Der Eisblumenwald

Libretto by Jörg Arnecke after Jörg Steiner's novel (G)

The composer Jörn Arnecke turned to a fairytale-like subject in his 2019 in his music theatre for children Der Eisblumenwald. The world premiere took place on 23 May 2019 in Weimar with an ensemble of members of the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar. The richly illustrated book edition of the fairy tale by Jörg Steiner and Jörg Müller on which the libretto is based was published by Sauerländer Verlag in 1983. On this basis, Arnecke created a piece for narrator, three voices, flute, trombone, violin, viola and double bass. A storyteller guides the children through the piece in the speaking role. A soprano sings the part of Salicha, the princess of Amun. Samir, the son of a bazaar vendor, is cast in a trouser role with a mezzo-soprano voice. The third member of this distinctive chamber opera cast is a bass in a double role as the King of Amum and King Lars of the South Pole.
The story tells of a fairytale desert land in which all the plants wither. Princess Salicha and her friend Samir have the idea of fetching an iceberg to make the land fertile again. Together with the storyteller, they set off on an adventurous journey by ship to the South Pole. The story is about the courage to realise a crazy idea, but also about friendship and dying but also about friendship and the death of nature when water is wasted. The children listening to the performance should be given a tightly closed, transparent cup with ice cubes in it. A straw should be inserted through the lid of the cup. With this instrument, the children can participate musically when signalled by the storyteller. At the same time, the instrument changes during the performance by melting the ice cubes, thus making a storyline of the opera tangible.