See also http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/german/eisler/
 

Eisler, Hanns

(b Leipzig, 6 July 1898; d Berlin, 6 Sept 1962). German composer. He was the second son of the liberal middle-class Viennese philosopher Rudolf Eisler. The family moved to Vienna in 1901 and, although there was insufficient money for a piano (one was rented when possible) or for lessons, Eisler studied music from books and scores. His first attempts at composition date from his years at the Staatsgymnasium (1908--15) during which time he and his brother Gerhart, subsequently a celebrated political journalist, became involved in a progressive middle-class youth group. From 1916 to 1918 he served in a Hungarian regiment, continuing to compose (one work that has not survived was an oratorio Gegen den Krieg), and after the war he enrolled as a student of Weigl at the New Vienna Conservatory, earning money for the fees as a proofreader for Universal Edition.

Finding the teaching not strict enough, Eisler was accepted as a pupil by Schoenberg and he was taught privately by him (and sometimes by Webern) without fee between 1919 and 1923. Schoenberg recommended the Piano Sonata op.1 to Universal in 1923 and the work was given its premiere by Steuermann in October 1924. The several chamber works of this time are clearly influenced by Schoenberg and his two senior pupils. The Sonata, for which Eisler received the Vienna Arts Prize, the Songs op.2, the Piano Pieces op.3 and the Divertimento op.4 for wind quintet are extremely chromatic, harmonically rich and dense in incident, yet they possess wit, vivacity, elegance and good humour. Palmstrom, described as 'studies on 12-note series' and written at Schoenberg's request to go into a programme with Pierrot lunaire, has a similar lightness of touch and an unmistakable element of parody. The final song, Couplet von der Tapetenblume, is essential Eisler, with a typical throw-away surprise cadence. In 1925 he moved to Berlin and took a teaching post at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory. His Second Piano Sonata op.6 is significantly sparer in texture than the earlier works. Although the harmonic flavour remains -- augmented triads, 7th chords with major and minor 3rds -- the effect is fresher, as if Eisler was using serialism as a discipline, as a way of controlling extreme chromaticism. This work also introduced the distinctive 'Eisler bass' and jazz-influenced rhythms.

Eisler developed his strongly Marxist political convictions in those years and his commitment led to involvement in Vienna in the activities of, first, the Karl Liebknecht Gesangverein and later the Stahlklang Chorvereinigung. In September 1925 he moved to Berlin and in 1926 he applied to join the German Communist party. His mounting distaste for the direction new music was taking led, in March, to an unpleasant quarrel with Schoenberg, who found Eisler's views insupportable and his attacks on modern music disloyal. Eisler's dissatisfaction with new music included his own work, and his fully formed political ideology found expression in numerous articles and reviews in the Communist party's periodical Die Rote Fahne and led him to seek more politically aware ways of serving (and changing) society. His association with the Agitproptruppe 'Das rote Sprachrohr' began late in 1927 and a series of choral works dates from the years 1926--33, as well as the first of the marching-songs, which were of so strong and distinctive a character that they quickly became popular with left-wing groups throughout Europe. Roter Wedding, Der heimliche Aufmarsch, Stempellied, Kominternlied, Solidaritatslied and the Einheitsfrontlied are classics of the socialist movement. The tunes are constructed with superb economy and are usually in the minor mode, remarkable for music with so positive and exhortatory a message, Eisler feeling that the minor produced a more threatening quality. Many of these songs were first sung by the actor Ernst Busch, whom Eisler had met in 1929 and who played an important part in Eisler's career, not only in the 1930s but subsequently in the DDR.

In 1930 began the lifelong friendship and collaboration with Brecht and the creation at once of two masterpieces, the controversial Lehrstuck Die Massnahme and Die Mutter, to Brecht's adaptation of Gorky's novel. Both scores are in Eisler's Massenlieder idiom, diatonic and texturally clear, with a profoundly subtle dialectical relationship between words and music. Instead of expressing the text in an obvious 'emotional' way, the music provides a gloss on the words and adds to their meaning; this is a characteristic of all Eisler's word-setting. Other important events during these years were the two visits to the USSR and the production of the film Kuhle Wampe, which included the Solidaritatslied.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, the activities of everyone involved in the German workers' movement came to a halt; Eisler's music was banned and there began 15 years of exile and the composition of a series of works dedicated to the overthrow of fascism. The next years were extremely eventful ones. As well as visiting the USA, he worked on film scores in Vienna, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and London (where his Kleine Sinfonie was first performed in April 1935) and collaborated with Brecht in Denmark on the 'atrocity story' Die Rundkopfe und die Spitzkopfe, the music for which contains some of his finest songs. Also from this time are the nine chamber cantatas and Eisler's largest-scale work, the Deutsche Sinfonie, a fiercely anti-fascist sequence of cantatas and instrumental movements, composed in Eisler's distinctively tonal type of serialism. The work received its first performance at the Berlin Staatsoper in 1959. After visits to the Spanish front, Paris and Denmark in 1937, Eisler travelled for a third time to the USA and took a post at the New School for Social Research in New York, where he had been guest-lecturer and composition teacher from October 1935 to January 1936. For five months from May 1939 he was visiting professor at the Mexico Conservatory and in 1940 he was given a three-year grant to undertake research into the function of film music. From this resulted scores for four films and the book, written jointly with Adorno, Composing for the Films.
 

In May 1942 Eisler moved to Hollywood and a teaching post at the University of Southern California. He met up with Brecht again and their collaborations continued with Furcht und Elend des dritten Reiches and Galileo. In addition to several film scores and various chamber works, Eisler set numerous new Brecht poems on the subject of exile in an individual and personal idiom which is an intriguing amalgam of the style of the 1925--6 Zeitungsausschnitte and the Massenlieder -- an original continuation of the German lied tradition. In 1947 Eisler, Brecht and numerous well-known Hollywood producers and scriptwriters were brought before the notorious Committee on Un-American Activities. Eisler was questioned in a fatuous way about Die Massnahme and the Lob des Kommunismus song from Die Mutter, and about being the brother of the 'communist spy' Gerhart Eisler. A worldwide protest on his behalf was organized and supported by Chaplin, Thomas Mann, Einstein, Picasso, Matisse, Copland and Cocteau. Eisler was released and expelled in March 1948. He returned to Vienna by way of Prague and after two visits to Berlin -- in 1949 he set Becher's poem Auferstanden aus Ruinen, which was chosen as the national anthem of the DDR -- he settled there for the second time. He was elected to membership of the German Academy of Arts, at which he held masterclasses in composition, and he was also professor at the Berlin Hochschule fur Musik.

Thus for his last 12 years Eisler worked within the social system for which he had striven all his life. He had expressed his views in numerous essays on the crisis in bourgeois music, on stupidity in music, on progress in music and on the way out of the crisis and the building of a new music culture. Having overwhelmingly succeeded in the writing of protest music for the fight against capitalism and fascism, he was now faced with the need for music that could serve a new republic to be created out of the debris and disillusion of the war. Significantly there is no chamber music from these years. He was convinced that at this time of transition away from 19th-century habits of performance and listening, progressive music would be mainly 'angewandte Musik' -- that is 'applied music', used for the theatre, cinema, cabaret, television, public events etc. Inevitably, with Brecht and his ensemble also in Berlin, music for the theatre played an important part, and from 1948 to 1961 scores for 17 plays were written. Not all of this music was new. Eisler's Handelian talent for the judicious re-use of existing material had already been evident in the 1920s and 1930s. Brecht's Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg was first produced in Warsaw in 1957 but further music was composed for the Frankfurt production of 1959. Eisler's achievement here ranks with his finest. The ironic juxtaposition of heroic, operatic music for Hitler, Himmler and Goering with tuneful cabaret songs accompanied by two pub pianos and interludes for beer garden orchestra matches the humour and flavour of Brecht's play perfectly; the transformation of the opening phrase of Smetana's Vltava theme into a powerful and menacing song about social change is a stroke of genius.

From these years also came music for 17 films, a further 36 settings in cabaret chanson idiom of Tucholsky poems (many specially written for Busch) and the Neue deutsche Volkslieder. Together with many other 'festival songs' and children's songs, these represent Eisler's attempt to compose in an idiom which could be immediately understood and quickly learnt. It could be argued that this desire for simplicity is sometimes carried too far, but many of these songs are extremely beautiful. Anmut sparet nicht noch Muhe, for instance, has a superbly moulded melodic line, accompanied simply but with great subtlety and ideally complementing the text. A parallel example in a concert work of about the same time is the 'Symbolum', the third movement of Das Vorbild to words by Goethe, written in 1952 for his pupils. Other important concert works are the Rhapsodie for orchestra with soprano solo and the cantata Die Teppichweber von Kujan-Bulak in which Eisler most successfully put into practice his belief, expressed as early as 1937, that 'in our new music', one would search in vain for 'bombast, sentimentality and mysticism' but find instead 'freshness, intelligence, strength and elegance'. Even in his last work, the cycle Ernste Gesange for baritone and strings, where the texts might seem sometimes to justify the above undesirable qualities, Eisler asks the singer to refer the listener to the meaning of the words rather than to express them. All his life Eisler felt the need to protect his music from interpreters bred in the opera house and concert hall, and his scores abound with such cautionary directives as 'without sentimentality', 'simply', 'friendly' and even 'politely'.

Some writers and musicians in capitalist countries have poured scorn on politically committed composers such as Eisler, as if it were reprehensible for an artist to be concerned about his function in society and to wish, through his art, to have some influence on how that society develops. There has also been the assumption that putting one's talents at the service of society inevitably results in propagandist banalities, or that music cannot be at once of use to society and expressive of the artist's self. Obviously, Eisler's enormous output, much of it written at great speed for particular occasions, varies considerably in quality, but the overall standard is extremely high. Even in those works which do not totally succeed, the invention, vitality and superb professionalism give great satisfaction. In his best works, Die Massnahme, Die Mutter, the Zeitungsausschnitte and many of the songs, he achieved undoubted greatness. His ability to write in such a diversity of genres in so individual a way is due to the technical training he received from Schoenberg, his single-minded purpose and his clear-sighted political aims, all controlled by an intellect of the highest calibre. Eisler was a great conversationalist and a master of the art of self-contradiction, using non sequitur and playing devil's advocate in a brilliantly ironic way in an attempt to look at a problem from every angle, to expose it fully to the gaze of his interlocutor. The range of his knowledge was enormous and, like Brecht, he was always intellectually alert.

In the 25 years after his death in 1962, international recognition of Eisler's significance was limited to pockets of enthusiasts restricted by the lack of available scores and recordings. Academic research into his music was assiduously pursued in the DDR but this contrasted with the relatively rare performances there of his larger-scale works. The demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany threw his work and thought into a dramatically new perspective, and has required a rethinking of Eisler's and Adorno's aesthetic positions, previously considered to conflict. The foundation in 1994 of the International Hanns Eisler Society and the resumption of work on the Collected Edition are cause for optimism that a proper international assessment of his significance can be made.

WORKS

WRITINGS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DAVID BLAKE

choral with orchestra
op.
16 Tempo der Zeit (cant., D. Weber [R. Gilbert]), A, B, spkr, chorus, small orch, 1929
20 Die Massnahme, 9 numbers (Lehrstück, B. Brecht), T, 3 spkrs, male chorus, chorus, small orch, 1930
25 Die Mutter, 13 numbers (Brecht), 1931; arr. as cant. with 2 pf, n.d.; some nos. arr., 1935
47 Kalifornische Ballade, 6 numbers (cant., E. Ottwalt), A, Bar, chorus, orch, 1934 [from radio score]
ó Lenin (Requiem), solo vv, chorus, orch, 1935?7
50 Deutsche Sinfonie, 11 numbers (Brecht), solo vv, chorus, orch, 1935?9
ó Mitte des Jahrhunderts (cant., J.R. Becher), S, chorus, orch, 1950
ó Bilder aus der ëKriegsfibelí (Brecht), solo vv, male chorus, orch, 1957

vocal with orchestra
ó 3 Lieder (Li-Tai-Pe, Geisha song trans. Klabund), 1919
ó Glückliche Fahrt (J.W. von Goethe), S, orch, 1946
ó Rhapsodie (Goethe: Faust, part 2), S, orch, 1949
ó Die Teppichweber von Kujan-Bulak (cant., Brecht), S, orch, 1957
ó Ernste Gesänge, 7 songs (J.C.F. Hölderlin, B. Viertel, G. Leopardi, after H. Richter, S. Hermlin), Bar, str, 1936?62

vocal with small orchestra

(The majority of these songs exist in versions with pf, and some in other arrs. Some songs have a choral refrain, often ad lib)
ó Gesang des Abgeschiedenen (Jap., Chin.), A, chbr orch, 1918
ó Sehr leises Gehn im lauen Wind, A, chbr orch, 1919
ó Drum sag der SPD ade (R. Winter [Gilbert]), 1928
ó Lied der roten Matrosen (E. Weinert), 1928
18 6 Balladen (Weber, Brecht, W. Mehring), 1929?30
28 6 Lieder (Weinert, Weber, Jahnke and Vallentin), 1929?31
ó Lied der Werktätigen (Hermlin), 1929?31; with new text, Kominternlied, 1949
22 4 Balladen (B. Traven, K. Tucholsky, Wiesner-Gmeyner, J. Arendt), male v/chorus, small orch, 1930
ó Lied der roten Flieger (Kirsanow), 1931
ó 4 songs (L. Frank, Weinert), 1931 [from film Niemandsland]
27 3 songs from film Kuhle Wampe (Brecht), 1931
ó Der neue Stern (Weinert)
ó Ballade von den Seeräubern (Brecht)
37 3 songs (Mehring), 1931 [from film Das Lied vom Leben]
ó Lied der Mariken (Brecht) [from stage work Kamerad Kasper]
41 4 Balladen (Brecht), 1931?2
48 2 Lieder (Clément and Mehring, Weber), 1931?2
39 Ballade vom Soldaten (Ballade vom Weib und dem Soldaten) (Brecht), 1932
ó Magnito-Komsomolzenlied (Lied vom Ural) (Tretjakow), 1932 [from film Die Jugend hat das Wort]
ó Das Lied vom vierten Mann, 1931
ó Streiklied (Fischer von St Barbara), 1931
ó Lied der deutschen Rotarmisten (Weinert), 1932
ó Mon oncle a tout repeint, 1933 [from film Dans les rues]
42 Die Ballade von der Billigung der Welt (Brecht), 1934
43 Spartakus 1919
45 14 songs (Brecht, Bittner), 1934?6 [from stage work Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe]
ó Das Einheitsfrontlied (Brecht), 1934
ó Sklave, wer wird dich befreien (Brecht), 1934
ó Das Saarlied (Brecht), 1934
ó Ballade von der Judenhure Marie Sanders (Brecht), 1934
ó Lied gegen den Krieg (Brecht), 1934
ó Friedenssong (E. Schoen), 1937 [from film Abdul Hamid]
ó Marcha del 5o Regimiento (Petere), 1937
ó Brother Patriot [refrain as in above]
ó Close the Ranks, Dictator's Song, Song of Light
ó Musik zu ëSchweyk im zweiten Weltkriegí (Brecht), 1943?59
ó Musik zu ëDie Gesichte der Simone Machardí (Brecht), 1946
ó Lied über die Gerechtigkeit (W. Fischer), 1948
ó Lied über den Frieden (Krieg ist kein Gesetz der Natur) (Fischer), 1949
ó Hymne der DDR (Auferstanden aus Ruinen) (Becher), 1949
ó 4 songs from stage work Die Tage der Commune (Brecht), 1950
ó Kinderlieder (6 songs, Brecht), 1950?51
ó Das Lied vom Glück (Brecht), 1952 [from film Frauenschicksale]
ó Das Vorbild (Goethe), A, small orch, 1952
ó 3 songs (Brecht), 1955 [from film Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti]
ó 4 Szenen auf dem Lande (E. Strittmatter), childrenís/female vv, 1956
ó Lied der Tankisten (Weinert), 1957
ó Regimenter gehn (V.V. Mayakovsky), 1957
ó Marsch der Zeit (Mayakovsky), 1957 [from stage work Das Schwitzbad]
ó 3 songs (Mayakovsky, P. Hacks), 1957 [from stage work Sturm]
ó Sputnik-Lied ëHerr Dulles möcht so gerneí (Kuba), 1v, jazz ens, 1957; arr. 1v, pf with new text, 1957
ó Am 1. Mai (Kinderlied) (Brecht), 1958
ó Lied der Pflastersteine (Weinert), 1961

vocal with ensemble
ó Die Mausefalle (C. Morgenstern), S/T, vn, pf/chamber orch, 1918
ó Wenn es nur einmal so ganz still wäre (R.M. Rilke), A, str trio, 1918
5 Palmström, 5 numbers (Morgenstern), Sprechstimme, fl, cl, vn + va, vc, 1924
9 Tagebuch des Hanns Eisler (Eisler), 3 female vv, T, vn, pf, 1926
ó Ulm 1592 (Brecht), 1v, str qt, 1937
ó Bettellied (Brecht), 1v, vn, vc, 1937
ó Kammerkantate no.1 ëDie Gott-sei-bei-uns-Kantateí (children's cant., Brecht), 1v, chorus, str qt/pf, 1937
ó Kammerkantate no.2 ëDie Weissbrotkantateí (after I. Silone), 1v, 2 cl, va, vc/pf, 1937
ó Kammerkantate no.3 ëDie römische Kantateí (after Silone), 1v, 2 cl, va, vc, 1937; version with pf as op.60
ó Kammerkantate no.4 ëMan lebt vom einen Tage zu dem anderní (Kantate im Exil) (after Silone), 1v, 2 cl, va, vc, 1937 [version with pf as op.62]
ó Kammerkantate no.5 ëKriegskantateí (after Silone), 1v, 2 cl, va, vc, 1937 [version with pf as op.65]
ó Kammerkantate no.6 ëNeiní (after Silone), 1v, str qt, 1937
ó Kammerkantate no.7 ëDie den Mund auf hattení (after Silone), 1v, 2 cl, va, vc, 1937
ó Kammerkantate no.8 ëKantate auf den Tod eines Genossení (after Silone), 1v, fl, cl, va, vc, 1937 [version with pf as op.64]
ó Kammerkantate no.9 ëZuchthauskantateí (Eisler), 1v, 2 cl, va, vc, 1937
ó Kantate zu Herrn Meyers ersten Geburtstag, 1v, va, pf, 1938
54 2 Sonette (Brecht), 1v, 2 cl, 1937
ó Musik zu ëLeben des Galileií (Brecht), solo vv, SSA, fl + pic, cl, hpd, 1946
ó 3 Kinderlieder, 1v, va
ó Zu Brechts Tod ëDie Wälder atmen nochí, 1v, 4 hn, 1956

vocal with piano
ó 2 Lieder (Schi-King, Li-Tai-Pe); Vielleicht dass ich durch schwere Berge gehe (Rilke); Tod (Mikula); O nimm mir; Ich pflückte deine Blume (Tagore); Leise an verschlossener Türe; Lass alle Spannung der Freunde (R. Tagore); 2 Kinderlieder (Des Knaben Wunderhorn); Immer wieder nahst du, Melancholie; Von der Armut und vom Tode, 7 songs and 2 choruses (Rilke); 3 Lieder (Kramer, Fischart, Falcke); Nachtgruss (J.F. von Eichendorff); Totenopfer (Eichendorff); Unter Feinden (F. Nietzsche); Galgenlieder, 6 songs (Morgenstern); Auf einer grünen Wiese; Von der Langeweile; Eines Morgens im Blumengarten (Tagore); 2 Lieder (G. Trakl, Tagore); Ich habe die Ladung gehabt (Tagore); Nach dem Traum; Jetzt bleibt mir nur; Wenn der Tag vorbei (Tagore); Es war im Mai (Tagore); Was ist die Traurigkeit; Nun ist ein Tag zu Ende; Dunkler Tropfe (Morgenstern); Tanzlied der Rosetta (G. Büchner: Leonce und Lena); 2 Lieder (Rilke, Trakl); Im Licht des Sakefusses (Geisha song, trans. Klabund); 2 Lieder (Jap., Trakl); Oh könntest du meine Augen sehen; 1917?20
2 6 Lieder (M. Claudius, Jap. trans. Bethge, Klabund), 1922
11 Zeitungsausschnitte, 10 songs, 1925?6
ó Lustige Ecke, 2 songs, 1925?6
12 Pantomime (Balázs)
ó Kumpellied; Roter Matrosensong (J. Grau); Couplet vom Zeitfreiwilligen; Zeitungssohn; Auch ein Schumacher (Brecht); Was möchst du nicht (Des Knaben Wunderhorn); Wir sind das rote Sprachrohr, 1928; Mit der IFA marschiert (Slang); Ein Rotarmistenlied; Lenin is eingeschreint; Sergeant Waurich (E. Kästner); O Fallada, da du hangest (Ein Pferd beklagt sich) (Brecht), 1932, arr. small orch
33 4 Wiegenlieder für Arbeitermütter (Brecht), 1932?3
ó Und es sind die finstern Zeiten (Brecht); Kälbermarsch (Brecht), 1932?3 [used in ëSchweykí]; Ballade von den Ossegger Witwen (Brecht), 1934; Hammer und Sichel (Brecht), 1934; 2 Songs (Hunter); Der Pflaumenbaum (Brecht), 1v, pf/hmnm; Der Räuber und sein Knecht (Brecht), 1935; Deutsches Lied 1937 ëMarie weine nichtí (Brecht), 1v, pf/fl, cl, bn, str, 1937; Spanisches Liedchen 1937 (Brecht), 1937; Das Lied vom 7. Januar (L. Renn), 1v, accdn, 1937
ó Spanien (E. Weinert), 1v, cl; Wir sind der Freiheit Soldaten (Stern); Deutsches Kriegslied (Brecht); 2 Elegien (Brecht), 1937; 2 Lieder (old Ger.); Der Zweck der Musik (Lat. proverb); Lied einer deutschen Mutter (Brecht); 4 Lieder (Brecht: Svenborger Gedichte), 1939; Über den Selbstmord (Brecht); Shakespeare Sonett Nr.66, 1939; Gruss an die Mark Brandenburg (Gilbert); An den Schlaf (E. Mörike); Der Schatzgräber (Goethe); Die Hollywood-Elegien (Brecht, Eisler), 8 songs, 1942
ó Winterspruch (Brecht), 1942; 2 Lieder (after B. Pascal); 13 Lieder (Brecht: Steffinischer Sammlung), 1942; 6 Lieder (Brecht: Gedichte im Exil), 1942?3; Die Mutter (Wenn sie nachts lag) (Brecht), 1943; 5 Anakreon-Fragmente (trans. Mörike), 1943; Aus der Heimat hinter den Blitzen rot (after Eichendorff); 6 Hölderlin-Fragmente, 1943; Das deutsche Miserere (Brecht), 1943, used in ëSchweykí; Lob des Weines (Brecht); Ardens sed virens; Printemps allemand (K. Kraus)
ó Der Butterräuber von Halberstadt (arr. Brecht); L'automne californien (B. Viertel); Rimbaud-Gedicht; Eisenbahn; Neue deutsche Volkslieder (Becher), 18 songs, 1950; Du Sohn der Arbeiterschaft (Becher); Lied für Bukarest (Hermlin), 1953; Genesung (Becher), 1954; Von der Freundlichkeit der Welt (Brecht), 1954; Die haltbare Graugans (Brecht, after Amer.), 1955; Chanson allemand (Viertel), 1955; Die Götter (Xenophanes), 1955
ó Im Blumengarten (Brecht), 1955; L'automne prussien (Die Buckow-Kantate) (Eisler), 1955; Wie der Wind weht (Brecht), 1955; Wiener Lied (Brecht), 1955; Und endlich (Altenberg), 1955; Horatios Monolog (W. Shakespeare), 1956; Von Wolkenstreifen leicht befangen (Goethe), 1956; Verfehlte Liebe (H. Heine); Legende von der Entstehung des Buches Taote King (Brecht), 1956; Des Friedens Soldaten (Herzfelde); Weihnachtslied 1918 (Tucholsky), arr. small orch; Ohne Kapitalisten geht es besser (Zwei liebevolle Schwestern) (Kuba) [new text for Sputnik-Lied, 1v, jazz ens, 1957], 1957
ó 2 Chansons (E. Brehm), 1957; Ballade vom Kreuzzug (Kuba), 1957; Steht auf! (Hermlin), 1958; Brandverse; Trommellied (M. Zimmering); Rezitativ und Fuge auf 60. Geburtstag von J.R. Becher (Becher); Um meine Weisheit unbekümmert (Hölderlin), 1959; Motto (Auf einer chinesischen Theewurzellöwen) (Brecht), 1959; Die Wasser fuhren zu Tale (Kinderlied) (Hermlin), 1961; Bleib gesund mir, Krakau (Gebirtig); 39 Lieder (Tucholsky), 1959?61, 3

unaccompanied choral
10 3 Männerchöre (after Heine), 1926
13 4 Stücke, no.1 with spkr, side drum, cymbals ad lib, 1928
14 2 Männerchöre (1525 peasants' song, anon.), 1928
15 Auf den Strassen zu singen (Weber), with side drum, 1928
17 2 Männerchöre (J. Hill, trans. I. Kulcsar, Weber), 1929
19 2 Stücke (Kulcsar after Amer., Bosnian soldiers' song), male chorus, 1929
21 2 Stücke (Brecht, Eisler), 1930
35 2 Männerchöre (Brecht, Kraus), 1933
51 Gegen den Krieg (cant., Brecht), 1936
ó Kriegslied, children's chorus
ó 5 Kinderlieder (Brecht)
ó Woodburry-Liederbüchlein, 20 songs (trad.), female/children's chorus 3vv, 1941
ó 9 Kanons (Virgil, Eisler, H. Reichenbach, Brecht, trad., Goethe), 2?4vv

orchestral
23 Suite no.1, 1930 [from film Opus III]
24 Suite no.2 ëNiemandslandí, 1931 [from film]
26 Suite no.3 ëKuhle Wampeí, 1931 [from film]
29 Kleine Sinfonie, 1932
30 Suite no.4 ëDie Jugend hat das Wortí, 1932 [from film]
40 Suite no.6 ëLe grand jeuí, 1932 [from film]
35 Suite no.5 ëDans les ruesí, 1933 [from film]
ó Allegro, 2 Etüden, 1935?9 [sections of Deutsche Sinfonie, from film Opus III]
ó 5 Orchesterstücke, 1938 [from film 400 Millionen]
ó Scherzo, vn, orch, 1938 [from film 400 Millionen]
ó Variationen über ein marschartiges Thema (Der lange Marsch), 1938 [from film 400 Millionen]
69 Kammersinfonie, 15 insts, 1940 [from film Eis]
ó Ouvertüre zu einem Lustspiel, 1948 [for J. Nestroy: Höllenangst]
ó Winterschlacht-Suite, 1955 [from stage work]
ó Sturm-Suite, 1957 [from stage work]

chamber and instrumental
ó Scherzo, str trio, 1920
ó Allegro moderato und Walzer, pf, 1922
ó Allegretto und Andante, pf, 1922
ó Ich pflückte deine Blume, after Tagore, b cl, hp, str trio, before 1923
ó Scherzo, str qt, inc.
1 Piano Sonata no.1, 1923
3 4 Klavierstücke, 1923
4 Divertimento, wind qnt, 1923
6 Piano Sonata no.2, 1924
7 Duo, vn, vc, 1924
8 8 Klavierstücke, 1925
31 Klavierstücke für Kinder, 1932?3
32 7 Klavierstücke, 1932?3
44 Pf Sonatine (Gradus ad Parnassum), 1934
46 Präludium und Fuge über BACH, str trio, 1934
49 Sonata, fl, ob, hp, 1935
ó Sonata (Reisesonate), vn, pf, 1937
75 String Quartet, 1938
ó Nonet no.1, fl, cl, bn, hn, str qt, db, 1939
92a Septet no.1 (Variations on Amer. Children's Songs), fl + pic, cl, bn, str qt, 1940 [from film Kinderfilm]
70 14 Arten, den Regen zu beschreiben, fl, cl, vn + va, vc, pf, 1940 [from film ëRegení]
ó Variations, pf, 1940
ó Nonet no.2, fl, cl, bn, tpt, perc, 3 vn, db, 1941 [from film The Forgotten Village]
ó Piano Sonata no.3, 1943
ó 3 Fugues, pf, 1946
ó Septet no.2 (Zirkus), fl + pic, cl, bn, str qt, 1947

stage
Heimweh (F. Jung), 1927; Berlin, 1927
Hallo, Kollege Jungarbeiter (revue), 1928; Berlin, 1928
Kalkutta, 4 Mai (L. Feuchtwanger), 1928; Berlin, 1928
Die Bergarbeiter (A. Gmeyner), 1928; Berlin, 1928
Maggie (J.M. Barrie), 1928; Berlin, 1928
Der Kaufmann von Berlin (W. Mehring), 1929; Berlin, 1929
Dantons Tod (Büchner), 1929; Berlin, 1929
Heer ohne Helden (Wiesner-Gmeyner), 1930; Berlin, 1930
Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (K. Kraus), 1930; Berlin, 1930
Das Gerücht (C.K. Munro), 1930; Berlin, 1930
Die Mutter (Brecht, after Gorky), 1931; Berlin, 1931
Kamerad Kasper (P. Schurek), 1932; Berlin, 1932
Rote Revue: Wir sind ja sooo zufrieden (Brecht), 1932; Berlin, 1932
Agitpropstück: Bauer Baetz (F. Wolf), 1932; Berlin, 1932
Feuer aus den Kesseln (E. Toller), 1934; Manchester, 1935
Peace on Earth (Toller), 1936; London, 1936
Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe (Brecht), 1934?6; Copenhagen, 1936
Night Music (C. Odets), 1939; New York, 1939
Medicine Show (Hoffmann), 1941; New York, 1941
Furcht und Elend des dritten Reiches (Brecht), 1945; New York, 1945
Galileo Galilei (Brecht), 1947; Los Angeles, 1947
Höllenangst (J. Nestroy), 1948; Vienna, 1948
Tage der Kommune (Brecht), 1950; Karl-Marx Stadt [now Chemnitz], 1956
Eulenspiegel (Nestroy), 1951; Vienna, 1951
Volpone (B. Jonson), 1953; Vienna, 1953
Lysistrata (Aristophanes), 1954; Vienna, 1954
Hamlet (Shakespeare), 1954; Vienna, 1954
Katzgraben (Strittmatter), 1954; Berlin, 1954
Winterschlacht (Becher), 1955; Berlin, 1955
Theatergeschichten (Nestroy), 1955; Berlin, 1955
The Playboy of the Western World (J.M. Synge), 1956; Berlin, 1956
Die erste Reiterarmee (W. Wischnewski), 1956; Berlin, 1956
Sturm (W. Bill-Belozerkowski), 1957; Berlin, 1957
Die Gesichte der Simone Machard (Brecht), 1957; Frankfurt, 1957
Schweyk im zweiten Weltkrieg (Brecht), 1943?59; Warsaw, 1957
Lofter (Weisenborn), 1958; Berlin, 1958
Das Schwitzbad (Mayakovsky), 1958; Berlin, 1958
Wilhelm Tell (F. von Schiller), 1961; Berlin, 1962

film scores
Opus III (W. Ruttman, dir. Ruttman), 1927
Niemandsland (L. Frank, dir. V. Trivas), 1931
Das Lied vom Leben (W. Mehring, dir. A. Granowski), 1931
Kuhle Wampe oder Wem gehört die Welt? (Brecht, dir. E. Ottwalt, S. Dudow), 1931
Die Jugend hat das Wort (Heldenlied, Magnitogorsk) (Tretjakow, dir. J. Ivens), 1932
Dans les rues (Trivas, dir. Trivas), 1933
Zuiderzee (New Earth) (Ivens, dir. Ivens), 1933
Le grand jeu (C. Spaak, dir. J. Feyder), 1934
Abdul Hamid (The Damned, dir. K. Grune), 1934
I pagliacci (after Leoncavallo, dir. Grune), 1934
400 Millionen (dir. Ivens), 1938
Pete (Roleum) and his Cousins (dir. Losey), 1939
Kinderfilm (dir. Losey), 1939
Unser Acker (Soil), 1940 [for US Department of Agriculture]
Regen (dir. Ivens), 1940 [1929 film]
The Forgotten Village (J. Steinbeck, dir. H. Kline), 1941
Hangmen also Die (Brecht, dir. F. Lang), 1942
Eis (Naturszenen), 1943
None but the Lonely Heart (Odets, dir. Odets), 1944
Spanish Main (Der Seeteufel von Cartagena) (H. Mankiewicz, dir. F. Borzage), 1944?5
Jealousy (dir. G. Machaty)
Deadline at Dawn (Odets, dir. H.E. Clurman), 1946
A Scandal in Paris (dir. D. Sirk), 1946
So well Remembered (dir. E. Dmytryk), 1947
Woman on the Beach (dir. J. Renoir), 1947
Treffass (dir. Geyer), 1949
Unser täglich Brot (Dudow, dir. Dudow), 1949
Der Rat der Götter (Wolf, dir. K. Maetzig), 1950
Wilhelm Pieck ? Das Leben unseres Präsidenten (dir. A. Thorndike), 1951
Frauenschicksale (Dudow, dir. Dudow), 1952
Schicksal am Lenkrad (R. Wieden, dir. Vergano), 1953
Bel Ami (dir. Daquin), 1955
Gasparone (Paryla, dir. Paryla), 1955
Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti (Brecht, V. Pozner, Wieden, dir. A. Cavalcanti), 1956
Fidelio (dir. W. Felsenstein), 1956 [after Beethoven]
Nuit et brouillard (Vigo, dir. A. Resnais), 1956
The Witches of Salem (J.P. Sartre, dir. R. Rouleau), 1957
Geschwader Fledermaus (dir. E. Engel), 1958
Trübe Wasser (after H. de Balzac, dir. Daquin), 1959
Globke (dir. Heynowski), 1961
Spanien (dir. J. and K. Stern), 1962
Esther (television film, B. Apitz), 1962

arrangements
for selective list see Notowicz and Elsner
Songs for 1v, pf/small orch; pieces for chorus, small orch; pieces for wind band
Principal publishers: Breitkopf & Härtel, Deutsche Akademie der Künste, Deutscher Verlag, Universal, Peters