A Melodrama for Speaker and Piano: The Lay of the Love and Death of Christoph Cornet Rilke
Image: Nicole Bernard
January 28 | 6:30 PM
TICKETS AVAILABLE IN DUE COURSE
Join us for an extraordinary evening where poetry and music intertwine to illuminate one of the most haunting works of early modernism. In Viktor Ullmann’s powerful setting of Rainer Maria Rilke’s The Lay of the Love and Death of Christoph Cornet Rilke, voice and piano merge into an intimate, deeply human narrative about love, war, and the search for meaning in a fractured world.
About the Event
Written by a 23-year-old Rilke in a single night in 1899, the text follows a young flag bearer who, at just eighteen, is swept into the chaos of war. His dreams, fears, and final moments unfold in vivid, lyrical scenes: Culminating in a night of love that becomes his last. When first published in 1912, the work became an immediate cultural phenomenon, going through more than sixty editions and capturing the imagination of generations. For composer Viktor Ullmann, the story held lifelong significance. Having discovered Rilke’s text during World War I, he returned to it decades later in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt, where – despite hunger, terror, and oppression – he created some of his most enduring works. His setting of the Cornet blends expressive romanticism with piercing emotional clarity, a testament to his unwavering belief in the transformative power of art.
Ullmann was murdered in 1944, but this melodrama stands among the masterpieces he left behind. This performance, featuring actor Helmut Mooshammer and pianist Senka Brankovic, brings Rilke’s words and Ullmann’s music into a moving dialogue of tenderness, urgency, and timeless beauty.
About the Artists
Senka Brankovic – Piano: A graduate of the Mozarteum Salzburg and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, pianist Senka Brankovic has performed internationally at major venues including the Vienna Musikverein, Vienna Konzerthaus, the Berlin Philharmonie, and opera houses in Cairo, Alexandria, and Kyoto. Brankovic teaches at the Musikhochschule Lübeck and the Berlin University of the Arts.
Helmut Mooshammer – Speaker: Born in Styria, Helmut Mooshammer trained at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and has held engagements at major German-speaking theaters including Münster, Konstanz, Kassel, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg’s Thalia Theater, where he was an ensemble member from 2000–2009. Since 2009/10 he has been part of the ensemble of the Deutsches Theater Berlin and appeared in the Jedermann cast of the Salzburg Festival in 2019 and 2020.