About the work
Kurt Weill composed this three-act opera between August and October 1931, to a libretto written specially for him by Caspar Neher, based on Johann Gottfried Herder’s parable “The African Judgment”. It premiered on 10 March 1932 at the Städtische Oper Berlin, conducted by Fritz Stiedry and staged by Carl Ebert.
Plot
In the fictional land of Urb, cattle dealer Johann Mattes stands surety for grain dealer David Orth so that he can safely keep a treasure; when the treasure is stolen and Mattes falls under suspicion, the ensuing dispute over guilt and trust divides the two families across generations. Out of this private conflict a dictatorship gradually emerges, placing money and power above the original bond of mutual trust between people.
Cultural significance
Critic Alfred Einstein hailed the premiere as “an achievement of the highest order”, but political events prevented further performances in Germany after 1933. Long considered lost, the work was rediscovered only in 1987 in Amsterdam and is now regarded as one of Weill’s most significant stage works of the Weimar Republic.