Instead of Home

“An Stelle von Heimat / halte ich die Verwandlungen der Welt” (Instead of home, I hold the transformation of the world), writes Nelly Sachs in one of her best-known poems which builds the dramaturgical bridge for the tripartite ballet evening. Works by three Jewish composers, forced into exile as their works were defamed by the Nazis as “degenerate music”, constitute the musical foundation. Inspired by the composers’ lives, the two corner elements of the evening show humans in exceptional circumstances, thereby reflecting on social conditions that are still part of the human coexistence long after the time of the compositions. While the musical language of Weill und Waxman still resonates with our modern attitude towards life, Korngold‘s composition seems to evoke a past golden era. The choreography gives in to this nostalgia and merges with the music to create a reverie in sepia.

Ballet by Steffen Fuchs
Kurt Weill/Berthold Brecht: „Die sieben Todsünden“ (The Seven Cardinal Sins)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: String Quartet No. 2
Franz Waxman: „Dusk“ and „Danse macabre“
Stage and costumes: Martin Kaeser