- Weill composed Symphony No. 1 (also called Symphony in one movement) in 1921, while he was studying under Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin. Weill was 21 years old.
- For this work, Weill was inspired by Johannes R. Becher’s play Workers, Peasants, Soldiers: A People’s Awakening to God. The play portrays “a stylized picture of a world in the throes of war and revolution.”
- Symphony No. 1 was likely never performed publicly during Weill’s lifetime. The first known performance took place with the Norddeutsche Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester in Hamburg in 1958. 1
Sources
- David Drew, “Symphony No. 1, in one movement,” The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, accessed September 26, 2025, https://www.kwf.org/media/drew%20writings/program%20scottish%20731127%20web.pdf.
Cut IDs
27577