Wie lange noch?

In January 2024, pianist Mireia Frutos Fernández and I worked hard to put together a short program of opera, musical theatre, and cabaret music for the Lotte Lena Competition. While our submission did not advance (only 20 semifinalists are chosen out of hundreds of applicants!), we are proud of our collaboration and grateful to be a small part of this project honoring the great German-American composer Kurt Weill. So we want to share this piece with you! “Wie lange noch?” (“How much longer?”) was written by Weill after he fled to America from the Third Reich. The melody is taken from an earlier French love song of his own, but the new German lyrics are a thinly veiled condemnation of the Nazi Party and an expression of heartbreak at the loss of his homeland as he once knew it. Ute Lemper recorded a version in 1944 that was played over the radio behind enemy lines, essentially asking German politicians and citizens “how much longer” they would allow the atrocities of World War II to continue. We find the music and lyrics to be an extremely powerful message, and we hope you do too.