Love Song: The Lives of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya

Noted historian of the Broadway musical chronicles the braided lives of two of the twentieth centurys most influential artists. For the first time Ethan Mordden chronicles the romance of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya in Love Song a dual biography that unfolds against the background of the tumultuous twentieth century scored to music from Weils greatest triumphs: Knickerbocker Holiday Lost in the Stars Lady in the Dark Happy End One Touch of Venus and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The romance of Weill the Jewish cantors son and Lenya the Viennese coachmans daughter changed the history of Western music. With Bertolt Brecht they created one of the definitive works of the twentieth century The Threepenny Opera a smash that would live on in musical theatre history. Weill the jazz Mozart was the creator whose work is backstage unseen. Lenya his epic-theatre femme fatale was the performer who put the work into view. They heard the same unique music but he gave it form while she gave it life. Love Song is ultimately the story of a great romance scored to some of the twentieth centurys greatest music.