Short Introduction KaiserRequiem

Director and Choreographer Andreas Heise: „‘KaiserRequiem’ is an interdisciplinary project that combines dance, opera and music and merges two works: „The Emperor of Atlantis” by Viktor Ullmann and Mozart’s Requiem. The score is based on the idea and concept by Omer Meir Wellber. The basic idea was something I read in a book. We know that this opera was commissioned by the Nazis, who had a contract with Ullmann. At the dress rehearsal they understood: This is a very complicated opera and of course against Hitler, against fascism, something extremely revolutionary. And they sent everybody to Auschwitz. What I found really incredible was that the only survivor of this whole operation was the singer who sang the role of Death. For me, that was divine humour. What is the best piece of music about death? Of course, it’s Mozart’s Requiem! Mozart himself died and didn’t finish the score. In other words, death is an incredibly beautiful, interesting, humorous, profound argument. Then I found musical connections. We’re going to play both pieces together. Not one piece and then the other, but all together in one arrangement. It’s about a tyrannical ruler who declares war of all against all. Death, as a personified figure, refuses to take part in these atrocities and breaks his sword so that no one can die anymore. The Emperor takes advantage of this and declares to the people: “I give you eternal life”, which means that they are bound to him forever and must continue to fight each other, but cannot die. This chaos leads to a revolt that brings down the emperor. In the end, Death appears before the Emperor and says, “I will restore the order of life and death, if you will be the first to sacrifice yourself”, which is what the emperor then does. From the beginning it was clear to me that this is a dance project. We have a lot of abstract music, if that’s how you want to describe Mozart. And with Ullmann we have a very strong narrative. This can be a very interesting connection between opera or text or something concrete and a more open interpretation. On stage we are in a place that isn’t concrete, can’t be defined or attributed to a specific time, but can be freely interpreted. A place where anyone can be the emperor, anyone can be the drummer, the soldier or the girl. Basically, it is a community where these roles develop, where certain people make a choice to go in a certain direction. And then it was important for me to look at the dystopia of the play, and perhaps the dystopia of our time, to see how I could offer a little glimmer of hope. Personally, I deeply believe that people are capable of showing remorse and realizing what they have done. That doesn’t mean that you can get away with it, but that you have the opportunity to see the error and feel remorse. This was actually my main approach for this production.”