The Story
A soldier on leave from the army is travelling homeward. He’s exhausted and penniless, but looking forward to seeing his fiancée. He carries with him a rucksack of dusty possessions, and his trusty old violin.
Out of the blue, the devil appears, disguised as an old man, and convinces the soldier to trade his violin for a magical book which predicts the future and guarantees an infinite supply of riches. The soldier agrees, excited about the prospect of making a quick buck on the stock market—who wouldn’t be?
Fine dining, champagne and cigars—our soldier is living the high life. But the devil is never far away, cajoling, manipulating and playing his dirty tricks. Will the soldier submit to his own greed? Will he meet his downfall? Or will he come out on top?
The Puppets
Forget that seaside puppet show you might have seen when you were a child, with someone’s hand stuffed inside a sock, hitting itself on the head with a hammer. The Salzburger Marionettentheater is a world-famous puppet theatre, known for crafting and giving life to beautifully intricate puppets.
Back in the day, Georg Baselitz was a bit of a bad boy. Expelled from art school, he went on to become famous for rebelling against the establishment and turning his art upside down (literally). In The Soldier’s Tale, Baselitz used crumpled metal and cardboard tubes to create the puppets (definitely an upgrade on the toilet roll creations children love to make at preschool). The cardboard tubes allow for a great degree of flexibility as they are attached to dozens of puppet strings, enabling the characters to march around, interact and even play little cardboard musical instruments.
The Soldier and his violin (Photo: © Bernhard Muller)
Who’s it for?
The Soldier’s Tale is for anyone with a curious mind, willing to engage with some of the big moral questions in life. It’s for those of you who want to experience the marriage of music, art and drama. It’s for those wanting to get up close and personal with the instruments of the orchestra. And it’s for both adults and children (from approximately aged 12 and above, due to the bleak ending and the whole devil thing). And of course, it’s for anyone who loves puppets!
There will be two performances on 03.10. in the Grand Auditorium: one in the German translation at 5 p.m., and one in the original French language version at 8 p.m. Tickets are available online, through the Ticket Office, and on our new Philharmonie Luxembourg app. Don’t miss what promises to be a once in a lifetime puppeteering experience!