Universe, incomplete – a celebration of Charles Ives
“In case I don’t get to finishing this, somebody might like to try to work out the idea, and the sketch that I’ve already done would make more sense to anybody looking at it with this explanation.” (Charles Ives)
Inspired by these tempting words, the director Christoph Marthaler, the conductor Titus Engel and the stage designer Anna Viebrock develop their own highly individual perspective on an uncompleted project by the American composer Charles Ives (1875–1954): the Universe Symphony, which is one of the great utopian works of the 20th century. It is utopian because Charles Ives conceived it as a sonic event that would explode all classical forms of performance. It is also utopian because he never completed it – instead continually composing it anew. It is an unfinished jumble consisting of notes, sheets of sketches and pages of score.
Using only sections of the work that were actually composed, Christoph Marthaler, Titus Engel and Anna Viebrock create a scenic and musical environment in the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum in which the instrumental soloists, together with the Bochumer Symphoniker and an ensemble made up of actors, dancers and singers, will look back from a distant future on our life today and fantasize a future out of the present. Other compositions by Charles Ives independent of the Universe Symphony will occupy the lacunae within the incomplete universe. The artistic team will investigate a musical Gesamtwerk, complementing it with a scenic and visual tension between contemporary experiences ranging from loss to invention.
The Swiss conductor Titus Engel (1977) works with numerous orchestras and several opera houses, specializing in modern and contemporary music. The stage designer and Professor of Stage Design at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, Anna Viebrock, has been Christoph Marthaler’s closest artistic collaborator for 30 years. She has realized music theatre projects and exhibited installations of her own.
Staging by: | Chirstoph Marthaler |
Conducted by: | Titus Engel |
Stage Design by : | Anna Viebrock |
Venue: | Jahrhunderthalle Bochum |
Recording Date: | August 2018 |
Directed by: | Michael Beyer |
Produced by : | Paul Smaczny |
In Co-production with: | WDR |
In Association with: | Ruhrtriennale |
Duration: | 120 minutes |
Format: | Full HD 16:9 |
Sound: | Stereo |
Year: | 2018 |
Picture Credit: | Walter Mair |