Dreigroschenoper

- the printing history of the vocal score UE 8851 -

The following presentation tries to give a detailed description of the publication history of the piano reduction of the Dreigroschenoper (Three penny opera) by Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht in chronological order. The publication history follows the dates the archive of Universal Edition provided to me. These dates come from the print book of the archive and contain the information on which day shipments from the printing firm arrived at the publishing house. As one can see the number of copies in each printing run are strangely odd (not 250 or 300, but 293) and differ from one run to the next. A possible explanation for these peculiar numbers came from the renowned literary scholar and Brecht expert Jan Knopf. He told me that Universal Edition printed scores and also librettos of the Brecht/Weill compositions "on demand" at that time. If that is true UE did not print as many scores as they suggested to be sold in total, but only as much as the market requested at a time. There is no proof for this thought, but it sounds reasonable to me.

31 August 1928

On this day the world premiere of the Dreigroschenoper took place at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin (Germany).

28 October 1928

On this day Universal Edition commissioned the printing firm Waldheim-Eberle A.G. for the first time to print copies of the piano reduction of the Dreigroschenoper.

2 November 1928

A1) first edition, first printing

Universal Edition received 293 copies of the very first copies of the piano reduction. These copies can be identified by the following characteristics:

front cover: Light green paper. Recto: Green dotted border. Within the border the following green text: "KURT WEILL / DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER / KLAVIERAUSZUG MIT TEXT / [company emblem depicting a lyra] / UNIVERSAL-EDITION / No. 8851". Verso blank.

title page: White background, black double-lined border. Within the border the following black text: "KURT WEILL / DIE / DREIGROSCHENOPER / (THE BEGGAR'S OPERA) / Ein Stück mit Musik in einem Vorspiel und acht Bildern nach dem / Englischen des John Gay, übersetzt von E l i s a b e t h  H a u p t m a n n / Deutsche Bearbeitung / von / Bert Brecht / Klavierauszug mit Text von / NORBERT GINGOLD / AUFFÜHRUNGSRECHT VORBEHALTEN - DROITS D'EXÉCUTION RÉSERVÉS / UNIVERSAL-EDITION A. G. / WIEN / Copyright 1928 by Universal-Edition / LEIPZIG". At the bottom, outside the border the text: "Printed in Austria"

inside:

[1]: title page

[2]: copyright statement

[3]: cast

[4]: index of acts

5 - 73: piano reduction

[74] blank

back cover: Light green paper. Recto blank. Verso a green double-lined border. Within the border advertising for other UE publications. For an exact presentation please check the photo below, the most important information is which works and editions are offered: "KURT WEILL / BÜHNENWERKE / DER PROTAGONIST [with UE 8387 and 8388] / DER ZAR LÄSST SICH PHOTOGRAPHIEREN [with UE 8964 and 8965] / ROYAL PALACE [with UE 8690 and 8691] / MAHAGONNY [with UE 8917] / DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER [with UE 8851] / ORCHESTERWERKE / op.9 QUODLIBET [with UE 8348] / op.12 KONZERT [with UE 8339] / KAMMERMUSIK / op.8 STREICHQUARTETT I [with UE 7699 and 7700] / KLAVIER ZU 2 HÄNDEN [with UE 8848] / op.10 FRAUENTANZ [with UE 7599 and 7748] / GESANG UND KLAVIER [with UE 8900, 8847 and 8862] / ZU BEZIEHEN DURCH JEDE MUSIKALIENHANDLUNG / Prospekte mit Pressestimmen über Kurt Weills Werke gratis von der / UNIVERSAL-EDITION A. G., WIEN-LEIPZIG". At the bottom left, outside the border "No. 131 X. 1928."

spine: Light green paper, in green letters: "U. E. 8851, KURT WEILL, DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER, KLAVIERAUSZUG MIT TEXT"

last music page: On the last page 73, at the bottom left, the printing firm left its acronym "Weag"

I know of only one existing copy of this first edition and that one is in my possession. Neither Felix Bloch Erben, the Austrian National Library, the Kurt Weill Foundation nor the Bertolt Brecht Archive own a copy, not to mention any other public archive or library.

My copy has the following additional attributes:

front cover: On the recto is the stamp "Unverkäufliches Bühnenmaterial"

title page: a pink label was glued on the page saying "Den Bühnen gegenüber als Manuskript gedruckt / Das Aufführungsrecht ist allein zu erwerben von dem Verlage / Felix Bloch Erben / Berlin-Wilmersdorf 1, Nikolsberger Platz 3" and at the bottom, outside the border, under "Printed in Austria" is again the stamp "Unverkäufliches Bühnenmaterial"

It is uncertain if other copies of this first printing run have the same additional attributes.

This first edition can be easily recognised by a typo in the cast (page 3): There the bandits are named with a bracket on the right. On the very right it says "Macheats Leute" (missing the h). This typo does not appear in later versions.

Important for the differentiation between earlier and later editions is the bass line of the measures 22 and 23 of the 2. Dreigroschenfinale (p.54). The first edition, first printing shows this version:

This edition was not given to the national library as the depository copy (for that go to A3), was not for sale and given out through the publishing house Felix Bloch Erben (the pictured copy has the handwritten note "von Felix Bloch Erben gesandt" on the cover page). It is very likely that many if not all of the 293 copies of this run were handled this way. I contacted Felix Bloch Erben and asked if they still know the recipients of this very first edition. Unfortunately they had no answer to this question.

23 November 1928

A2) first edition, second printing

According to the printing book of the Universal Edition the next shipment of copies arrived on this day from the printing firm. Now a total of 298 copies were delivered.

Stephen Hinton and Edward Harsh mention a copy with a printing date "November 1928" in their Critical Report about the Dreigroschenoper (see references at the end). They do not provide where this copy is archived but it is not in the Kurt Weill Foundation Archive. They only hold copies from the second edition.

31 December 1928

A3) first edition, third printing

According to the printing book of the Universal Edition the next shipment of copies arrived on this day from the printing firm. Now a total of 294 and 225 copies were delivered. Unfortunately UE only provided these two numbers without any explanation. But it is a fact that at least one of these amounts of scores refers to an edition that is identical to A1 but with the printing date "XII. 1928." on the back cover. Of these copies at least two still exist: One is located at the Austrian National Library and was given to them by UE as the depository copy. The other one is located at the James Fuld Archive at the Morgan Library in New York.

This edition is identical to A1 except of the printing date "XII. 1928." on the back cover. Please check at A1 for a detailed description.

30 January 1929

On this day the printing book at UE gives the information that 502 coloured and 196 greenish copies were delivered from the printing firm.

B1) second edition, first printing

The coloured edition is nearly identical to the previously published green edition beside the fact that a complete new cover page was designed. In the following I describe the differences between this coloured edition and the A1 edition:

front cover: dark background depicting a painted curtain, on the left side a red stripe. On the bottom of the red stripe stands in a handwriting font in white colour "U. E. / 8851". On the dark part of the front cover in a handwriting Kurrent font in white colour stands "die / drei / groschen / oper / von / Brecht-Weill".

back cover: on the verso of the back cover one can still find publisher's advertising, but now with a few additional releases. All the mentioned releases from the A1 edition can still be found and in addition also the following ones: "GESANG UND KLAVIER [with UE 8900, 8862, 8847, 9594, 9595, 9596 and 9652] / JAZZORCHESTER [with V.C.J. Nr. 102 and 103]".  And at the left bottom, outside the border the printing date is "I. 1929."

spine: White paper, in black letters, italic: "U. E. 8851, KURT WEILL, DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER, KLAVIERAUSZUG MIT TEXT"

I know of at least two copies of this version: One in the James Fuld Collection in the Morgan Library, New York and one in my possession.

Stephen Hinton and Edward Harsh mention an interesting fact about this edition in their Critical Report about the Dreigroschenoper (see references at the end): This printing "is notable, however, because of its uneven recording of apparent emendations. The most striking case in point is the bass line of No. 15, mm. 22–23. Different copies bearing the same printer’s date present different readings. Some record the original bass line as presented in Ve1 [i.e. the first edition, second printing in my counting], some the altered form." (p. 54).

This notice sounds odd to me and against common printing practice. It might be more reasonable that different printing runs were marked with the same printing date although printed at different dates. There are subsequent printings without any known copies that have corresponding printing dates (see B2 to B4), so maybe the one or other later run got a corrected score and the printing date "I. 1929."

A4) first edition, fourth printing

On this date also 196 copies with greenish front covers were delivered. I found no copy with a greenish cover and the printing date "I. 1929" on the back cover. All available copies with this printing date have the new coloured front cover mentioned above. Therefore it is uncertain how these greenish copies look.



3 June 1929

B2) second edition, second printing

On this day the next printing run of 999 copies with coloured front cover arrived at the Universal Edition. I found no verified copy from this printing run, therefore all further statements are my personal suggestions.

I found no reference for a copy of the vocal score with the printing date "VI. 1929" or "V. 1929". I also think it is unlikely that the printing firm printed this edition with the previous date "I. 1929". For that reason there have to be copies without a printing date - and they do exist. There are two versions of this "date-free" vocal scores: One with a nearly identical back cover compared to B1 and one with a completely blank back cover. The advertised compositions on the back cover indicate a later release (check B4), and therefore it might be possible that this printing run contained the scores with blank cover. James Fuld suggests in his book "The Book of World-Famous Music" that this edition was created for the foreign market.



Here an example of the blank back cover:

3 January 1930

B3) second edition, third printing

According to the print book of the Universal Edition on this day another 298 copies of the Dreigroschenoper arrived. Please check the next date for further information.

13 January 1930

B4) second edition, fourth printing

And shortly after the shipment of 298 copies on 3 January another run of 503 copies arrived on this date. I found no verified copy from this printing run, therefore all further statements are my personal suggestions.

Again there is no document that mentions a copy of the Dreigroschenoper with a printing date "I. 1930" or "XII. 1929". But copies exist that look identical to the B1 edition but have no printing date on the back cover. A comparison of the back covers reveals that the advertised compositions differ too. This "undated back cover" version contains all the compositions like the B1 copy and adds the Moritat (UE 9772) under "GESANG UND KLAVIER". This plate number was printed in February 1930 (following the chronological order of the plate numbers) and therefore an advert in January 1930 would make sense. For that reason it seems likely that this edition was printed in the January 1930 runs.

Here an example of the back cover:

Within the scores in my possession this second edition, fourth printing is the first that differs also in the music to the previous printings. In this printing the bass line of measures 22 and 23 of the 2. Dreigroschenfinale (p.54) is different for the first time to the previous readings. With this difference printings without front and back cover can be identified as "before B4" or "B4 and later"). Here is what the relevant bass line looks like:

1931 to the ban

Universal Edition could not or did not want to provide further printing dates and numbers of copies for the time after 13 January 1930. So maybe more copies were printed later, maybe not. But in any way, I could not find any other version of the second edition than the three ones mentioned above: B1) printing date "I. 1929", B2) no printing date and B4) blank back cover. So if more copies were printed they seem to look like one of the three previously described versions, most likely like B2 or B4.

But it is sure that the printing history of the Dreigroschenoper had a stop sooner or later in the 1930s. In 1933 the Nazi Regime came into power in Germany and immediately banned all works by Kurt Weill. If that not caused a stop surely the annexation of Austria in 1938 had this effect.

June 1945

C) postwar edition

The restart of the publication history of the Dreigroschenoper began in June 1945, so only one month after the capitulation of Germany. The score remained (nearly) the same inside compared to B4, but now with a new front and back cover similar to the first edition. Complete editions can be easily recognised by the modified covers, title page (see below) and copyright statement (now at the end with "Universal Edition / Wien, I., Karlsplatz 6"). The printing date returned on the back cover, now at the bottom right side. The first printing run after World War II has the date "VI/45". If only the music has survived the score can be recognised on the last page 73. There the printing firm is given at the bottom left "Waldheim - Eberle, Wien VII".

Although a total of 4105 copies of the piano reduction were printed in the first year and a half after the world premiere of the Dreigroschenoper comparatively few copies seem to have survived. One reason for that is the fact that there was the common practice in archives and public libraries to strengthen the binding of many soft cover publications for better preservation. These publication - like the Dreigroschenoper - were given to bookbinders who exchanged the soft covers with solid cardboard covers. In many cases back covers were omitted from the binding process, sometimes also the front covers (or glued on the new solid cover). But for a definite identification of UE 8851 the back covers are absolutely essential and therefore many copies now archived in libraries cannot be related to a specific printing or even edition. So maybe several first and early editions are preserved in public libraries but cannot be determined.

Another reason might be the fact that the Dreigroschenoper was banned in 1933 by the Nazi Regime. Many works by Kurt Weill were destroyed in Nazi book burnings in that year and later. Scores of the Dreigroschenoper were also banned and destroyed in Austria after the annexation in 1938 at the latest. In addition many scores surely fell victim to air raids and demolition in World War II. That decreases the number of existing copies to a much smaller number.

Copies of B2 and B4 can be found from time to time in antique sheet music shops, a complete B1 copy including the back cover is much rarer. And I only found three existing copies of the first edition at all. So these are extreme rarities.

references:

• Stephen Hinton & Edward Harsh (2000): Die Dreigroschenoper. Critical Report. Series I, Volume 5 from the Kurt Weill Edition. New York: Kurt Weill Foundation for Music Inc.
• James Fuld (2000): The Book of World-Famous Music. Classical, Popular and Folk. 5th edition. New York: Dover Publications. p. 343-344.

In addition I contacted the following libraries and archives for further information and received important details. I would like to thank: Universal Edition, Felix Bloch Erben, the Austrian National Library, the Kurt Weill Foundation, the Bertolt Brecht Archive, the Morgan Library.

I personally own copies of the A1, B1, B2, B4 and C versions. These are pictured here and were resource for my documentation. In addition I also own first editions of the libretto (UE 8850) and of the piano-conductor score (UE 8849). And the first edition of the arrangement for violin and piano by Stefan Frenkel (UE 9969).