Mahagonny

opera by Brecht and Weill

Also known as: “Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny”, “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny”

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In full:: The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

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Mahagonny, opera in 20 scenes with music by Kurt Weill and text by Bertolt Brecht, published in 1929 and performed in German as Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny in 1930. The opera’s premiere in Leipzig was disrupted by Nazi sympathizers and others hostile to the Weimar Republic.

Mahagonny is set in a fictional American frontier town and draws on the mythology of the Wild West and on the biblical story of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The piece was intended as an allegory of exploitation and hedonism as well as an indictment of a capitalist world that was doomed to end in flaming destruction.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.