Name: Brundibár
Start: 2013-01-23T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2013-01-26T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Teatro Nazionale

Admin

Organization

Conductor

José Maria Sciutto

Stage director

Cesare Scarton

Set designer

Michele Della Cioppa

Lighting designer

Patrizio Maggi

Costume designer

Anna Biagiotti

Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

Orchestra

Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma

Brundibár -  (Brundibar)

Rome

Italy

The event is part of 'Memory generates Future', a program coordinated by Roma Capitale
on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day 2022

'Brundibár'
Opera for children in two acts
Libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister

Music by Hans Krása

National Theater, Thursday 27 March 2014

Director José Maria Sciutto
Directed by Cesare Scarton

Scenes Michele Della Cioppa
Lights Patrizio Maggi
Costumes Anna Biagiotti

Choir of White Voices
of the Rome Opera House

Youth Orchestra
of the Rome Opera House

SET-UP OF THE OPERA IN ROME

EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT OF THE THEATER OF THE OPERA IN ROME

TOPIC
ACT ONE
Two children, Aninka and Pepicek, walk in the middle of the street of a small village. They introduce themselves to the public: the father is far from home because he is a soldier and the mother is very sick. The doctor told the two brothers that the mother will be cured only if her children can buy her some milk. Meanwhile the street begins to get crowded with people; there is the policeman, who advises the two children to get a job, the only way to earn the money needed to buy milk for their mother; there are the milkman, the baker and the ice cream maker, besieged by the population of the village intent on their purchases; Finally, there is an accordion player, Brundibár, who manages to earn a lot of money by singing in the square. Aninka and Pepicek also try to sing a nursery rhyme, hoping for the attention and goodwill of the people, but without success; they are also mistreated by the arrogant Brundibár, who threatens them with his cane, claiming to be the master of the square. Dejected and discouraged by the prevaricating attitude of the organ player, frightened by the night and the cold, the two brothers fall asleep. Three animals - the Sparrow, the Cat and the Dog - decide to help them: the next day they will call all the children of the village to help Aninka and Pepicek defeat Brundibár. Then they sing a sweet lullaby.

SECOND ACT
It is dawn: the animals wake up the two children. After having said good morning, Aninka, Pepicek, the Sparrow, the Cat and the Dog go to recruit other children who immediately join the company: they will join the two brothers to form a more powerful choir, such as to overwhelm the voice of Brundibár. Many boys join the group and start singing, disturbing Brundibár and his barrel organ. People listen carefully to the new group. Aninka and Pepicek put together a lot of money, but the perfidious Brundibár, full of envy and hatred, manages to extort their earnings from the two boys. Then all the children of the country hunt Brundibár, recover all the money and force their enemy to flee. The work ends with a victory song of all the children and animals, who have finally become masters of the square.

Teatro Nazionale

Brundibár Krása

Public

Brundibar

Approved

Brundibár

On 23 September 1943, the first performance of the children's opera Brundibár took place in the fortress of Theresienstadt (in Czech Terežín), 60 km from Prague, where Jews of a certain notoriety were concentrated from 1942 onwards.

 

Although in Terežín the living conditions of the camp were in all similar to those of the other concentration camps, the Nazi authorities had organized it in such a way as to deceive international public opinion: the Jews themselves were in fact able to promote a series of initiatives cultural heritage within the Organization of Leisure, managed by artists and fully recognized, after a period of semi-official status, in March 1943.

 

The presence of a large number of composers, instrumentalists and singers made it possible to carry out numerous musical events, works from the great repertoire and works by deported composers were set up. The most successful staging was that of Brundibár (“The Strummer”), a children's opera composed by the Czech musician Hans Krása, deported to Terežín and charged with directing the Music Section of the Leisure Organization.

 

From the first performance the opera was staged fifty-five times, up to the last performance in June 1944 on the occasion of the inspection by the International Red Cross, after which the protagonists were transferred to Auschwitz. On October 18 of that year, Krása was killed in a gas chamber.

 

Brundibár should be read as a clear denunciation of the situation of the time. The little fable is actually an ethical manifesto that invites us to trust in the good that cannot fail to triumph over evil, embodied here by Brundibár, an arrogant and arrogant accordion player, behind whom the shadow of the dictator seems to stand out. The ideals of solidarity and civil coexistence also allow those who are weak and defenseless to reaffirm the voice of truth and justice. In this way the tenuous fable is transformed into victory against tyranny thanks to a collective awakening. And it was undoubtedly this message that gave the martyrs of Terežín hope for the future and the strength to maintain dignity and respect for themselves.

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