The collaboration between the composer Kurt Weill and the playwright Bertolt Brecht resulted in the creation of such works as the Three Penny Opera or Mahagonny. The authors took full advantage of popular music in those works, introducing elements of jazz and dance music. They outraged conservative critics and at the same time attracted a wide audience fascinated by the satirical overtones of these works. Their last joint venture was the sung ballet Seven Deadly Sins.
The work, however, was not staged in Berlin like the two previous ones. After the Nazis came to power, the works of Weill and Brecht were considered "degenerate art", and the composer's situation was also aggravated by his Jewish roots. The commission for the Seven Deadly Sins came from Paris, from the group Les Ballets founded by Boris Kochna and George Balanchine. Brecht's inspiration during the creation of the libretto was his trip to the United States. The artist assigned each of the sins to a different city, making the exception only for sloth. He associated pride with Memphis, anger with Los Angeles, gluttony with Philadelphia, lust with Boston, greed with Tennessee, and envy with San Francisco. The music is typical of the Weill style, and writing this piece the composer used numerous elements of popular and cabaret music. One of the greatest performers of the Seven Deadly Sins in history is the excellent Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne-Sophie von Otter, a four-time Grammy winner. The artist's Wrocław performance will be a great opportunity to experience her interpretation of the Seven Deadly Sins.
