ABSTRACT
A rare American record issued briefly in the 1920s, perhaps affiliated with the Plaza Music Co. group of labels. Dance music and popular vocals were featured. [Rust 1978.]
Lotte Lenya, a singing actress, was born Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer, in Vienna, Austria. Her stage experience began in 1914 at the Pfauen Theater and later the Stadttheater where she appeared in mute roles in Suppe’s Fatinitza and Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier under the direction of the composer himself. During World War I she lived in neutral Switzerland, then returned to Berlin where she settled in 1921. Her first performance in a Kurt Weill work was as Bessie in the Mahagonny Songspiel (1927), the 35 minute scenic cantata which was a prelude for a full-length opera, and she created the role of Jenny Smith in Die Dreigroschenoper (1928), then recreated the role in G.W. Pabst’s 1930 film version. Her next Weill production was in the 1930 Berlin premiere of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny.
