Lehrstück

Small form of music drama cultivated in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s by Hanns Eisler, Paul Hindemith, Kurt Weill, and other composers, the chief literary exponent being Bertolt Brecht. It was cultivated mainly by the working classes in Germany at first as part of the Gebrauchsmusik (‘useful music’) movement, though later the influence spread to other European countries and to the USA. The Lehrstück makes use of historical material and dialectical discussion for the purpose of enlightening the masses, and it was for a time a counteragent to the Nazi movement until its exponents were forced to emigrate.

The first performance of Hindemith's Lehrstück, for soloists, chorus, and orchestra (texts by Brecht) was in Baden-Baden, Germany, on 28 July 1929.