72. In The Broken Looking-Glass

Shortly before World War I, at the height of Expressionism, cabaret actress Albertine Zehme commissioned Arnold Schönberg to compose Pierrot Lunaire based on the dark poems of Albert Giraud, translated into German by Otto Erich Hartleben. Schönberg then introduced a new vocal technique – Sprechgesang (literally “spoken singing”) – in which the performer is to follow the precisely notated rhythm, but only lightly touch the pitches before quickly and smoothly moving away from them. This creates the impression of an otherworldly, affected, and at times even frenzied singing, with constant descents, perfectly suited to Giraud’s poetry about Pierrot – an artist, a blasphemer, and perhaps even a thief and murderer who longs for his hometown of Bergamo, to which he returns in a nostalgic conclusion suggesting death. The poems are characterised by a distinctive atmosphere stemming, for example, from the repetition of colors – the black of both night and the painted tear on Pierrot’s face, the deathly pallor of moonlight and the protagonist’s makeup, and the red of blood and rubies. The otherworldly aura is also influenced by the diverse ensemble and the revolutionary, dissonant musical language. Although Pierrot Lunaire is undoubtedly a masterpiece, the true golden age of German cabaret came a little later – during the interwar period. Kurt Weill became one of the most important composers of that era; however, as a Jew, he was forced to flee to the West to escape persecution after Hitler came to power in the early 1930s. Among his most important works is The Threepenny Opera, written in collaboration with Bertolt Brecht. But his other operas, musicals, and scores for plays are also full of well-known melodies, such as the wistful Youkali.

– Dominika Micał (pisanezesluchu.pl)