Offene Wunden
Zwei Songspiele von Helmut Ohering und Kurt Weill an einem Abend
The production ›OPEN WOUNDS‹ of the Ensemble Modern juxtaposes two Songspiels in one evening: ›Mahagonny-Songspiel‹ (1927) by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht and the new composition ›Die WUNDE Heine‹ (2008/09) by Helmut Oehring.
Stefanie Wördemann’s libretto for ›Die WUNDE Heine‹ is based on poems by Heinrich Heine which are disturbingly up to date. One hundred years before ›Mahagonny-Songspiel‹ was written, these poems were already prophesying »the end of the art period« and the emergence of a new kind of art. The zeitgeist of Weill's Music is thus emphasized and a bridge to the present built.
Not only in terms of content, but also in instrumentation, vocal cast, working method and form, ›Die WUNDE Heine‹ is intended as a continuation of the Brecht/Weill Mahagonny-Songspiel idea in a contemporary context. Oehring himself describes his composition as »response music« to ›Mahagonny-Songspiel‹. A two-part video by Hagen Klennert containing both graphic and real elements is part of the stage design and forms a visual connection between the Songspiels.