2023-04-30 18:48:54
In 1953 the German composer Hans Werner Henze felt widespread intolerance towards his Marxist ideas and his homosexuality; he therefore decides to leave Germany and move to Italy – he will also enroll in the PCI – where he will spend most of his life. Thus he arrives in Naples, moves to the coast and will then land at what will be his definitive home, in Marino, near Rome.
Then in a hot summer of 1976 he will start the utopian city, which of course will become a city of making music. It happens in Montepulciano, in Tuscany, a village of incredible strength and uniqueness. Montepulciano therefore exploded for Henze in all its fullness, amidst a thousand difficulties and clashes with the local authorities, with the Christian Democrats and the ecclesiastics. In short, it is true that we are in Tuscany but it is still a place where traditions remain strong.
But what did Henze think he was doing? Probably in his ideal of research and social innovation, he intended to leave a structure that might be autonomous and self-managed over time. It is no coincidence that the advent of Henze comes following a utopian movement of great interest and sure innovation, the creation of Marco Cavallo, a sculpture in wood and papier-mâché, for example, broke into that psychiatric hospital in Trieste as a force for peace on a strong connected action by Franco Basaglia, Giuseppe Dell’Acqua and Giuliano Scabia.
MARCO HORSE
This artistic artifact comes at a time when the cultural revolution initiated by Basaglia perhaps touches one of the most important and disruptive points. Basaglia knows that he must act, he is tired of so much talk and so many promises, but what is missing is action, the subversion of the pre-established. And so who better than him to create a Trojan horse to destroy the system from within? And therefore, starting from a protest by the residents of the psychiatric hospital to avoid the killing and therefore the slaughter of the real horse Marco who worked in that structure, the scenic and social action is born. This action was so strong in its peacefulness that it is today a symbol of what a non-violent revolution can be to change the course of things. Furthermore, Basaglia had long been theorizing, or rather speaking, of the importance of “release” the “mentally ill” and make them, if not completely autonomous, at least possible of human lives and not brought back to a dictatorial and vexatious system.
Henze was by no means deaf to developments and changes, especially those of the psyche. We do not know if they ever met Ernst Bernhard, the great post Jungian revolutionary, but it is very likely that the advent of Marco Cavallo led him to create his own Trojan horse which will take the name of one of Perrault’s most famous fables , Little Thumb.
The opera on a libretto by Giuseppe De Leva was staged on 3 August 1980, therefore following the Cantiere di Montepulciano had already started up and was four years old. The project was born to truly create a construction site in the center of Montepulciano. In fact, the pedagogical purpose of the work, the idea of tracing the “myth” of Perrault’s fable through a psychomusical reading, allows Henze to act precisely to create everything on the spot. Involving all those who were close to the shipyard. Thus was born in that hot August Henze’s true utopian project, to create going beyond professionalism and abolish that bourgeois distance between audience and stage. Here is his Trojan horse, his Marco Cavallo.
THE BOLOGNA MASSACRE
The entire work was born precisely in that logic of years in which inner searches became projections and thanks to them many dreamlike works have become masterpieces. The Concentus Politianus is the group made up of the citizens of Montepulciano that Henze will form for the execution. In fact, the use of the instruments is similar to those created by Carl Orff, then percussion and then the addition of a small string and wind section. Directing one of Henze’s closest associates, Jan Latham Koenig. It should be remembered that on that day of the premiere, Italy was shocked by the homicidal frenzy that destroyed the lives of many people in the Bologna station. Here’s what Peter Nagel, the one to whom Henze entrusted the entire staging, says: «Every day the actors were pampered in a superfine way by the local mothers with Tuscan cuisine. For me it was fascinating how the conductor Jan Latham Koenig studied Henze’s music with the children which was not easy to sing. The little ones learned a lot by listening through constant repetition, also because they hadn’t been taught to sing by reading the notes directly on the scores. Even the orchestra, the Concentus Politianus, mostly studied together with these amateur musicians. The continuous exchange of ideas between director, director and set designer continued in the evening, all in groups, on the large square next to a glass of vino Nobile until late into the night. On August 2, everything was ready. The small theater was packed in every order of seats, including service seats. The parents and most of the children’s relatives wanted to be present at this special event. There was a certain uneasiness charged with tension.
At one point an official announcer, perhaps the director of the theatre, appeared in front of the colored curtain and requested the audience’s attention, because he had to make an important announcement of approximately this tenor: unfortunately I have to interrupt the happy atmosphere in which we await the representation of Little Thumb with sad news. A terrible event happened at the Bologna station a few hours ago, this followingnoon a bomb exploded with great power and killed 85 people. It was clearly not an accident, but a terrorist attack. For this reason, many initiatives throughout Italy have been suspended today. Despite our deep sorrow, we have decided to stage the premiere of Little Thumb. Many people have worked very hard in recent months for this evening. We do not want this joyous event to be destroyed by the hand of a terrorist. Now the curtain will be opened. The world premiere of Little Thumb was welcomed that evening with enthusiasm and with applause that never ended».
THE AFTER
Henze, who will also produce compositions in honor of Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara, was the putative and spiritual father not only of an entire community but also of a certain musical ideology which in him, and only in him, truly finds meaning of popular socialism. Thanks to him, one of the best music schools was born in Montepulciano, the band was revived and the orchestra and choir were born. Ten years following his death, last October, a day was dedicated to Henze at the Shipyard, in which the utopia of the great German artist was discussed, his idea of making music and of being the spirit behind so much creativity . It is true that with Tom Thumb he left the management of the shipyard because he knew that the Poliziani had to be autonomous, but in truth he never left them and over the years the various artistic directors who have followed one another, up to the current Montalbetti, have worked to maintain I live that pedagogical but above all human message of Hans Werner Henze. This is the best legacy of a composer with great human sense.
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