DER FALL WAGNER

Controversial and fascinating

In his new dance piece The Wagner Case, Enrique Gasa Valga analyzes the controversial and fascinating figure of Richard Wagner and does so with the utmost respect and curiosity. His ballet is based on intense key moments that shaped the life and artistic work of the legendary composer, writer and conductor. The Limonada Dance Company brings this historic personality back to the stage once again.

Loved and hated

His education, his love, his political interests and relationships, his worries and struggles, his fame, his faith, his failures, his travels through countries and human emotions, all had a significant impact on his artistic work and personality; and ultimately gave him the importance that Wagner still holds today due to the revolution in musical theater that he initiated. "He was a man of incredible sensitivity but firm ideas, and that is why he was loved and hated in equal measure," says Enrique Gasa Valga.

"Unbearable without Richard Wagner"

Friedrich Nietzsche - author of the eponymous book The Wagner Case - writes: "Without the music of Richard Wagner, my youth would have been unbearable." But he also writes: "I am far from looking on harmlessly when this decadent spoils our health - and the music too! Is Wagner a human being at all? Isn't he more of a disease?" And: "It was my fate to turn my back on Wagner; to like anything after that was a triumph. Perhaps no one was more dangerously entangled in Wagnerism, no one fought harder against it, no one was happier to get rid of it."

Biographical narrative

What is certain is that his modernity, independence and loyalty to his convictions made him the author of immortal masterpieces. The revolution in theater and opera that he ushered in, which continues to have an impact today, made him one of the most influential and most discussed personalities in the history of music. Enrique Gasa Valga gets to the bottom of this personality with his unique ability to translate biographical narratives into the language of dance.

Top-class team

The choreographer and his fantastic dance ensemble once again find our stage the ideal place to present this exciting production for the first time in Germany. Jennifer Selby and Enrique Gasa Valga themselves are responsible for the libretto of the piece, the scenography is by Helfried Lauckner and the costumes by Birgit Edelbauer-Heiss, all long-standing members of Gasa Valga's creative team. Tyrolean composer and music producer Kenneth Winkler is responsible for the sound design in order to present Wagner's music, the unifying element of the evening, in the best possible light.