20.01.2016
Brundibár. Victory over a wicked enemy
The première of the opera Brundibár will take place at the Hermitage Theatre on 27 January, with the Children’s Choir of TV and Radio of St. Petersburg taking centre stage. The unusual historical and musical material made a huge impression on the young performers.
„This production differs from all the ‘grown-up’ operas we have been involved in“, said soloist Anastasia Guz. „I have been singing in the TV and Radio Choir for nine years, and this is the first time we haven’t simply performed as a chorus or as extras, filling out the space in the background and carrying off the props. This time, we are the main characters. We have lots of the lines, many roles and, accordingly, a lot of responsibility. It is a modern opera, and one that differs in style and in its harmonies from the ones that we have performed before. This is a new experience for us. At the same time, it’s easier for us to get a feel for the themes, which come from the Second World War, an era closer to us than, say, the Baroque Period. The director has gone to great lengths to ensure that we have understood the meaning of this opera — not just in terms of the libretto, but also its historical significance. We are not simply singing the parts of some children whose mother is sick, as in the plot, but also taking on the roles of the children who performed the opera in a concentration camp. It’s a very unusual challenge, but I am sure that we will do it justice.“
„This work has a very complex history, but it’s not difficult to rehearse it with the children“, said the main choirmaster Igor Gribkov. „This season, in addition to Brundibár, we have four more Russian and world premières, but the children have shown that they are able to get a feel for the material very quickly. Furthermore, the score is not tricky from a musical point of view and the children like it very much. It’s an opera from 1938, and this can be felt in the music. It’s very much a work of its time, with jazz intonations and themes from popular music.“
„As an opera, Brundibár now exists on three different levels“, said director Mstislav Pentkovsky, the ambassador for the piece in Russia. „The first can be found in the year of 1938, when the opera was written. It is a simple fairy tale, which succeeded in being staged twice in occupied Prague. We have the evil organ grinder Brundibár, the kindly animals, and the two main leads, the brother and sister Pepíček and Aninka, who need a little help after getting into trouble. In 1943, by the time the score had been secretly taken into Theresienstadt, this fairy tale was no more. For the children who performed the opera in the concentration camp, Brundibár came to embody Hitler. Looking at photos from the concentration camp production, you can see that Brundibár was made to look just like Hitler, and was treated accordingly. The victory over the organ grinder in the opera therefore came to signify victory over a wicked enemy, and the hope for liberation. We now find ourselves on a third level, where we must navigate our way through the contrast between these interpretations. On the one hand, it’s a genuine fairy tale, but so much history has built up around it — history which doesn’t fit the original fairy story, but rather sits at odds with it. We are not staging a fairy tale, but a fairy tale in a concentration camp, and we intend to bring all the unnaturalness of this story to the fore.“
„This production differs from all the ‘grown-up’ operas we have been involved in“, said soloist Anastasia Guz. „I have been singing in the TV and Radio Choir for nine years, and this is the first time we haven’t simply performed as a chorus or as extras, filling out the space in the background and carrying off the props. This time, we are the main characters. We have lots of the lines, many roles and, accordingly, a lot of responsibility. It is a modern opera, and one that differs in style and in its harmonies from the ones that we have performed before. This is a new experience for us. At the same time, it’s easier for us to get a feel for the themes, which come from the Second World War, an era closer to us than, say, the Baroque Period. The director has gone to great lengths to ensure that we have understood the meaning of this opera — not just in terms of the libretto, but also its historical significance. We are not simply singing the parts of some children whose mother is sick, as in the plot, but also taking on the roles of the children who performed the opera in a concentration camp. It’s a very unusual challenge, but I am sure that we will do it justice.“
„This work has a very complex history, but it’s not difficult to rehearse it with the children“, said the main choirmaster Igor Gribkov. „This season, in addition to Brundibár, we have four more Russian and world premières, but the children have shown that they are able to get a feel for the material very quickly. Furthermore, the score is not tricky from a musical point of view and the children like it very much. It’s an opera from 1938, and this can be felt in the music. It’s very much a work of its time, with jazz intonations and themes from popular music.“
„As an opera, Brundibár now exists on three different levels“, said director Mstislav Pentkovsky, the ambassador for the piece in Russia. „The first can be found in the year of 1938, when the opera was written. It is a simple fairy tale, which succeeded in being staged twice in occupied Prague. We have the evil organ grinder Brundibár, the kindly animals, and the two main leads, the brother and sister Pepíček and Aninka, who need a little help after getting into trouble. In 1943, by the time the score had been secretly taken into Theresienstadt, this fairy tale was no more. For the children who performed the opera in the concentration camp, Brundibár came to embody Hitler. Looking at photos from the concentration camp production, you can see that Brundibár was made to look just like Hitler, and was treated accordingly. The victory over the organ grinder in the opera therefore came to signify victory over a wicked enemy, and the hope for liberation. We now find ourselves on a third level, where we must navigate our way through the contrast between these interpretations. On the one hand, it’s a genuine fairy tale, but so much history has built up around it — history which doesn’t fit the original fairy story, but rather sits at odds with it. We are not staging a fairy tale, but a fairy tale in a concentration camp, and we intend to bring all the unnaturalness of this story to the fore.“
