V24

Thursday, 4 March 2010

7.30 pm, Music theatre in the Bauhaus Dessau

"Bordellballade.
Ein Dreigoscherlnstück" world premiere

Music: Moritz Eggert
Text: Franzobel
Soloists & Orchestra: actors and musicians of Koblenz Theatre


Comparisons between the recent financial crisis and collapse in values, and the events of the 1920s, are all too clear. The only thing currently missing is a form of musical expression which can respond to the situation, and which satirizes the caprices and excesses of capitalism. We need music and text which attack the world’s obsession with profit, introduce an anti-capitalist argument and which bring the subject under the spotlight and onto stage in an easily digestible form, with humour and bite. The art of the 1920s has shown that lively and witty criticism of current problems can shed light on the future, as best exemplified by the collaborative work of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. The genre called “songspiel” was a particular inspiration of Kurt Weill’s, who adopted new techniques to create a classic artwork of the age.
The songspiel entitled Bordellballade. Ein Dreigoscherlnstück by composer Moritz Eggert and writer Franzobel was commissioned by the Kurt Weill Society, and will be given its premiere at the forthcoming 18th Kurt Weill Festival. As with Die WUNDE Heine by Helmut Oehring, Bordellballade is intended as a stylistic continuation of the joint work of Brecht and Weill. The challenge of composing “a songspiel for the 21st century” (as composer Moritz Eggert calls it) lies in the precision demanded of both text and music. In the final analysis, Bordellballade aims to succeed by means of simplicity, accessibility and clarity. Taking inspiration from the Mahagonny Songspiel, it portrays the brutalization of workers in times of turbo-capitalism and economic crisis.
Moritz Eggert, a highly successful composer of stage works, was commissioned to write this contemporary songspiel which, in a nod to Weill’s own methods, is intended to be performed by singing actors. For his diverse range of compositions, which includes chamber and orchestral pieces, operas and works for music theatre, Moritz Eggert has received many awards, including the composition prize of the Salzburg Osterfestspiele, the Schneider-Schott Prize, the Zemlinsky Prize and a scholarship from the Cité Internationale des Arts. He was also chosen by the Deutsche Akademie to spend one year in the Villa Massimo in Rome. For Bordellballade the composer worked with a libretto supplied by the artist Franzobel, famous for his wittily scurrilous writings. The Austrian literary world first took note of Franzobel’s prose pieces which, with their dextrous word-play, placed him firmly in the avant-garde. Meanwhile the writer’s comprehensive body of work, which includes novellas, novels, numerous plays and children’s books, has been showered with praise. Franzobel has won the Ingeborg Bachmann Competition, the Bert Brecht Medal and the Kassel Literature Prize for Grotesque Humour, to name only some of the 12 decorations he has received over the past 14 years.

Coproduction of Koblenz Theatre and Neuköllner Opera Berlin
Commissioned by the Kurt Weill Festival Dessau
In cooperation of the Kurt Weill Festival with the Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau


Ticket Prices in €

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