Migration is one of the biggest challenges and opportunities in our time. Migrant workers and refugees are part of our society and take part in what "city" consists of.
A lot of early music tells about flight and expulsion, of longing for a lost homeland. But how to make tangible, that this is a story of our concern? It is the Catalan director Adrian Schvarzstein who has the answer: by sending our very audience on the run. And this is the result: Musica Fugit
Gerlinde Sämann / Emma Kirkby, soprano
Kamchàtka Barcelona, street theatre group Neue Hofkapelle Graz, staged musicians Michael Hell, musical director Adrian Schvarzstein, stage director Thomas Höft, producer |
There are messages for present and future in early music, and we have to make them audible and tangible.
|
Without them knowing what to expect, we have invited the audience to a concert in the small hall of the Cologne Centre for Early Music. There the blind soprano Gerlinde Sämann and the harpsichordist Michael Hell play a program with early baroque Italian cantatas. However, their outfit is somehow strange for a concert, as well as their behavior. It seems as if they are waiting for something. Other people with suitcases enter the concert hall, in old-fashioned suits from the 30s. An atmosphere of unrest develops... the tension discharges, when in the aria "Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi" suddenly somebody knocks at the fire exit door: This door opens the way to a hidden factory floor. The audience is led away without any word spoken - just as all the rest of the piece will be without words - just music. From that moment, everybody is part of the flight.
Some strangers are waiting in the factory floor, people who want to flee from an unknown threat. Amongst them there are musicians apparently using their music to communicate. The Catalan "Cant dells ocells" will be their leitmotif, their melody of hope.
Visitors are then divided into three large groups - and totally aware of the couples and close friends the actors seperate especially those who came together.
Some strangers are waiting in the factory floor, people who want to flee from an unknown threat. Amongst them there are musicians apparently using their music to communicate. The Catalan "Cant dells ocells" will be their leitmotif, their melody of hope.
Visitors are then divided into three large groups - and totally aware of the couples and close friends the actors seperate especially those who came together.
Tension and Excitement
The result is more than one and a half hour of a fantastic atmosphere of closeness and affection, of tension and excitement.
Finally, the paths lead all groups together
into a large reunion in a nearby under- ground station: An incredible moment of joy, almost of ecstasy, lying in each other‘s arms and dancing together to the Mantovana, the early version of the leit- motif … . |
|
Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen
However, this is not the end: Finally, the audience are blindfolded, and they just hear the soundscape of their city on their way to a reverberant staircase, where Johann Sebastian Bach's „Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen“ echoes from above, sung by the blind soprano. After the last note all performers sneak out. When the audience take off their blindfolds, they are completely alone.
Some of our guests stayed put for almost half an hour, others wept in tears. At the exit they get back their passports and mobile phones if they want to. The response was overwhelming ... This experiment has worked. In fact, it is not about a staged flight, but about awakening feelings to recall solidarity, community, and togetherness.
The press write in unison about the best musical theatre of the year. We are preparing to resume the production in the festival next year. And indeed it would be possible to show FUGIT all over the places. To all of this we would like to kindly invite you.
Some of our guests stayed put for almost half an hour, others wept in tears. At the exit they get back their passports and mobile phones if they want to. The response was overwhelming ... This experiment has worked. In fact, it is not about a staged flight, but about awakening feelings to recall solidarity, community, and togetherness.
The press write in unison about the best musical theatre of the year. We are preparing to resume the production in the festival next year. And indeed it would be possible to show FUGIT all over the places. To all of this we would like to kindly invite you.
PlaylistJOHANN JACOB FROBERGER (1616–1667)
Plaincte faite à Londres pour passer la Melancolie BARBARA STROZZI (1619–1677) L’eraclito Amoroso: Udite, udite ANONYMUS An Italian Ayre: Fuggi, fuggi, fuggi ANONYMUS El Cant dels Ocells ANONYMUS Danny Boy Scarborough Fair An Italian Ground Lochaber SALOMONE ROSSI HEBREO (ca.1570–ca.1630) Sinfonia 16 Sonata ottava sopra l’Aria E tanto tempo hormai BIAGIO MARINI (1594–1663) Sonata a tre sopra Fuggi, Fuggi, fuggi dolente core ANDREA FALCONIERO (1585–1656) La Suave Melodia CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567–1643) Si dolce è il tormento GASPARO ZANETTI (nach 1600–um 1660) La Mantovana ANONYMUS Monferrine All in a garden green Paul’s Steeple |
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)
Aria Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen
from Cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82a
Aria Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen
from Cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82a