Musical Analysis
Weill did not want to use the "tom-tom" beat that Americans were familiar with, nor did he want the spirituals of the South, so he obtained recordings of Zulu music from Africa to study. In an interview with The New York Times however, Weill noted that "American spirituals are closer to African music than many people realize." In pointing out the set, he commented "Notice that this is an Anglican church. That is another influence that appears in the music. In general, the whole play has a Biblical tone that we hope the public will like." He was influenced by African American musical idioms through his use of spiritual melodies, blues and jazz.
The title song "Lost in the Stars" enjoyed a measure of popular success, and versions of it were recorded by Anita O'Day, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Generation Gap, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and many others. The words, which in the musical are those of the minister Stephen Kumalo at the depth of his desperation, tell how God once "held all the stars in the palm of his hand" "and they ran through his fingers like grains of sand, and one little star fell alone." Kumalo says that God sought and found the little lost star and "stated and promised he'd take special care so it wouldn't get lost again." But at times he thinks that God has forgotten his promise and that "we're lost out here in the stars."
Read more about this topic: Lost In The Stars
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“Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Analysis as an instrument of enlightenment and civilization is good, in so far as it shatters absurd convictions, acts as a solvent upon natural prejudices, and undermines authority; good, in other words, in that it sets free, refines, humanizes, makes slaves ripe for freedom. But it is bad, very bad, in so far as it stands in the way of action, cannot shape the vital forces, maims life at its roots. Analysis can be a very unappetizing affair, as much so as death.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)