A Stranger Here Myself: Kurt Weill Studien.

Success can dull the appetite for posthumous rewards. In 1940 a very successful Kurt Weill observed, 'I write for today. I don't give a damn about writing for posterity' (William G. King, 'Composer for the Theater - Kurt Weill Talks about "Practical" Music', New York Sun (2 February 1940)). Nearly half a century after the composer's death, posterity has graciously ignored the slight. Weill's works are widely performed and recorded and his life and music subjected to a level of critical scrutiny that would have surprised and perhaps offended him. At the same time, scholars - posterity's bureaucrats - have been tidying up the file: filling in facts, establishing chronology, cataloguing works, editing scores, and in general clearing a space for that most coveted of posthumous rewards - a place in history.

This was clearly the intention of the symposium held at Duisburg in February 1990, the centrepiece of which was a panel discussion entitled 'Weill's Place in Twentieth-Century Music' (my review of the conference, '(Re-)Unification?', appeared in the Kurt Weill Newsletter, viii/1 (Spring 1990), 9-10). Although that discussion and a number of the lively responses and presentations from a memorable conference are not included, A Stranger Here Myself: Kurt Weill Studien contains most of …