Die Soldaten

Die Soldaten is one of the musical landmarks of the twentieth century. Demanding massive musical forces, the score was so advanced for its time it was deemed impossible to perform by Cologne Opera, which had commissioned the work in 1958. The company eventually premièred a somewhat simplified orchestration in 1965. Its composer, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, lived through the collective nightmare of the Second World War and poured his passionate hatred of the culture of militarism which caused it into this extraordinary work. Calling for huge resources and inventive staging, involving video, electronic tapes and simultaneous action, this revolutionary work, based on a story by the eighteenth century author/poet by Lenz, combines music, language, dance, film, jazz, pantomime and circus to tell the story of the degradation of a young girl in the hands of a corrupt and egotistical military aristocracy. It is an intimate story about ordinary people, yet its theme has resonances which not only made a statement about the entire post-war generation, but offer a metaphor for the modern world. Harry Kupfer's Stuttgart Opera production was praised for its reinforcement of Zimmermann's reputation as a composer of vast stage and musical resources and for revealing a work full of compassion and humanity. Zimmermann's rejection of the classical unities allows for several courses of dramatic action to be told at the same time. Past, present and future merge in harrowing tableaux of the monstrous dehumanising effects of war.