Radio: Krenek’s Jazz Opera

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31121, 26 July 1966, Page 13

Radio: Krenek’s Jazz Opera

A so-called Jazz opera which enjoyed considerable success in the 19205, Ernst Krenek’s “Jonny spielt auf” (Johnny plays on), will be heard in potted form from 3YC at 10 o’clock this evening. .After being turned down by several companies, “Jonny” was performed at Leipzig in 1927, and caught on to such an extent that within the next few years it had been translated into eight languages and performed in about 100 cities, including New York where it had three performances.

The story concerns a Negro: band leader, Jonny, who steals a fashionable virtuoso’s violin and makes such irresistible music with it that he wins everybody who hears him. His jazz conquers the world. At the end he plays from the North Pole and inspires a mass performance of the Charleston. “Jonny” is the most

characteristic example of the Zeitoper, a topical opera with sonic elements from everyday life. Its success, although short-lived, gave the Austrianborn Krenek his independence as a composer.

The English critic, Andrew Porter, says “Jonny” is one of many works now being re-explored from a period cut short by the Nazis. “In the Weimar Republic, Krenek, Weill and Hindemith were the three leading composers, a German group distinct from Schoenberg’s ‘Second Viennese School.’ Of this active period the Nazis allowed the music of only Richard Strauss to survive,” he said.

Although the jazz which is a cornerstone of “Jonny” may sound rather inept today, the performance is described as “lively” and includes some leading European singers, William Blankenship and Evelyn Lear, in the main roles.