Music: Beckett/Feldman: Words & Music

MORTON FELDMAN / SAMUEL BECKETT
Words and Music (1987)

JEWISH
Was Samuel Beckett Jewish? No, he was not. But the composer to whom he entrusted the setting of his radio play Words & Music was: Morton Feldman. “Because I’m Jewish, I can’t identify with the music of Western civilisation. When Bach gives us a diminished fourth, I can’t say that the diminished fourth means ‘O God’. […] Our morality in music is the German music of the nineteenth century, isn’t it? I think about it, and I think about the fact that I want to be the first great composer who is Jewish.”

TODAY
The theme is timeless and always topical: Salieri already dealt with it in Prima la musica, poi le parole (First the music, then the words), which is probably more important. Beckett allows the characters ‘words’ and the ‘music’ represented by an instrumental ensemble to confront each other - the audience can decide for themselves which level of communication moves them more.

FOR ALL
A classic Beckett evening with the great actors Walter Hess and Stefan Merki - join us!

Photo: Judith Buss

Photo: Judith Buss

Photo: Judith Buss

Photo: Judith Buss

Photo: Stefan Randlkofer

Samuel Beckett

Walter Hess

Photo: Sigrid Reinichs

Stefan Merki

Photo: Sigrid Reinichs

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