Five things you should know about Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark (and the Symphonic Nocturne)

Kurt Weill’s Symphonic Nocturne from Lady in the Dark will take you back to the glamorous, magnetic world of 1940s New York City. This orchestral Suite, arranged by Robert Russell Bennett from Weill’s iconic Broadway musical Lady in the Dark, tells the story of a successful but troubled career-driven woman and brings its magical, opulent sounds to the symphonic stage.

It’s a Musical Dive into the Subconscious

The music for Lady in the Dark was heavily inspired by psychoanalysis. The story of the original show was structured around three musical dream sequences, all with different characters and moods, that delved into the protagonist Lisa’s fears and desires. The show’s engagement with psychiatry was very modern for its time, and the presence of these narrative elements is evident in the Symphonic Nocturne too. Throughout the music, ideas and styles are juxtaposed and re-introduced to different expressive effects, reflecting the chaos of dreams and mirroring the state of Lisa’s mind throughout the psychoanalytical process.

Back in his early days working as a composer in Europe, Weill had already been involved in projects that integrated music and theatre (while in Europe he wrote arguably his most famous work to this date: the Threepenny Opera.) After moving to the US, Weill studied theatrical music and jazz, and composed a series of very successful shows that introduced a new level of narrative complexity and cultural significance to the Broadway stage. His capacity to combine his classical training with popular music gained him the nickname ‘the Verdi of the pauper’, and the diverse range of musical influences behind his compositional style is especially evident in Lady in the Dark.

The Symphonic Nocturne opens with a short, enchanting theme that gets passed around the instruments. This little tune plays a big role in the original musical, as it comes back repeatedly throughout the show and is what gives its music a sense of coherence despite the drastic changes in pace and character. It is also central to the plot itself, as it motivates the protagonist Lisa to seek out a psychoanalyst: She simply can’t figure out where this song in her head has come from and she longs to be able to recall the rest of it.

This symphonic adaptation of Lady in the Dark highlights the oneiric, almost surreal nature of this little musical idea, so listen out for it throughout the piece.

This Suite also includes a symphonic arrangement of a well-known blues standard: The Saga of Jenny. The original version of this song, written by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin for Lady in the Dark’s first Broadway run, has been recorded by artists like Julie Andrews and Benny Goodman. The energetic and playful orchestral version of The Saga of Jenny that closes the Symphonic Nocturne exemplifies why it’s such a staple piece of repertoire to this day.

If you search for a recording of this work, you will probably stumble across Marin Alsop’s 2005 album version. So naturally we can’t wait for her to join us in February to conduct the Orchestra in a live performance of the music.