"'Brundibar' stands as a symbol of the power of the human spirit to find a way through art to be resilient, be hopeful and live those few days or weeks that are left with some kind of joyfulness," says Karen Saillant. Saillant served as Musical and Stage Director for a recent production of the opera featuring children ages 6 to 17.
Interviewed by phone from her Philadelphia home, she is also the founding Artistic and Stage Director of the Philadelphia-based International Opera Theater, which presented the opera with International House Philadelphia.
With the project close to her heart, Saillant has staged "Brundibar" three times in conjunction with the International Opera Theater (2003, 2009 and 2010). "For me," she says, " the obvious attraction was that the opera was performed 55 times by children in a concentration camp. I found that overwhelming and wanted to know more about it."
"Brundibar," a Lesson in Good Conquering Evil
Saillant based her production of "Brundibar" on the work of Czech Jewish composer Hans Krasa and librettist Adolf Hoffmeister. A lesson in good conquering evil, the story is about fatherless siblings Little Joe and Annette whose ill mother needs milk to get better. Their quest for money to buy milk brings them in touch with animals who befriend them and children from the town who join them in song to raise funds. They are unaware that organ grinder Brundibar, previously seen collecting money from townsfolk for his entertainment, has been observing the scene. Grabbing their money, he is subdued by the crowd. All join in a victory song and take their bow.
The final scene in Saillant's adaptation shows the children performing "Brunidibar" for the last time at Theresienstadt (also known as Terezin) in August 1944. Each slowly steps toward the audience, giving the name of a child of the same age and gender who perished. All slowly depart the stage except Brundibar, who joins hands with Annette and Little Joe. Brundibar leaves as the lights go down; the siblings each go off into the dark.
"Brundibar" at Theresienstadt
Originally "Brundibar" was created by Krasa and Hoffmeister for a 1938 government competition. It was first performed at a Jewish orphanage in Prague, Czechoslovakia during the winter of 1942. Krasa had by then been sent to Theresienstadt, a Jewish ghetto northwest of Prague that served as an internment camp. (Librettist Hoffmeister had luckily left Prague in time to save himself.)
Almost all the children who performed in the orphanage production were by July 1943 also transported to Theresienstadt. At the camp, the composer reconstructed the opera score and in September 1943, "Brundibar" was presented there with many of the children from the orphanage. Its last performance at Theresienstadt was given in August 1944. Krasa and most of the children who participated in these performances were subsequently killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz..
Hitler's Propaganda ToolTheresienstadt was used by Hitler as a propaganda tool. The camp was portrayed by the Nazis as a safe haven for Jews, offering protection against the cruelties of war. It was filled with Jewish notables including musicians, artists and writers who had to apply to get in. Music and concerts abounded. Tickets to "Brundibar" were much in demand. But in reality, Theresienstadt's inmates suffered from overcrowded conditions leading to starvation, disease and death.
By late 1942, with Auschwitz-Birkenau in completion, thousands of camp inmates were sent by train to these extermination camps. The elderly were transported immediately; younger inmates remained at Theresienstadt until they could no longer work. They, too, were then sent to their deaths.
In June 1944, at the urging of Denmark, a delegation from the International Red Cross visited the village and ghetto where the camp was located. The area had been dressed up temporarily and shops filled with goods. Among the highlights that day, the Red Cross members attended a performance of "Brundibar." A Red Cross report filed subsequently confirmed the Jews were fairly treated despite deprivations imposed by war.
As to the recent production, Saillant extended "Brundibar" with music and words to about 50 minutes. Originally, it was a 25-minute opera. The added music includes "Morgen," by Richard Strauss, "The Intermezzo" from "Cavalleria Rusticana" by Mascagni and "Largo" from the New World Symphony by Dvorak. '"Every piece of added music was by a composer whose music was performed at Theresienstadt," says Saillant. For example, "Cavalleria Rusticana" was performed in its entirety at the camp.
"Morgan," Saillant confides, is one of her favorites. It is a tribute to art teacher Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who at Theresienstadt taught hundreds of children to draw. "When I thought of the incredible optimism she shared with the children, I immediately thought of "Morgen," says Saillant. "There is no other piece of music that would compare (in German, "The Sun will Shine Again"). Dicker-Brandeis was sent to Auschwitz in October 1944 along with some of her students. Following her death, more than 5,000 drawings created by her students were found. A majority are displayed at the Jewish Museum in Prague.
"The New World Symphony" evokes the image of going home, Saillant explains. "It's the basic theme of our production. It is about children not able to go home." (Only 100 of the 15,000 children under age 14 who passed through Theresienstadt survived the war.)
As to the final image of brother and sister slowly walking off stage with their backs to the audience, Saillant says "It is an important and very powerful image to me: For me it is the exact way it must have looked at Theresienstadt when the children were heading off to the transport trains."
Many elements in the recent production are metaphors or images Saillant tried to recreate for the audience without using words. "Allowing them to see the shapes of those silhouettes as those children were leaving camp, she says. "For me, it was very emotional. I cry whenever I think about it."
References:
Scrapbookpages.com
Jewishvirtuallibrary.org
humanitiesweb.com
Nadia Lerner - I worked as a staff writer in the Features Department of The Advocate, a daily (Tribune-owned) newspaper in Stamford, CT from 1990 until ...
