Echo 72
1972 Olympic Games in Munich. They were intended to be a happy festival of sport in the name of peace. But disaster struck before the eyes of the world. Eleven Israeli athletes were murdered. Germany was unable to protect its guests.
Commissioned by Staatsoper Hannover, the opera Echo 72. Israel in München is produced by a creative team with an excellent track record. The libretto is written by Roland Schimmelpfennig, one of the most often performed dramatists of our times who most recently caused a sensation with his series of adaptations of ancient dramas titled Anthropolis at Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg. The works of composer and percussionist Michael Wertmüller have had their world premieres at Lucerne Festival, Hamburgische Staatsoper and Ruhrtriennale. His music combines emotional directness and fascinating rhythms. Echo 72. Israel in München is directed by Lydia Steier whose productions of The Marriage of Figaro (Hannover) and La Vestale (Paris) have been enjoyed by audiences on OperaVision. Titus Engel, a renowned conductor and expert of contemporary music, is in charge of the musical direction of this important new opera, streamed here live on its opening night. Taking the historical events of 1972 as its starting point, Echo 72. Israel in München promises to be an urgent warning against the consequences of hatred and ignorance, and a rousing appeal for humanity and dialogue.
CAST
A coach | Daniel Eggert |
|---|---|
A track and field athlete | Ketevan Chuntishvili |
A pregnant woman | Ruzana Grigorian |
A weightlifter, her husband | Philipp Kapeller |
A fencer | Beatriz Miranda |
Another fencer | Freya Müller |
A wrestler | Darwin Prakash |
Another wrestler | Luvuyo Mbundu |
A sporting marksman | Yannick Spanier |
Policeman | Ziad Nehme |
The lament (on stage) | Idunnu Münch |
The lament (on video) | Corinna Harfouch |
Referees | Chorus of Hannover State Opera |
Orchestra | Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover |
Chorus | Chorus of Hannover State Opera Extras of Hannover State Opera |
Band | Steamboat Switzerland |
| ... | |
Music | Michael Wertmüller |
|---|---|
Text | Roland Schimmelpfennig |
Conductor | Titus Engel |
Director | Lydia Steier |
Sets | Flurin Borg Madsen |
Costumes | Andy Besuch |
Lights | Elana Siberski |
Video | Elisa Gómez Alvarez Rebecca Riedel |
Chorus Master | Lorenzo Da Rio |
Dramaturgy | Sophia Gustorff Daniel Menne Martin Mutschler |
| ... | |
This production is supported by Prohelvetia, Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and Fondation Suisa.
VIDEOS
Story
In Echo 72, the world comes together for an international sports festival, without going into detail about the year and location. In the theoretical and practical training units, the connection between the covered sports and the political background quickly becomes clear. The text is based on the disciplines practised by the athletes murdered in Munich: hurdling, weightlifting, fencing, wrestling and shooting. Sport as the subject of an opera seems strange at first, but quickly reveals a deep emotional core. Of course, any poetic distance from the historical background must always break with the bitter reality of the Munich attack. Within this area of conflict, the ‘Lament’ was created, an additional text that is not integrated into the ‘fictional’ world of sport, but which gives names to the victims and the real circumstances of their violent death.
The opening chorus is already about a right, a promise of life, anticipating the idea of sport, and the Olympic Games in particular, as a project of peace. But even in the following scene, a training session in preparation for the hurdles competition, an older coach cannot help but think that despite all the sporting dynamics, life is by no means just a simple hurdles race; quite the opposite.
Afterwards, a weightlifter argues with his pregnant wife about the importance of uniting as a nation through sport and international representation, however hard and exhausting that may be.
The nations enter the Olympic stadium. In a great chorus, the fundamental idea of the Olympic Games is invoked: sport instead of war. The Olympic flame is lit. The games have begun under the motto: participation is everything. But those who take part, who expose themselves, also make themselves vulnerable. In a duet between two fencers, this conflict is described using the eight common and rule-compliant parries of epee and foil. With the whole world watching, the games are already racing towards another climax: the wrestling match. At this point, we do not know who the opponents are and which nations they represent. While the chorus celebrates the upcoming man-to-man fight as one of the oldest and ‘purest’ of all competitions, the two wrestlers are caught up in the seemingly inescapable dynamic of ‘win’ and ‘lose’, even before the match begins.
From this moment on, the evening moves in two opposite directions simultaneously. The chorus takes up the celestial motif from the beginning, but now the sky is no longer a promise but a symbol of failure. A star falls from the sky, tearing it apart. Death reigns. The athletes also describe the impossibility of practising their disciplines. You would need a thousand arms, says a fencer, the eight parries are not enough not to show your face. The weightlifter would collapse under the weights. A marksman and a policeman describe the technique of shooting, an almost mathematical process that connects the shooter’s eye and hand in a straight line with the clearly defined target. But what happens when the bullet takes a completely different, unpredictable path?
As the two wrestlers bid each other farewell, the Closing Ceremony of Nations begins with another grand chorus. The bullet that the marksman and the policeman had been talking about flies. But the hurdles race ended with the fall that the coach had initially predicted. The runner, still in the air and reaching for the sky, hits the ground. Whether he will get up again remains open. Night has fallen. The final chorus: The black sky without stars.
Excerpts from a text by Roland Schimmelpfennig
Translated from the German original
GALLERY
