As his wife recovered, Bill Clinton took Chelsea for father-daughter "bonding" walks about the hospital singing to her, rocking her, and showing her off. Chelsea was their only child, and the first grandchild for both sets of grandparents. Bill's mother happily did "a lot of baby-sitting" as did the Rodhams when they visited. At the age of two, Chelsea accompanied her parents as they campaigned by car throughout Arkansas for the gubernatorial office.^[4]

Hillary has written that Chelsea's name was inspired by a visit to the Chelsea section of London during a Christmas 1978 vacation. She said that upon hearing the 1969 Judy Collins recording of the Joni Mitchell song, "Chelsea Morning", Bill remarked, "If we ever have a daughter, her name should be Chelsea."^[4][5][6]

Chelsea attended Forest Park Elementary School, Booker Arts and Science Magnet Elementary School, and Horace Mann Junior High School, which are public schools in Little Rock.^[7] She skipped the third grade.^[8]

White House years[link]

White House portrait of the Clinton family (unknown date)

Twelve-year-old Chelsea was given the Secret Service codename "Energy" when she moved into the White House with her parents on January 20, 1993, the day of her father's first inauguration.^[9] The Clintons wanted their daughter to grow up as normally as possible given their circumstances, and, to that end, hoped to shield her from the media spotlight.^[10] Hillary followed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' advice on raising children in the White House, and asked the press to limit coverage of Chelsea to her participation in public events such as state visits.^[5] The Clintons were supported by Margaret Truman who wrote a Letter to the Editor of The New York Times in March 1993 about the damage that could be done if the press made Chelsea a subject of intense coverage. The press complied, but, in 1997, following Chelsea's high school graduation, media speculation regarding her choice of college resulted in heavy press coverage. Chelsea ultimately chose to attend Stanford University. In sum, Chelsea received 32 stories in The New York Times and 87 network news stories during her father's two terms of office (1993–2001). Of all presidential children, Chelsea has received the most television coverage.^[11]

Chelsea Clinton ringing a replica of the Liberty Bell at her father's first inauguration.

The Clintons' decision to send Chelsea to Sidwell Friends, a private school in Washington, D.C.,^[10] provoked questions, but her father told the Associated Press in May 1993 that the decision had been made because Chelsea did not like "getting a lot of publicity" and would have "more control over her destiny." Her mother argued that "if [Chelsea] were to go to a public school, the press would never leave her alone." The criterion affecting their decision was privacy, not quality of education.^[12] The school and its students remained silent regarding Chelsea, declining to discuss her publicly and thereby giving her the privacy the First Family sought for her.^[10] Chelsea graduated from Sidwell in 1997; her father spoke at the graduation ceremony.^[13]

The matter of Chelsea's privacy was debated in the press, and most media outlets concluded that she should be off-limits due to her age.^[10] But when Clinton was 13 her appearance became a matter of ridicule for some satirists and commentators, including comments by Rush Limbaugh^[10] and the comedy writers of Saturday Night Live.^[14] In 1995, freelance writer Tom Gogola released a tape of songs purportedly recorded by Clinton which commented upon notable people and included lyrics like "let's inhale," the tape proved to be a hoax. Gogola defended the tape, saying "None of it had to do with being mean to Chelsea. Satire is satire."^[10] During this phase of Chelsea's life, her father said, "We really work hard on making sure that Chelsea doesn't let other people define her sense of her own self worth... It's tough when you are an adolescent... [b]ut I think she'll be OK."^[15]

Though her father is a Southern Baptist, Chelsea has been raised in her mother's Methodist faith. She attended Foundry United Methodist Church on 16th Street, NW in Washington and met with other teens on Sunday mornings to examine questions of faith and philosophy, and teen concerns such as dating, parents, and friendship. Her parents joined her at the church's parent-teen round tables. An adult group leader thought Chelsea "a terrific kid" and observed she was treated as an equal in the group. Away from church, Chelsea's social activities included visits to a Planet Hollywood restaurant with friends and sleep-overs in and out of the White House. President Clinton sometimes joined Chelsea and her sleep-over friends for breakfast.^[10]

Clinton began dance classes at four years of age in Arkansas,^[16] and was a student at the Washington School of Ballet for several years.^[10] She was cast in the role of the Favorite Aunt (1993)^[17] in the Washington Ballet production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.^[10][18]

Clinton was a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist in 1997,^[19] and is a veteran of the Model United Nations.^[20]

In early 1999, the Clintons learned of an article in the works at People that examined the First Family's relationships in the wake of the scandals and impending vote on President Clinton's impeachment. Notified about the article by the First Lady's office, the Secret Service contacted the magazine with their own concerns that the story could complicate Chelsea's security. The decision had been made to run the story however, and Bill and Hillary issued a statement expressing their regret and sadness. Carol Wallace, People managing editor, affirmed the magazine's sensitivity to the Clinton concerns about their daughter, but felt 19-year-old Chelsea was "an eyewitness to family drama and historical events" and thus "a valid journalistic subject". The article, entitled "Grace Under Fire", was published on February 5, 1999 with a cover photo depicting Chelsea and Hillary.^[21]

In 2000, the last year of her father's presidency, Chelsea assumed some White House hostess responsibilities when her mother was campaigning for the U.S. Senate, traveling with her father on several overseas trips and attending state dinners with him.^[22]

Education[link]

Stanford University[link]

Clinton entered Stanford in the fall of 1997 and majored in history.^[23][24]

The week before she arrived on campus, her mother wrote a letter in her syndicated column asking journalists to leave her daughter alone. Chelsea arrived at Stanford in a motorcade with her parents, Secret Service men, and almost 250 journalists. For her security, bullet-proof glass was installed in her dorm windows and cameras placed in hallways. In addition, Secret Service men dressed as students lived in her dorm.^[25] Other than an occasional tabloid story written about her, Chelsea's four years at Stanford remained out of public view.^[26]

Clinton graduated in 2001 with highest honors and a B.A. in history.^[23][26] The topic of her 150-page undergraduate thesis was the 1998 Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland, for which she interviewed her father.^[26][27] At the time of Chelsea's graduation, President Clinton issued a statement saying, "Hillary and I are grateful for the friendships and great learning experiences Chelsea had at Stanford, and we are very proud of her on this special day."^[28]

University College, Oxford[link]

University College, Oxford

In July 2001, President Clinton revealed at Wimbledon that Chelsea would attend University College, Oxford in the fall – the same college where he studied politics between 1968 and 1970 on a Rhodes Scholarship.^[29] Chelsea did not apply for a Rhodes. The Master of University College, Lord Butler of Brockwell, said he was delighted she was attending: "Her record at Stanford shows that she is a very well-qualified and able student. The college is also pleased to extend its link with the Clinton family." The university implemented security measures upon the recommendation of British and American advisors,^[30] and fellow students were asked not to discuss her with the press.^[31]

Arriving at Oxford just after the September 11 attacks on the United States, Chelsea was drawn to other American students who were also feeling the emotional after-effects of the trauma. She told Talk magazine:

She was criticized for those early remarks in the London press and by the newspaper Oxford Student, which angered the university by directly attacking her in an editorial.^[31]

But she was described as charming, poised and unaffected by people who met her, and she appeared to successfully adjust to life abroad.^[31] During her time at Oxford, Chelsea adopted a more sophisticated look, reportedly assisted by family friend Donatella Versace, whose couture shows she attended in early 2002. Geordie Greig, the editor of Tatler, ranked her No. 5 on the magazine's 2002 "Top 10 Girls" list, behind Jessica de Rothschild and Sophie Dahl.^[31]

Clinton was awarded an M.Phil. in international relations in 2003.^[32] Following graduation, she returned to the States, taking up residence in New York City.^[23]

As of 2011, Clinton is pursuing a doctoral degree at Oxford University.^[33]

Columbia University and New York University[link]

In the spring of 2010, Clinton completed a Master of Public Health degree at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.^[34] .^[35]

Professional life[link]

In 2003, Clinton joined the consulting firm McKinsey & Company in New York City,^[23] and went to work for Avenue Capital Group in the fall of 2006. She served as co-chairperson for a fund-raising week for the Clinton Foundation, and serves on the board of the School of American Ballet.^[23] On September 22, 2011, she was elected to IAC's board of directors.^[36]

On November 14, 2011, NBC announced that it has hired Clinton as a correspondent, reporting feature stories about "Making a Difference" for NBC Nightly News and Rock Center with Brian Williams. The contract was for only three months and it allowed her to continue to work for the Clinton Foundation as well as pursue her education while working for NBC.^[37][38]

Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign[link]

Chelsea Clinton speaking during a campaign stop for her mother in Madison, Wisconsin, February 2008

In December 2007, Clinton began campaigning in Iowa in support of her mother's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.^[39] She appeared across the country, largely on college campuses.^[40][41][42] By early April 2008, she had spoken at 100 colleges on behalf of her mother's candidacy.^[43]

On the campaign trail, Chelsea answered audience questions but did not give interviews or respond to press questions,^[44] including one from a nine year old Scholastic News reporter asking whether or not her father would be a good "first man."^[45] She replied, ""I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press and that applies to you, unfortunately. Even though I think you're cute."^[46] Philippe Reines, her mother's press secretary, intervened when the press attempted to approach Chelsea directly.^[45]

Clinton speaking at the 2008 Democratic National Convention

When MSNBC reporter David Shuster characterized Chelsea's participation in her mother's campaign as "sort of being pimped out," the Clinton campaign objected. Shuster subsequently apologized on-air and was suspended for two weeks.^[47]

The first time a college student asked about her mother's handling of the Lewinsky scandal at a campaign stop she responded, "I do not think that is any of your business."^[43] But as she became a more experienced campaigner she refined her response and deflected questions on the issue with comments like "If that's what you want to vote on, that's what you should vote on. But I think there are other people [who are] going to vote on things like healthcare and economics."^[43][48]

On August 26 at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Chelsea called Hillary "my hero and my mother" and introduced her with a long video tribute.^[49] After this appearance she returned to New York City and her private life.

Engagement and marriage[link]

On July 31, 2010, Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky were married in an interfaith ceremony at Rhinebeck, New York. The venue for the nuptials was Astor Courts, a 50-acre, 1902 Beaux-Arts estate on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River. The estate at that time was the home of Hillary Clinton supporter Kathleen Hammer, once a producer at Oxygen Media, and Arthur Seelbinder, a developer and businessman.^[50]

Mezvinsky was born December 15, 1977 to former Iowa Democratic congressman Edward Mezvinsky and former Pennsylvania Democratic congresswoman Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, and is one of their 11 adopted and biological children. He was raised in the Conservative Jewish tradition.^[51]

The Clintons and the Mezvinskys were friends in the 1990s and their children met on a Renaissance Weekend retreat in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.^[51] They first were reported to be a couple in 2005, and became engaged over Thanksgiving weekend in 2009.^[52]

Marc was a Goldman Sachs investment banker, and, at the time of the marriage, an investment banker at 3G Capital Management.^[52] The couple live in New York City's Gramercy Park neighborhood.^[53]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chelsea Clinton

• Chelsea Clinton at the Internet Movie Database

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Kurt Weill in 1932.

Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900^[1] – April 3, 1950^[1]) was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his most well known work The Threepenny Opera, a Marxist critique of capitalism, which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill was a socialist^{[2][unreliable source?]} who held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose.^[3] He also wrote a number of works for the concert hall, as well as several Judaism-themed pieces.

Personal life[link]

Kurt Julian Weill was born on March 2, 1900,^[4] the third of four children to Albert Weill (1867–1950) and Emma Weill née Ackermann (1872–1955). He grew up in a religious Jewish family in the "Sandvorstadt", the Jewish quarter in Dessau, Germany, where his father was a cantor.^[1] At the age of twelve, Kurt Weill started taking piano lessons and made his first attempts at writing music; his earliest preserved composition was written in 1913 and is titled Mi Addir. Jewish Wedding Song.^[5]

In 1915, Weill started taking private lessons with Albert Bing, Kapellmeister at the "Herzogliches Hoftheater zu Dessau", who taught him piano, composition, music theory, and conducting. Weill performed publicly on piano for the first time in 1915, both as an accompanist and soloist. The following years he composed numerous Lieder to the lyrics of poets such as Joseph von Eichendorff, Arno Holz, and Anna Ritter, as well as a cycle of five songs titled Ofrahs Lieder to a German translation of a text by Yehuda Halevi.^[6]

Weill graduated with an Abitur from the Oberrealschule of Dessau in 1918, and enrolled at the Berliner Hochschule für Musik at the age of 18, where he studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck,^[1] conducting with Rudolf Krasselt, and counterpoint with Friedrich E. Koch, and also attended philosophy lectures by Max Dessoir and Ernst Cassirer. The same year, he wrote his first string quartet (in B minor).^[7]

Early work and compositions[link]

Weill's family experienced financial hardship in the aftermath of World War I, and in July 1919, Weill abandoned his studies and returned to Dessau, where he was employed as a répétiteur at the Friedrich-Theater under the direction of the new Kapellmeister, Hans Knappertsbusch. During this time, he composed an orchestral suite in E-flat major, a symphonic poem of Rainer Maria Rilke's The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke as well as Schilflieder, a cycle of five songs to poems by Nikolaus Lenau. In December 1919, through the help of Humperdinck, Weill was appointed as Kapellmeister at the newly founded Stadttheater in Lüdenscheid, where he directed opera, operetta, and singspiel for five months, and also composed a cello sonata and Ninon de Lenclos, a now lost one-act operatic adaptation of a play by Ernst Hardt. From May to September 1920, Weill spent a couple of months in Leipzig, where his father had become the new director of a Jewish orphanage. Before he returned to Berlin, in September 1920, he composed Sulamith, a choral fantasy for soprano, female choir, and orchestra.

Studies with Busoni[link]

Back in Berlin, Weill had an interview with Ferruccio Busoni in December 1920. After examining some of Weill's compositions, Busoni accepted him as one of five master students in composition at the Preußische Akademie der Künste in Berlin.^[8] From January 1921 to December 1923, Weill studied music composition with him and also counterpoint with Philipp Jarnach in Berlin. During his first year he composed his first symphony, Sinfonie in einem Satz, as well as the lieder Die Bekehrte (Goethe) and two Rilkelieder for voice and piano. In order to support his family in Leipzig, he also worked as a pianist in a Bierkeller tavern. In spring of 1922, Weill joined the November Group's music faction. That year he composed a psalm, a divertimento for orchestra, and Sinfonia Sacra: Fantasia, Passacaglia, and Hymnus for Orchestra. On November 18, 1922, his children's pantomime Die Zaubernacht (The Magic Night) premiered at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm; it was the first public performance of any of Weill's works in the field of musical theatre.^[9]

Out of financial need, Weill taught music theory and composition to private students from 1923 to 1925. Among his students were Claudio Arrau, Maurice Abravanel, Henry (then known as Heinz) Jolles,^[10] and Nikos Skalkottas. Arrau, Abravenel, and Jolles, at least, would remain members of Weill's circle of friends thereafter,^[11] and Jolles's sole surviving composition predating the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933 is a fragment of a work for four pianos he and Weill wrote jointly.^[10] Weill's compositions during his last year of studies included Quodlibet, an orchestral suite version of Die Zaubernacht, Frauentanz, seven medieval poems for soprano, flute, viola, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon, and Recordare for choir and children's choir to words from the Book of Lamentations. Further premieres that year included a performance of his Divertimento for Orchestra by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Heinz Unger on April 10, 1923, and the Hindemith-Amar Quartet's rendering of Weill's String Quartet, Op. 8, on June 24, 1923. In December 1923, Weill finished his studies with Busoni.^[12]

Success in the 1920s and early-1930s[link]

Weill in the 1920s.

In 1922 he joined the ‘Novembergruppe’, a group of leftist Berlin artists that included Hanns Eisler and Stefan Wolpe.^[13] In February 1924 the conductor Fritz Busch introduced him to the dramatist Georg Kaiser, with whom Weill would have a long-lasting creative partnership resulting in several one-act operas. At Kaiser's house in Grünheide, Weill also first met the actress and future wife Lotte Lenya in summer 1924.^[14] The couple got married twice: In 1926 and again in 1937 (following their divorce in 1933). Lenya took great care to support Weill's work, and after his death she took it upon herself to increase awareness of his music, forming the Kurt Weill Foundation.

From November 1924 to May 1929, Weill wrote hundreds of reviews for the influential and comprehensive radio program guide Der deutsche Rundfunk. Hans Siebert von Heister had already worked with Weill in the November Group, and offered Weill the job shortly after becoming editor-in-chief.^[15]

Although he had some success with his first mature non-stage works (such as the String Quartet, Op. 8 or the Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12), which were influenced by Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky, Weill tended more and more to vocal music and musical theatre. His musical theatre work and his songs were extremely popular with the wider public in Germany at the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s. Weill's music was admired by composers such as Alban Berg, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Darius Milhaud and Stravinsky, but it was also criticised by others: by Schoenberg, who later revised his opinion, and by Anton Webern.

His best-known work is The Threepenny Opera (1928), a reworking of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera written in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. Engel directed the original production of The Threepenny Opera in 1928. It contains Weill's most famous song, "Mack the Knife" ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer"). The stage success was filmed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst in two language versions: Die 3-Groschen-Oper and L'opéra de quat' sous. Weill and Brecht tried to stop the film adaptation through a well publicised lawsuit that Weill won and Brecht lost. Weill's working association with Brecht, although successful, came to an end over politics in 1930. Although Weill associated with socialism,^[16] after Brecht tried to push the play even further into a left wing direction, Weill commented, according to his wife Lenya, that he was unable to "set the communist party manifesto to music."^[17]