Anschlag

The sublime beauty of the human body stands opposite an immense brutality, the wonder of existence, an impotence of the “I”. Neither meditation nor asceticism, neither intellect nor science help to rid oneself of this brutality and impotence.

While in his libretto for Michael Wertmüller, with texts about life, death and illness of both the individual and society at large, Lukas Bärfuss poses the question of whether the new vision of the nature of humanity corresponds to a new image of the body and whether we cannot transcend our corporeality through music, Michael Wertmüller focuses on time: “Time was always an attack on life”, and every artistic ambition an attempt to stand up to the flow of time.

Far away from any programme, Michael Wertmüller in a sense encounters Lukas Bärfuss’ texts with the elementary power of the musician’s interaction with his instrument: “He is the essence of physicality in music and the stroke the final bastion of the corporeality of time”.

Michael Wertmüller’s highly energetic music and Berlin literature prize recipient Lukas Bärfuss’ multi-layered libretto are performed by exceptional soloists and the “Hammond-Avantcore-Trio” Steamboat Switzerland in a stage production by George Delnon and Marie-Thérèse Jossen. Titus Engel conducts the work.