[78-L] Eislers and Brecht

[David Lennick]

Of course I should have checked whether Brecht and Eisler were in the same 
place when they wrote those songs. They may have been, but it wasn't over here. 
Brecht didn't come to the US till 1941. Eisler lived in the States from 1936 or 
1938, depending on which blog you click on (so how was he able to play the 
piano for The New Singers in NY in the fall of 1935?).

dl

David Lennick wrote:
> Look in your Bear Family box, comrades..oh, I'm sorry, downtrodden workers 
> cannot afford this exercise in capitalist exploitation. Anyway, onward. Eisler 
> and Brecht composed "In Praise of Learning" and "United Front", two of six 
> songs recorded by The New Singers and Mordecai Baumann on Timely records c. 
> 1935. Marc Blitzstein is the pianist on 5 of the songs and Eisler tickles the 
> ivories on the sixth. It didn't occur to me that Gerhart Eisler was a real 
> name! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_Eisler
> 
> Hanns also composed the music for Laughton's ten-inch Decca of the "3 Wise Men" 
> story. I don't know if he connected with Schoenberg in Hollywod, but just about 
> every other composer did. See unproduced stage play "Everybody Comes to 
> Arnie's", recently optioned by John Travolta.
> 
> dl
> 
> Steve Shapiro wrote:
>> I think Hans wanted to leave the U.S., but they blocked him for a while.  Brother Gerhardt wanted to stay, but they deported him.
>>
>> When they both were in the U.S., did Hans and Brecht do any collaborations?  Recording?
>>
>> How did Hans come to link up with Charles Laughton for the Decca Christmas Pickwick Papers album?  Was this also performed on radio?
>>
>> Did Hans ever do anything with his old teacher Schoenberg when both were in California?
>>
>> Hans eventually got back to Germany - East Berlin - where according to the film Solidarity Song he fell into depression after the Stalinists took over from the more liberal Reds who first took power in the East.  I find music from his last years a tough, unpleasant listen./steve
>> ____________________________________