Die Jahreszeiten

Die Jahreszeiten is a tailored and staged version of the oratorio of the same name that Joseph Haydn composed in 1801. In this performance, we explore the metamorphosis of the seasons in a phenomenological way. What, in fact, is the difference between spring and summer? Or between summer and autumn? The transformation of the seasons is as elusive as it is unmistakable.

It is likely no coincidence that the holidays coinciding with the solstices and equinoxes—Easter, the Feast of St. John, St. Michael’s Day, and Christmas—are all times of transition. The seasons are also linked to the four archangels: Raphael, Uriel, Michael, and Gabriel. They tell us stories with a deeply rooted mystical significance, heralds that reveal something about ourselves. In this “in-between space” or “transitional phase,” the poems of Rainer Maria Rilke will attempt to give voice to these experiences.

For how does a frozen, hushed winter night in the forest sound? Or a scorching summer afternoon in the fields? One thing is certain: you must leave your home to experience the moment and translate it into music. Outside, where you are exposed to the elements and confronted with the harmonious whole that mirrors our inner world and from which music arises. The happiness you feel when an early warm ray of spring sunshine brushes your skin. The sudden awareness that overtakes you as you stand beneath a cool and lucid starry sky. These are moments of meditation.

That is what it is about: hands in the soil, amid sun-drenched stalks of grain and grapevines. There, Mother Earth teaches us to work and to care for ourselves. With gratitude, we make, among other things, wine and bread from the riches she grants us, provided we keep our senses open to them. There, a humanistic world unfolds—one that fits our existence like a glove. That is why we gladly take you along on a journey through the year, and we hope it will give you—even if only for a moment—a happy experience.