Event

The Old Testament story of the construction of the city of Babel and its tower reaching up to the heavens spans a mere nine verses, but the essence of the narrative is staggering. God punishes humanity with the confusion of tongues. Unable to understand one another, they cannot complete the tower and scatter across the earth. It is declared to be God’s will that a harmonious coexistence is impossible. Multilingualism must be overcome in order to regain a prehistoric, paradisiacal state. Elena Mendoza and Matthias Rebstock draw on this myth, though in a modern form that mirrors the myth and reverses it: Fabio Morábito outlined this vision in his essay "Por qué traducimos": He describes a monolingual human society existing in the distant future, culturally utterly impoverished, which looks back on our present – a present that, though full of contradictions, is precisely for that reason full of richness. This text provides, as it were, the basic idea, but is not directly set to music; instead, three narrative strands are interwoven, emerging from the Babylonian confusion of tongues. In the form of a dystopia, the authors articulate their plea for the existential necessity of cultural diversity.

Commissioned by the Schwetzingen SWR Festival

Introduction: 6:00 p.m., Chamber Music Hall

Elena Mendoza (composition, text, and staging)
Matthias Rebstock (direction, text, and musical collaboration)
Walter Nußbaum, Musical Director
Bettina Meyer, Set Design
Sabine Hilscher, Costumes
Ulrich Schneider, Lighting

SCHOLA HEIDELBERG

Tobias Dutschke, Martin Homann & Almut Lustig, Percussion

Ayano Durniok, Actress
David Luque, Actor

SWR Experimental Studio
Joachim Haas & Constantin Popp, Sound Design