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Gestus in Music

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2022

Kurt Weill
Translated by
Erich Albrecht
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Extract

In my attempts to arrive at a basic form for the musical theatre, I noticed several things which at first seemed to me to constitute entirely new insights but which after a closer look were revealed as but logical parts of the whole historical situation. While working on my own compositions, I constantly forced myself to answer the question: What occasions for music does the theatre offer? But as soon as I looked back at the operas written by myself and others, another question arose: What is the nature of music which is found in the theatre, and does such music have definite characteristics which label it music of the theatre? After all it has often been stated that a number of important composers have either never paid any attention to the stage or that they have tried in vain to conquer the stage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tulane Drama Review , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , September 1961 , pp. 28 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © 1961 The Tulane Drama Review

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Footnotes

*

This word has been left in German because its most natural English equivalent—the word “gesture”—is so misleading. John Willett in his book on Brecht says, “…there is no single word by which Gestus can be translated. It is at once gesture and gist, attitude and point: one aspect of the relation between two people, studied singly, cut to essentials and physically or verbally expressed.…”