JEAN UND ANTONÍN
Two symphonic ballets
First performance April 1, 2017
by Michael Keegan-Dolan and Karl Alfred Schreiner.
Music »Antonín«: Antonín Dvořák's Symphony no. 8 in G major op. 88 (B 163).
Music »Jean«: Jean Sibelius' Symphony no. 7 in C major op. 105.
Age recommendation: 12 years and above
For a long time, ballet compositions were disparaged as being "utility music" which should be subordinate to the dance. But since the great masterpieces of Peter I. Tchaikovsky at the latest, it has been agreed that music and dance, sound and movement are not in competition, but instead are inseparable from each other. The initially often severely criticised idea of dancing to »absolute music«, as it was called, dates from the time of the famous »Ballets Russes« company, which set new standards of dance theatre under its founder and impresario Sergei Diaghilev and proved that dance adds a new level to music rather than robbing it of its independence. Because, to use Igor Stravinsky's words: »It is not enough just to hear music. You have to be able to see music too.«
Two masterpieces of symphonic history form the musical substance of the symphonic ballet »Jean und Antonín«. The Seventh Symphony by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius from the years 1918–1924 and the Eighth Symphony by the Czech Antonín Dvořák from 1889/99 are not only classics of the repertoire, but are also high points of orchestral expressive power. Each one is a tribute to the composer's homeland and to nature and embeds the human soul in the magic aura of the creation. With »Jean und Antonín«, Ballet Director Karl Alfred Schreiner and guest choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan, who is considered to be one of the most highly regarded Irish dance creators today, have created a sensuous double evening in which orchestral colours are translated into virtuoso movements and the solemn, crepuscular primal force of the Finnish magical world meets the joyful and melancholy sphere of the land of Bohemia.
Cast on 09/04/2017
7 und 8