Keenen Sechser in der Tasche

Keenen Sechser in der Tasche by Hanns Eisler (1898-1962). Edited by Oliver Dahin & Peter Deeg. For voice and piano. Text language: German. 64 pages. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.DV-9073).

ISBN 979-0-2004-9116-6. With Text language: German. 30.5 x 23 cm inches.

Hanns Eisler’s songs and ballads of the late 1920s and early 1930s have long enjoyed cult status: compositions such as the “Stempellied” (“Keenen Sechser in der Tasche”), the “Lied der Bergarbeiter” or the “Ballade von den Baumwollpflückern” were once popularised by Ernst Busch and can today be heard on CD in their historical gramophone recordings. The scores for voice and piano, however, have long been less easy to acquire. This new anthology of 20 songs (to texts by Arendt, Brecht, Gilbert, Tucholsky, Weinert and others) finally fills this gap: alongside classic Eisler songs long absent from the catalogue, the editors present new and revised editions – including the well-known Tucholsky chanson “Wenn die Igel in der Abendstunde” (“Anna-Luise”) and the “Kuppellied” from Brecht’s “Die Rundköpfe und die Spitzköpfe”. The collection is completed with seven first editions, preeminent amongst them the highly melancholic “Gruß an die Mark Brandenburg” (text: Robert Gilbert) composed in exile. The oeuvre of the song composer Eisler once more proves itself inexhaustible.