Just weeks after the Third Reich came to power in early 1933, Kurt Weill was forced into exile in the city of Paris. He took with him the first sketches of a composition that he would complete a few months later. Without any theatrical dimension or vocal parts, the Second Symphony reveals the most classical side of the composer of The Threepenny Opera, which had been staged by Bertolt Brecht five years earlier.
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To a large extent, Kurt Weill’s purely instrumental works take us back to the beginning of his career, especially his formative period. It was in the years following the First World War that he composed his First Symphony – which, incidentally, was only premiered posthumously in 1956. The later Second Symphony originated during one of the most difficult moments of his life, when in 1933 the threat of the Nazi regime escalated. After several years devoted to musical theatre, he left for the French capital, which was then the primary refuge for German Jews. At that time, he was already carrying some sketches of a symphony in three movements – the second and third movements were fully composed in the months that followed.
Unlike the first, this second symphony was performed several times in the 1930s. However, it was only in the 1980s that it secured a place in the regular concert repertoire. It was first played in 1934 at the home of the Princess de Polignac, a prominent figure in Paris’s artistic scene in the first half of the last century. Its public premiere took place in October of that year at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, conducted by Bruno Walter. It was this conductor who dubbed the work Symphonic Fantasy: Three Night Scenes, possibly inspired by the mysterious sounds that permeate it.
Despite the structural solidity of the score, some critics considered it a mere pastiche of songs by a composer known primarily for his work in German musical theatre. Indeed, there is a profusion of styles ranging from the sober classicism of the eighteenth century to romantic exaltation, passing through the spontaneity of popular music. Nevertheless, it is an exclusively instrumental work that follows classical patterns, including sonata form in the first movement, a mournful cadenza in the slow movement, and a concluding rondo. Overall, the enigmatic atmosphere opening the first movement introduces the fundamental ideas, which are then developed—an exemplary demonstration of technical mastery and creative maturity.
Rui Campos Leitão
Image: Kurt Weill in 1932 / Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-2005-0119 / CC-BY-SA 3.0