Träume by Emanuel Gat Dance, Michael Loehr

 

TRÄUME

EMANUEL GAT DANCE (2023)

In a letter of June 1849 to Franz Liszt, one of his few influential allies at the time, Wagner wrote “I must make people afraid of me. Well, I have no money, but what I do have is an enormous desire to commit acts of artistic terrorism”.

Wagner had been an enthusiast for the revolutions of 1848 and had been an active participant in the Dresden Revolution of 1849, as a consequence of which he was forced to live for many years in exile from Germany. Art and Revolution (Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft) is one of a group of polemical articles he published in his exile, which helped characterise Wagner as an impractical and/or eccentric radical idealist at the time.

During that same period of change and turmoil, unfolded the circumstances under which Richard Wagner composed his Wesendonck Lieder (WWV 91, Fünf Gedichte für eine Frauenstimme).

Träume is a choreographic piece engaging with the different facets of Richard Wagner’s work. Excerpts of his essay Art and Revolution will be juxtaposed with Mathilde Wesendonck’s poems, to create a textual live masculine/feminine dialogue score for the first act of the piece, followed by a second act unfolding to the sounds of the five songs.

Photos of TRÄUME by Emanuel Gat

Emanuel Gat, Israeli mit Wohnsitz in Südfrankreich, montiert mit seinem vierzehnköpfigen Ensemble bildschöne “Träume” in die Felsenreitschule. Betitelt nach dem fünften und letzten der Wagner’schen “Wesendonck-Lieder”, verwandelt das gut einstündige Stück den ohnehin magischen Ort in eine Kunstkathedrale.

Dorion Weickmann
Süddeutsche Zeitung

Credits

Concept, choreography and lights: Emanuel Gat

Music: Richard Wagner, “Wesendonck Lieder” (WWV 91, Fünf Gedichte für eine Frauenstimme)
Julia Varady (Soprano) – Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Direction)

Texts: Poems by Mathilde von Wesendonck & “Art and revolution” by Richard Wagner

Performers: Eglantine Bart, Thomas Bradley, Robert Bridger, Gilad Jerusalmy, Péter Juhász, Michael Loehr, Emma Mouton, Eddie Oroyan, Rindra Rasoaveloson, Ichiro Sugae, Milena Twiehaus, Sara Wilhelmsson, Karolina Szymura, Jin Yong-Won.

Costumes: Thomas Bradley
Sound design: Frédéric Duru
Lights supervision and technical director: Guillaume Février

Produced by Emanuel Gat Dance. Coproduced by Osterfestspiele Salzburg with Festival Montpellier Danse, Arsenal – Cité musicale de Metz.
With the support of Théâtre Le Forum Fréjus. Emanuel Gat Dance gratefully acknowledges the support of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication – Drac Provence Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Région Sud – Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Conseil Départemental des Bouches-du-Rhône.

Performance History

Osterfestspiele Salzburg 2023
Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, Austria

L’Arsenal, Metz, France

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times performed since 2023