Der Kuhhandel (A Kingdom for a Cow or Arms and the Cow) is an operetta by Kurt Weill. The German libretto was written by Robert Vambery. Operetta (literally, little opera) is a performance art-form similar to opera, though it generally deals with less serious topics. ... Kurt Weill, a photo taken in Salzburg, Austria, 1934 Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900 – April 3, 1950), born in Dessau, Germany and died in New York, was a German composer active from the 1920s until his death. ...

Genesis

Weill and Vambery, both refugees from Nazi Germany, met in Paris in 1933 and began work on the operetta in 1934. Following the completion of the libretto, attempts to interest theatre managers in Paris and Zürich in staging the operetta proved abortive, and Weill turned to other projects, leaving most of the musical numbers complete but unorchestrated. Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... The Eiffel Tower, the international symbol of the city For other uses, see Paris (disambiguation). ... Location within Switzerland (German pronunciation IPA: ; in English often Zurich, without the umlaut) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ...

The German word Kuhhandel means "cattle trading". In German slang of the 1930s it referred to manoeuverings by politicians.

Performances and versions

In early 1935, Weill and Vambery collaborated with Reginald Arkell (book) and Desmond Carter (lyrics) on a three-act English-language musical comedy version of the operetta called A Kingdom for a Cow. This premiered on 28 June 1935 at the Savoy Theatre, London, under the baton of Muir Matheson. It achieved a critical success but failed at the box-office, running for only two weeks. Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theater combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... June 28 is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 186 days remaining. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Savoy Theatre London, December 2003 The Savoy Theatre, which opened on 10 October 1881, was built by Richard DOyly Carte (1844 - 1901) on the site of the old Savoy Palace in London as a showcase for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, which became known as the Savoy Operas... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England and is the most populous city in the European Union. ...

In 1978, Lys Symonette, Weill's friend and assistant, prepared a reconstruction of the original two-act operetta, and this was published by Schott Musik in 1981. This version was first performed in concert in Dusseldorf on 22 March 1990 (conductor: Jan Latham-König) and on stage at the Deutsch-Sorbisches Volkstheater, Bautzen (conductor: Dieter Kempe, director Wolfgang Poch) in 1994. Düsseldorf in Germany The Düsseldorf Coat of Arms Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. ... 22 March is the 81st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (82nd in Leap years). ... This article is about the year. ... Bautzen (pronounced , listen, until 1868: Budissin; Upper Sorbian: BudyÅ¡in; Lower Sorbian: BudyÅ¡yn; , listen; Polish: Budziszyn; Czech: Budyšín) is a city in eastern Saxony, Germany, and capital of the eponymous district. ...

The United States première, in an English-language version by Jeremy Sams, took place on 11 April 2000 at the Juilliard School (conductor, Randall Behr, director Frank Corsaro). The first performance in Great Britain of the Symonette version was given by Opera North on 30 March 2006, at the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford. The conductor was Jim Holmes and the director was David Pountney, who also collaborated with Sams on a revised translation. This production was first seen (in German) at the Kornmarkttheater, Bregenz, on 13 August 2004. April 11 is the 101st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (102nd in leap years). ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The Juilliard School is recognized as one of the best performing arts conservatories in the world. ... Opera North is a British opera company. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bradford is the major settlement in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, in the county of West Yorkshire in the north of England. ... Bregenz is the capital of Vorarlberg, the westernmost federal state of Austria. ... August 13 is the 225th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (226th in leap years), with 140 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Synopsis

The action takes place in the fictional country of Santa Maria, which shares a Caribbean island with another state, Ucqua.

List of roles

• Juan Santos (tenor)
• Juanita Sanchez (soprano}
• President Mendez (tenor)
• Jones (baritone)
• Ximenes (tenor)
• General Garcia Conchas (baritone)
• Juan's mother (soprano)
• Juanita's father (baritone)
• Ucquan Foreign Minister (baritone)
• Madame Odette (soprano)

In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high voice (although not as high as the modern countertenor). ... Look up Soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sherrill Milnes as Toscas Baron Scarpia Baritone (French: baryton; German: Bariton; Italian: baritono) is most commonly the type of male voice that lies between bass and tenor. ...

Act 1

Juan owns a cow, whose milk generates enough money to enable him to marry his sweetheart, Juanita, who has no dowry. Meanwhile, the peace-loving President Mendez and his advisor Ximenes are approached by Jones, an American arms dealer, who fabricates reports that Ucqua is re-arming and persuades them to buy weapons from him.

As Santa Maria is short of money, Mendez and Ximenez introduce a new tax to pay for the weapons. Juan cannot pay, his cow is impounded and the wedding with Juanita is called off. Juan works as a stevedore to earn enough money to get the cow back, but a second attempt at a wedding is again foiled by the impounding of the cow. This is because a second tax has had to be imposed at the behest of the war-mongering General Conchas, who plans manoeuvres on the border with Ucqua. Juan is called up into the army, and, to earn money for a replacement cow, Juanita goes into the city to work as a prostitute at Madame Odette's establishment. Jones and Ximenes conspire to replace Mendez as President by Conchas, who organises a putsch and takes power.

Act 2

Conchas visits Madame Odette's to celebrate his takeover and is captivated by Juanita. Next day, despite a hangover, he takes part in a military parade organised by Ximenes. Juan, who has no desire to be a soldier, punches the General and is sentenced to death. Luckily, the guns that Jones has sold to Santa Maria fail to go off, whereupon it turns out that the guns that he has also sold to Ucqua are also defective. President Conchas opts for peaceful coexistence with Ucqua and pardons Juan, who can now reclaim his cow with the help of his army pay and Juanita's earnings, and at last the couple can get married.

The music

Musically, Der Kuhhandel is closer to the bitter-sweet German works (e.g. The Threepenny Opera, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) that Weill was leaving behind him than to the Broadway operas like Knickerbocker Holiday, One Touch of Venus and Love Life that were to follow. An important influence, however, and one not common to either group, is the music of Offenbach. The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) was a revolutionary piece of musical theatre written (in German) by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht in collaboration with the composer Kurt Weill in 1928. ... Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) is a political-satirical opera composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht. ... Knickerbocker Holiday was a Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Maxwell Anderson (book and lyrics); it was directed by Joshua Logan. ... One Touch of Venus was a Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill (music), Ogden Nash (lyrics), and S.J. Perelman and Nash (book); it was directed by Elia Kazan and featured choreography by Agnes De Mille. ... Love Life was a Broadway musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics). ... Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880), composer and cellist, was one of the originators of the operetta form, a precursor of the modern musical comedy. ...

Recording

Excerpts conducted by Jan Latham-König. Soloists, Kölner Rundfunk chor, Kölner Rundfunkorchester; Capriccio 60 013-1.