Theresa Reiber and the “Fuck Marry Kill” staff: songs by forgotten composers

They go to the archives. Metaphorically – but in addition fairly truly: Teresa Reiber and her ensemble recreate an archive within the first a part of the track night “Fuck Marry Kill #2: Ready for Gertrud or the Assembly of the 100 Prodigies”. In overalls, they go in quest of the feminine “prodigies” of music historical past, celebrated throughout their lifetime after which, as typically occurs, ignored once more.

Via the topic of the track they method these girls, however above all additionally the problems that concern them immediately. “We checked out how one can mix these themes with the classical repertoire. Is there actually a niche – or perhaps not?” says Reiber.

Along with the 4 singers Nadine Benjamin, Amber Fasquelle, Milena Knauss and Simone Riksman, the actress Mareike Hein and the pianist Lana Bode, the staff developed a track recital that was divided into two components – primarily based on the archive wherein they carried out their seek for the “little one prodigies “, a form of convention state of affairs follows – searching for the connections between the composers, the work and the challenges girls face immediately.

Women’ choir of the Berlin Singing Academy

They’re supported by the ladies’ choir of the Singakademie Berlin, collectively they body the items scenically and look at what different, beforehand unheard tales the songs may inform. How do songs change when the composers are busy with care work? If they’re affected by monetary insecurity? How do songs work when there aren’t any live performance conditions or may be?

It’s the second time that Teresa Reiber has got down to rethink the world of classical music and opera. Two years in the past she introduced the primary version of the “Fuck Marry Kill” opera cycle, “The Crown of Creation,” to the stage, or somewhat: to the water reservoir in Prenzlauer Berg. At the moment it was nonetheless very a lot about an examination of the classical opera canon and the ladies’s roles in it, as lovers, wives or victims, therefore the identify of the collection.

Again then, she was searching for a manner out of the clichés and stereotypes via deconstruction. “For the second half, I spotted: deconstructing on a regular basis is boring,” says Reiber. I don’t must work via Wagner for the tenth time.”

They have been condemned to domesticity

So she turned to the treasure trove of songs by feminine composers. “That is one thing that’s strongly linked to the feminine sphere,” she explains. In some unspecified time in the future, prodigies have been additionally condemned to the house, the place they then performed and composed songs. “Songs are additionally miniatures wherein a whole story is advised,” says Reiber. So the thought was apparent to inform tales not solely within the songs, but in addition about them and with them.

Simply discovering them was a problem: “Analysis is such a Sisyphean process,” remembers the director. Many songs are usually not printed, and generally there may be simply an previous video recording of a efficiency on the Web, the place it’s not clear whether or not the standard of the recording is poor or the track itself is just not superb. “There may be simply quite a lot of fallow,” says Reiber, summing up the search. “The publishers weren’t within the matter for a very long time.”

From Hildegard of Bingen to the current

That’s altering now, however for a few years every composer stood alone, was capable of make a residing from music throughout her lifetime and was then ignored once more by the musical canon. With the truly absurd title “100 Little one Prodigies,” Reiber and her staff now deliver these girls collectively throughout time and area boundaries.

It strikes shortly via the historical past of feminine music, from Hildegard von Bingen to the very present voices of younger feminine composers immediately, particularly from the USA. “The composers there are a lot freer and have fully totally different themes,” says Reiber, “there are total track cycles that cope with motherhood, however in a contemporary manner. And it’s nonetheless, in our understanding, an artwork track.”

The matters that come to the desk are something however summary, however stay near the realities of everybody concerned. “With regards to discrimination towards feminine composers, for instance, the singers can inform very comparable tales,” says Reiber.

With the scenic parts, the songs ought to generally work fully on their very own, even when surtitling is obtainable in German and English. “I’m all the time fascinated with it not simply being concerning the language, but in addition being understood via the setting and the efficiency. And perhaps generally you simply let it work on you.”