OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS PRESENTS Brundibár Music by Hans Krása Libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister Study Guide for Teachers November 2009 Written by Amy and Arnold Stricker, Ed.D with contributions by Diane McCullough Table of Contents About the Opera …………………………………………………………………………… 3 History of Brundibár ……………………………………………………………………… 5 History of Terezin as Theresienstadt……………………………………………………… 6 Ela Weissberger Biography……………………………………………………………….. 8 Can You Hear Me Readers Theater……………………………………………………….. 11 Follow the Milk…………………………………………………………………………… 14 I See What You Are Saying………………………………………………………………. 16 I’m Just a Kid – Character Plus…………………………………………………………… 20 It Takes Just One - Leaders Big and Small……………………………………………….. 22 It Sounds Sort of Familiar………………………………………………………………… 24 The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth - Character Plus………………... 25 What Happens Next Is . …………………………………………………………………. 27 The Opera Game………………………………………………………………………….. 31 Orchestra Instruments found in the Opera Brundibár …………………………………….. 33 Opera Jeopardy Game…………………………………………………………………….. 35 Composing the Opera…………………………………………………………………….. 39 Music of Brundibár: What to Listen For………………………………………………….. 44 Vocabulary………………………………………………………………………………... 50 Web Sites…………………………………………………………………………………. 51 Brundibár Fairy Tale…………………………………………………………………….. 53 Brundibár Libretto………………………………………………………………………... 60 Additional Readings……………………………………………………………………… 71 Brundibár 1 OTSL 2009 Brundibár 2 OTSL 2009 Brundibár Overview by Area and Grade Page Com Social Char Theatre Music Gr. Gr. Gr. No. Arts Studies Ed 3-5 6-8 3-8 About the Opera 3 X X History of Brundibár 5 X X X History of Terezin as Theresienstadt 6 X Ela Weissberger Biography 8 X Can You Hear Me Readers Theater 11 X X X Follow the Milk 14 X X I See What You Are Saying 16 X X I’m Just a Kid – Character Plus 20 X X X It Takes Just One - Leaders Big and Small 22 X X X X It Sounds Sort of Familiar 24 X X The Truth, The Whole Truth – Character Plus 25 X What Happens Next Is . 27 X X The Opera Game 31 X X Orchestra Instruments found in the Opera Brundibár 33 X X Opera Jeopardy Game 35 X X Composing the Opera 39 X X Music of Brundibár: What to Listen For 44 X X Vocabulary 50 Web Sites 51 X X X X X X Brundibár Fairy Tale 53 X X X Brundibár Libretto 60 X X X Additional Readings 71 X X X X X X About The Opera What is an opera? Opera is a story set to music in which most or all the words are sung rather than spoken. Acting, singing, costumes, scenery, props, orchestral music, and often dance are used to convey the storyline. The music of the opera can help bring the story to life by evoking emotions of sadness, joy, anger, revenge, and triumph. Brundibár Brundibár , a two-act opera written by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása using Adolf Hoffmeister’s libretto, was created as a submission for a children’s opera competition in 1938. It debuted in secret at an orphanage in 1941 due to occupation by the German army. Over 55 performances of the musical fable were given at Theresienstadt, a ghetto camp where the Nazis hid their deportations and exterminations of Europe’s Jewish population. In the opera, helpless children overcome the bully Brundibár, an organ grinder to provide needed milk for their mother. The people in the ghetto viewed the playful children’s tale differently than the Nazis. To them, the evil organ grinder was Hitler and his defeat symbolized hope. Hans Krása (L) and Adolf Hoffmeister (R) The Composer: Hans Krása Hans Krása was born in the city of Prague in 1899. Krása began composing music as a child and had his first piece publicly performed when he was 11. He learned violin and piano as a child and later studied composition in Berlin and Paris. His style is influenced by early impressionism and by composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Claude Debussy. In 1942 he was arrested by the Nazis and deported to Theresienstadt, a ghetto camp. Brundibár was rescored at Theresienstadt and performed 55 times. He was deported to the concentration camp Auschwitz in October 1944 where he was immediately executed. Brundibár 3 OTSL 2009 Cast Little Joe Policeman Annette, his sister Sparrow Organ-grinder Brundibár Cat Ice Cream Man Dog Baker Windows, choir Milkman Schoolchildren, choir Orchestra Piccolo Guitar Flute Piano Clarinet Violin I (2) Trumpet Violin II (2) Snare drum Cello Bass drum Bass Scene The opera takes place on a street in town with school, milk store, bakery, ice cream stand and the stand of the organ-grinder Brundibár. Brundibár 4 OTSL 2009 History of Brundibár Brundibár, a two-act opera written by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása using Adolf Hoffmeister’s libretto, was created as a submission for a children’s opera competition sponsored by the Czechoslovak Ministry of Education in 1938. Historical events interrupted the musical competition as Czechoslovakia awaited its imminent invasion by Germany; a competition winner was neither announced nor prize money awarded. After German occupation Jewish cultural activities were forbidden, yet in 1941 Brundibár saw its debut in secret at a Prague orphanage. Krása was arrested before he ever heard the performance and was soon transported to Theresienstadt, military fortress turned into a ghetto camp by the Nazi occupiers (see History of Theresienstadt.) Krása was appointed head of musical activities for the camp. Using a smuggled piano reduction of the Brundibár score and memory, he re-orchestrated the opera using available camp resources: flute, clarinet, guitar, accordion, piano, percussion, four violins, a cello and a double bass. The children’s musical fable saw its first public performance on September 23, 1943 under the watchful eyes of camp guards. The production was directed by Frantisek Zelenka, formerly a stage manager at the Czech National Theatre, and choreographed by Camilla Rosenbaum. Rehearsals and performances were continuously disrupted by deportations of cast members to extermination camps, but players were replaced by newly arriving children. Brundibár would be performed 55 times through the following year. Masters of propaganda, the Nazis promoted Theresienstadt as a “model” camp to hide their deportations and exterminations of Europe’s Jewish population. A special performance of Brundibár utilizing improved sets and costumes was given in 1944 for the International Red Cross who were on a humanitarian visit. Ironically, the final act which depicts Brundibár’s defeat was recorded for use in a Nazi propaganda film, Hitler Gives the Jews a Town, which was never released. The opera’s symbolism of the once helpless children overcoming the bully Brundibár was not lost on its audience, and yet not viewed as a threat by the Nazis. This may have been due to the opera’s Czech text and/or the playful nature of a simple children’s tale. To the Jewish audience the evil organ grinder was Hitler and his defeat symbolized hope. The poet Emil A. Saudek even changed the last lines of the libretto from “He who loves so much his mother and father and his native land is our friend and can play with us.” to “He who loves justice and will abide by it, who is not afraid, is our friend and can play with us.” Today, Brundibár performances are layered with the history of its poignant beginning. As all fables do, it carries meaning and lessons beyond the words and notes for all of us to hear and remember. Brundibár 5 OTSL 2009 History of Terezín as Theresienstadt Austrian Emperor Josef II founded the garrison town of Theresienstadt (today: Terezin) on September 22, 1784, naming it after his mother, Empress Maria Theresa. It served as a minor military base first for the Habsburg Monarchy until 1918 and then for the First Czechoslovak Republic until 1938. The Germans occupied the Sudetenland (western region of Czechoslavakia) in October 1938 following the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938. The Germans used the town Terezin, renamed Theresienstadt, as a military base until the end of summer 1941. In 1941, the base housed approximately 3,500 soldiers and 3,700 civilians. Virtually all of the employed adults among the civilians worked for the military. On October 30, 1941, SS First Lieutenant Siegfried Seidl was given the responsibility of establishing and commanding the planned camp-ghetto. After being briefed by Adolf Eichmann, a high ranking Nazi official and architect of the Holocaust, Seidl negotiated with German military authorities to obtain the site for the SS. The soldiers were transferred and the civilians were relocated. On November 19, Seidl ordered the leaders of the Jewish Religious Community in Prague, including the deputy chairman, Jacob Edelstein, to provide 1,000 members of the community as workers to reconfigure the barracks town into a “settlement” for Jews. On November 24, 1941, at noon, the first 1,000 Jews arrived at Theresienstadt. The Theresienstadt "camp-ghetto" existed for three and a half years, between November 24, 1941 and May 9, 1945. During its existence, Theresienstadt served three purposes. First, it was a transit camp for Czech Jews whom the Germans deported to killing centers, concentration camps, and forced-labor camps in German-occupied Poland, Belorussia, and the Baltic States. Second, it was a ghetto-labor camp to which the SS deported and then incarcerated certain categories of German, Austrian, and Czech Jews, based on their age, disability as a result of past military service, or domestic celebrity in the arts and other cultural life. To conceal the physical annihilation of the Jews deported from the Greater German Reich, the Nazi regime employed the general fiction, primarily inside Germany, that the deported Jews would be deployed as productive labor in the East. Since it seemed implausible that elderly Jews could be used for forced labor, the Nazis used Theresienstadt to hide the nature of the deportations. Third, Theresienstadt served as a holding pen for Jews in the above-mentioned groups.