BETWEEN GERMAN "ZEITOPER", MYSTERY PLAY AND DANCE OF DEATH

Emperor Overall rules Atlantis as a tyrant. When he finally declares a war of all against all, Death decides to refuse his service. In a demagogic act, the emperor initially presents himself as the inventor of immortality. But without Death, not only does the country descend into chaos, but Overall's power is also broken: If the people no longer die, who will still fear the emperor?
 
Facing the persecution and extermination by the Nazis, Viktor Ullmann composed his Kaiser von Atlantis in 1943/44 in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. The opera is a harrowing symbol against inhuman warmongering and totalitarian power structures. In October 1944, he – like his librettist Peter Kien – was deported to Auschwitz on the so-called ‘artists’ transport’ and murdered. His Kaiser von Atlantis speaks of a deep confrontation with life and death in an existential state of emergency. At the same time, for Ullmann the creation of art was always also the ‘will to live’, and so his Kaiser von Atlantis is also hope, opposition and a warning – music that has survived because it stands before us as a timeless testimony to freedom and humanity. Shifting between German “Zeitoper”, a mystery play and a dance of death, Der Kaiser von Atlantis unfolds a unique theatrical sound world that reveals the influences of Arnold Schoenberg and Gustav Mahler as well as admiration for the rigour and clarity of Johann Sebastian Bach and the fascinating power of jazz.

A DIALOGUE BETWEEN TWO WORKS

‘Der Kaiser von Atlantis is a work of great sadness, but also of freedom and happiness: composed in the face of death, music for survival.’ (Omer Meir Wellber)
 
For the premiere of KaiserRequiem, conductor Omer Meir Wellber has created an unusual combination of Ullmann's almost sixty-minute chamber opera with perhaps the most famous torso in music history: the Requiem in D minor KV 626. ‘With his Requiem, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart humanised the old requiem mass,’ says Andreas Heise, director and choreographer of the premiere, describing the score on which Mozart died while composing in 1791. ‘His music of great drama and emotionality, but also consolation and hope for redemption, opens up space for reflection for the characters in KaiserRequiem.’
 
KaiserRequiem is a dialogue between these two works, but also a collaboration between all sections of the house: the dancers of the Vienna State Ballet, soloists and the chorus and orchestra of the Volksoper Wien. The director and choreographer Andreas Heise is an artist who knows how to combine singing, instrumental music and movement in a body language that is as subtle as it is visually powerful.

Members of the Volksoper ensemble perform the vocal roles in Ullmann's Kaiser von Atlantis and the solo parts in Mozart's Requiem. The Emperor Overall is embodied by Daniel Schmutzhard, Death/Loudspeaker and the bass solo in Mozart's Requiem by Josef Wagner.JunHo You sings the Soldier and the tenor solo, Seiyoung Kim the Harlequin, Rebecca Nelsen sings Bubikopf and the soprano solo in Mozart's Requiem, Wallis Giunta the Drummer/Loudspeaker and the alto solo.
 
The second performance of the premiere series will take place on the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust and Mozart's birthday on 27 January 2025.
 
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