In 1922 Lenya was seen by her future husband, German composer Kurt Weill, during an audition for his first stage score Zaubernacht but because of his position behind the piano, she did not see him.
In 1956, she recorded "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" ("Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny") for Philips (L 09 418-20) and Columbia (K3L 243) in Hamburg, conducted by Wilhelm Brückner-Rüggeberg.