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A brief history of Cabaret
Cabaret, in its original form, began in the 1880s in the famous ‘Chat Noir’ in Paris - a place where artists, philosophers and writers would meet to exchange ideas and mock the social values of the time. Many of the great French Impressionistic composers were associated with the cabaret movement – Debussy, Milhaud and Satie among them whilst Poulenc and Auric later reinvented the ‘art song’ using influences from the circus, jazz and music halls.
It was performer Yvette Guilbert who introduced Cabaret to German audiences at a time when the audiences were in need of such entertainments. The ‘Überbrettl’ was founded in Berlin in 1901 and became Germany’s leading Cabaret, and whilst the company were on tour to Vienna Arnold Schöenberg was introduced to them. He became their musical director, moving to Berlin where he lived until 1903. He composed eight Brettl-lieder, taking as his texts poems by writers associated with the movement.
Over the following 25 years the definitive satirical style developed, with the ‘Golden Age’ of Cabaret being during the Weimar Republic of 1918-1933. Many leading composers learned their skills in the Cabarets as house pianists and arrangers, Hollaender, Spoliansky, Eisler and Waxman included among them.
Kurt Weill honed his musical talents in Berlin studying with Busoni and working as a repetiteur and teacher to supplement his income. Through his association with Expressionist dramatist Georg Kaiser he began his collaborations with the politically engaged writer Bertolt Brecht. Borrowing ideas from the world of Jazz and the music hall, their productions were, like those of the cabarets, bitterly satirical and many performances of their works were interrupted by the Nazis.
The rise to power of Hitler ensured the end of the great cabaret era and in common with many of the composers writing for the cabarets Weill emigrated in 1933 - but it was this mass emigration that led to the influence of cabaret being felt throughout the musical world.