The Eternal Road

The Eternal Road is an opera-oratorio with spoken dialogue in four acts by Kurt Weill with a libretto (originally in German: – The Way of the Covenant), by Austrian novelist and playwright Franz Werfel and translated into English by Ludwig Lewisohn. The Eternal Road premiered at the Manhattan Opera House on January 7, 1937, given a lavish and spectacular production involving 245 actors, and ran for 153 performances. Although it received good reviews, it was not revived for 63 years. The piece was conceived by Zionist activist Meyer Weisgal to alert the then-ignorant public to Hitler's persecution of the Jews in 1937 Germany. Weisgal enlisted the help of director Max Reinhardt, who found Weill to compose the music and Werfel to write the libretto. Set in a synagogue where Jews hide all night as a pogrom rages outside, the story combines Biblical and pre-World War II Jewish history. The rabbi reads from the Torah, leading, in each act, to the exploration and re-enactment of a different Biblical theme. At the conclusion, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the deportation of those hiding become one, while the despair of a scattered people is balanced by a messianic voice that speaks of hope for deliverance of the Jews in Zion – (although by 1937 Jews were unable to emigrate from Germany to most countries and were barred from Palestine). The music evokes cantorial lamentations, classical fugues and showtunes, among other styles. Performance history After its initial performances, the first revival took place at the Chemnitz Opera, Germany, and then at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City during the 1999/2000 season (the 100th anniversary of Weill's birth and the 50th of his death). The 62-year gap was partly due to the six-hour running time, even after substantial cuts had been made.