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Exhibition “Viktor Ullmann, Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse” |
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| This video-clip shows some pictures from the exhibition “Viktor Ullmann, Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse”. It is the result of research work done by Herbert Gantschacher. The years of the composer Viktor Ullmann in World War I are the focus of the exhibition. This years in the Austrian-Hungarian Army and at the front of the Isonzo in 1917 and 1918 influenced the artistic work of the composer Viktor Ullmann for his life. Especially in his opera “The Emperor of Atlantis or The Disbobey of Death” Ullmann used In music and libretto his memory to World War I (composed at Terezín 1943/1944). Ullmann himself served as soldier in a battery as an observer. In the artillery handbook of the Austro-Hungarian Army the function of an observer is clear defined. The observer works in cooperation with the command of the battery using telephone or radio or other optical signs. If the observer uses the telephone or the radio, he always must start with following words: “Halloh! Halloh!”. And the first two words in the opera “The Emperor of Atlantis or The Disobey of Death” are “Hallo, Hallo !” used by the character of the “Loudspeaker”, who describes himself as “a not real existence like the radio”. So that is one character coming out from Ullmann's memory to World War I. But all other characters of the opera are remembering to the battlefield experience of Ullmann. The character of the “Death” is clothed like a retired soldier. The “Emperor” is Emperor Karl, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary responsible for the gas attack at the 12th Isonzo battle, where Ullmann was involved in October 1917. The character of the “drummer” is the announcer of the war in the opera as it happened in reality. The character of the “Soldier” on the battlefield meets a “Bubikopf” from the other army in a combat man to man. But this “Bubikopf” is not a man it is a “Girl”. Women served in Austria-Hungary as soldiers in the army. So all characters of the opera based on the personal experience of Ullmann during World War I. | ||||
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