Yesterday a very interesting, beautifully photografed english picture about a nun convent in India, "Black Narcissus," with Deborah Kerr who is quite lovely. They are away ahead of Hollywood, better ideas, better scripts, better color, and much better acting. Kurt Weill, London, May 8, 1947

A production of his operetta Der Kuhhandel (A Kingdom for a Cow) took him to London in 1935 and later that year he went to the United States in connection with The Eternal Road a "Biblical Drama" by Franz Werfel that had been commissioned by members of New York's Jewish community and was premiered in 1937 at the Manhattan Opera House running for 153 performances. After examining some of Weill's compositions Busoni accepted him as one of five master students in composition at the Preußische Akademie der Künste in Berlin. That year he composed a psalm a divertimento for orchestra and Sinfonia Sacra: Fantasia Passacaglia and Hymnus for Orchestra.

Weill was a socialist[unreliable source?] who held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose. He also wrote a number of works for the concert hall as well as several Judaism-themed pieces.