On 4 February 2024, the Estates Theatre in Prague will host a one-off performance of a double bill made up of Viktor Ullmann’s final two operas, Der zerbrochene Krug (The Broken Jug) and Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder Die Tod-Verweigerung (The Emperor of Atlantis, or The Disobedience of Death). The composer, murdered by the Nazis in 1944, wrote the one-act pieces between 1941 and 1944, the latter during his incarceration at the Theresienstadt ghetto. A powerful drama about a haughty and murderous ruler, ultimately defied by Death itself, Der Kaiser von Atlantis is an encoded memento to humanity. The performance at the Estates Theatre will be preceded by a lecture at 6.30 pm in the Mozart Lounge, to be given by Magdalena Živná, who will also launch her book Viktor Ullmann – neklidný Středoevropan (Viktor Ullmann – A Restless Central European).
The performance features a production of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre Opera, created in collaboration with the Musica non grata project, financially supported by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague.
