ABSTRACT
I had already heard a good deal about Brecht as far back as the twenties, and Der Jasager, Brecht and Weill’s school opera, made a tremendous impression on me when it was performed at the Karl Marx School in Berlin. Not long after, in the Kroll Opera House under the direction of Otto Klemperer, I went to a concert performance of Brecht and Weill’s (and Hindemith’s) Der Flug der Lindberghs. And, of course, there was the Dreigroschenoper. But I knew at that time it was too early for me to talk to Brecht about collaborating-the libretto for my Children’s Cantata, which I had written myself, demonstrated both my lack of independent ideas and the great influence Brecht then had on me.
