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Performances

23 Jan 2005

Kurt Schwertsik's Katzelmacher at Neue Oper Wien

Der kabarettistisch freche Ton der Pariser Moderne der Dreißigerjah re ist es, der Kurt Schwertsik fes selt. Das bekannte er jüngst im Gespräch. Dieser Ton weist ihm offenkundig auch den Weg in Gefilde des Musiktheaters, die nichts mit den erdschweren, klangwuchernden Experimenten der deutschen und österreichischen Moderne der Nachkriegszeit zu tun haben, sondern sich am moralisierenden Unterhaltungstheater der Zwischenkriegszeit orientieren, das nicht nur von den Franzosen – in einer durchaus konsequent aus dem ursprünglichen, sozialkritischen Operetten-Esprit eines Jacques Offenbach – entwickelt wurde.

Neue Oper Wien: Kunst als heisse Kartoffel

VON WILHELM SINKOVICZ
Kurt Schwertsiks "Katzelmacher" nach R. W. Fassbinder erstmals in Wien - zumindest andeutungsweise.

Der kabarettistisch freche Ton der Pariser Moderne der Dreissigerjah re ist es, der Kurt Schwertsik fes selt. Das bekannte er jüngst im Gespräch. Dieser Ton weist ihm offenkundig auch den Weg in Gefilde des Musiktheaters, die nichts mit den erdschweren, klangwuchernden Experimenten der deutschen und österreichischen Moderne der Nachkriegszeit zu tun haben, sondern sich am moralisierenden Unterhaltungstheater der Zwischenkriegszeit orientieren, das nicht nur von den Franzosen - in einer durchaus konsequent aus dem ursprünglichen, sozialkritischen Operetten-Esprit eines Jacques Offenbach - entwickelt wurde.

Man verstand diese Zeichen der Zeit auch in deutschsprachigen Landen, wenn es auch kein Zufall sein dürfte, dass etwa die in nämlichen Regionen beheimatete Ballett-Farce "Die sieben Todsünden" von Bert Brecht und Kurt Weill 1933 in Paris ihre Uraufführung erlebte. Die Wahl der "Neuen Oper Wien", Kurt Schwertsiks jüngstes Theater-Werk, "Katzelmacher" nach Rainer Werner Fassbinders gleichnamigem Stück, mit den "Todsünden" zu koppeln, schien auch deshalb einleuchtend, weil Schwertsik seit Jahren nicht mehr daran denkt, einem missverständlichen artistischen Fortschrittsdenken zu opfern. Seine Kompositionstechnik ist gegenüber der von Weill jedenfalls nicht im Sinne der Zeitachse als avanciert zu bezeichnen.

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Irritierende Meditationen über die Schlechtigkeit der Welt im Wiener Jugendstiltheater.

Wien - "Schreibe die Musik, die du hören möchtest": Das war der Rat, den der österreichische Komponist Kurt Schwertsik seinem Freund aus der Wiener Nachbarschaft gab. Ob sich dieser daran hielt, wissen wir nicht.

Schwertsik selbst jedoch ist in Katzelmacher, der 2003 im Auftrag der Wuppertaler Bühnen entstandenen Oper nach dem Skandalfilm und -theaterstück des früh verstorbenen Rainer Werner Fassbinder, nicht mehr der romantische Ironiker, der er mal war. Sondern er nimmt sich dieses minimalistischen, tristen Kammerspiels mit seinen kargen Dialogen absolut puritanisch, grell, die menschliche Verlogenheit aufdeckend an.

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Cast information:
Helga — Annette Schönmüller
Gunda — Anna Clare Hauf
Elisabeth — Daniela Fally
Marie — Doris Langara
Ingrid — Tanja Watzinger
Paul — Thomas Rettensteiner
Jorgos — Dmitrij Solowjow
Bruno — Marco Di Sapia
Erich — Dieter Kschwendt-Michel
Franz — Manfred Equiluz

amadeus ensemble-wien

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