Átrium
Opened: 2022
In Hungarian and German with English subtitles
“A true multidisciplinary artistic undertaking, this musical theatre production blends film and theatre based on Schuman’s classic song cycle Dichterliebe, the texts of which come from the poems of Heine. The writer and director of the performance is film director Lili Horvát, whose feature film Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time was screened to great acclaim at the Venice International Film Festival in 2020. Like the film, Dichterliebe - The Twelve Giants, defined as a concert-film-theatre piece, speaks about the elusiveness and volatility of the feeling of love and the unreliability of the subject’s perception of reality. The film sequences, projected on a screen resembling a translucent membrane that covers the entire stage, the musical interludes performed live by the Danubia Orchestra, the episodes of János Szemenyei, who performs to a high standard both as an actor and singer, melt into a whole and flow into each other in such a way that the individual media retain their own unique characteristics. In the clever play of Lili Horvát and her colleagues, the viewer is assigned the role of detective: in a performance that shifts languages, aesthetics, and ways of thinking at a perfect pace, it is up to us to put things in order, that is, to decide where reality ends and the world of fantasy begins.” Tamás Jászay, curator
Robert Schumann’s song-cycle in this performance is the story of an imaginary love: a love for which just one person is enough. The songs, overwrought, sometimes reminiscent, sometimes angry, sometimes resigned, embody internal events, not the pain and happiness of a relationship actually experienced. The juxtaposition of different genres in a concert-film-theatre performance highlights the confrontation between the inner and outer worlds. The orchestral arrangement of the song-cycle was composed for the Orchestra by Erkel Prize-winning composer Máté Balogh, making the performance also representative of contemporary music.
A boy and a girl meet at a party and find each other for one night, then, by the morning, the girl disappears. Up to this point, this could have been an ordinary one-night stand, but he starts looking for her because he feels she was the one. Is this love extraordinary or platonic? Did he dream it up or did it actually happen?
Two hundred years ago, a volume by Heinrich Heine was published, 16 poems of which were set to music and transcribed for male vocals and piano by his contemporary Robert Schumann. This current performance, however, is not representative of the 19th century but is a very modern, contemporary theatrical version of a painful heartbreak. In this love story directed by Lili Horvát, the viewer follows events in the outside world, but is constantly interrupted by changes in the protagonist’s soul.
So, what is Dichterliebe – The Twelve Giants exactly? A ninety-minute-long musical journey with film interruptions.
CREDITS
Translated by: Mihály Babits, László Bródy, Sándor Endrődi, István Eörsi, Anna Hajnal, Pál Justus, László Kálnoky, Géza Képes, Aladár Komlós, Gizella Szabó, Lőrinc Szabó, Gyula Tellér, Eszter Urbán
Musical arrangement: Máté Balogh
Featuring: Danubia Orchestra
Protagonist: János Szemenyei, Fanni Wrochna
Also featuring: Anna Boros, Katalin Kőszegi, Zsolt Nagy, Natasa Stork, Mariann Venekei
Translation: László Kálmán (film, EN), Richard Stokes (songs, EN)
Assistant director: Lili Fenyvesi
Musical director: Máté Hámori
Written and directed by: Lili Horvát
A joint production by the Danubia Orchestra and Poste Restante.
|| 12+ ||
REVIEWS
“The happy truth is that it’s all very enjoyable, I’m fascinated by the coherence of these ninety minutes."
Miklós Fáy, Faymiklos.hu
“The Dichterliebe… an original and unrivalled surprise of this season.”
Máté Csabai, Magyar Narancs
“... how nice it would be if in every city, each evening, we could have something as lovely and delicate as this, an experience like this.”
Dániel Merényi, Telex.hu
“An emotional rollercoaster ride from enthusiastic fervour through jealousy and contempt towards acceptance.”
Zsolt Gyenge, Revizoronline.com
“It's not just innovative, it's sensational.”
Dávid Zsoldos music historian, journalist
“Endlessly simple stories, economical, very well and wittily written dialogues; real acting feats.”
Zoltán Hermann, Színház.net
Lili Horvát
… film director and screenwriter, founded the film production company Poste Restante together with creative producer Dóra Csernátony, in 2016. The company’s first production, Horvát’s second feature film, Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre [Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time], premiered in the Giornate degli Autori competition section of the 2020 Venice Film Festival, and has since won numerous awards at international film festivals.
Máté Hámori
… is a conductor and art director, a dominant figure in the Hungarian music scene, whose innovative and versatile pursuit aims at promoting classical music as extensively as possible. He took over the artistic direction of the Danubia Orchestra in 2013. He has been awarded the Hungarian Golden Order of Merit, the Óbuda Prize for Culture, and the Liszt Ferenc Prize for his artistic work.
Máté Balogh
… is a composer, assistant professor at Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, professor of music theory at the International Kodály Institute, member of the board of the Hungarian Composers’ Association and member of the Artisjus Classical Music Panelist Committee. In 2016 he was mentored by Péter Eötvös. His compositions have been performed at prestigious national and international festivals. He won first prizes in numerous national and international composition competitions; he has been awarded the Artisjus and Junior Prima Prizes, and in 2022, he was awarded the Ferenc Erkel Prize for his contribution.
János Szemenyi
… is an actor and singer, a versatile artist in the contemporary Hungarian theatre scene. In addition to his numerous theatre roles and works, he has also appeared on the silver screen (Fehér Isten [White God], 2014; Original Láger, 2006). In 2005, he was awarded the Artisjus Prize for his work, at the 2013 VIDOR Festival, he received the Best Male Episode Director Award, and in 2021, he was awarded the Latabár Prize and the Hungarian Golden Cross of Merit, civilian category.
Fanni Wrochna
… is an actor who studied in Bologna, then in Rome, and is consciously building her international career. Besides casting, she participates in small projects and acting workshops. Szabolcs Hajdu’s motion picture Békeidő [Treasure City] owes its most serious scene to her.
CONTACT
Margit Váraljai-Bátki
batki@odz.hu
+36.70.709.51.60
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