Hänschens Traumreise

Johannes X. Schachter (G)

‘I inherited a print entitled ‘Map of the Sea of Notes’ from my grandfather, who was a cellist and wrote some not uninteresting smaller compositions in his youth, which has fascinated me since my childhood and has always connected me with my grandfather. Now, many years later, I have created a musical children's story for narrator and three instruments that spins ideas from this print into a story of its own.
Little Hänschen wakes up one night in this dream world, first gets to know ‘notes’ that hop around merrily and then sets off on an exciting journey: he climbs the ‘High C’, watches and listens to a musical parade of ships, goes through the ‘Trill Forest’ and can only escape the ‘Tremolo Whirlpool’ at the last moment. Everything changes when he arrives on the ‘Island of Atonalia’. In the course of the 40-45 minute children's piece, the young and old audience is repeatedly involved and thus becomes part of the concert.’ (Johannes X. Schachtner)