Booking Weekly Menu

Elsbeth, how does poetry come about? Can you learn poetry?
EM: To a certain extent. I remember once being invited to a school, where my task was to familiarise the students with poetry. After my talk, a boy said to me: «Whatever, a rock is a rock!» I replied: «Place different rocks in your hand and close your eyes. Did you know that there are some with such soft skin?» Who knows if the boy still remembers that encounter (laughs).


To finish, I’d like to introduce you to the readers a little more personally. May I give it a try?
AB and EM: Of course!

Alois, you are a doer, a visionary and an art lover …
AB: No, that’s not me! I’m a dreamer. I dream my days and nights away. I have no idea how things should be. But I am amazed at things, and sometimes that creates the desire to influence these things with the means I have at my disposal. I’ve been able to realise a lot of projects this way. My basic attitude is: I’m curious and I will always be curious.

Another attempt: Elsbeth, you are dreamy, down to earth and love the analogue. You are mindful and sensitive …
EM: Yes and no. It’s not like I see something and have to action it straight away. I don’t get the urge to write down everything that’s on my mind at any given moment. I don’t often feel kissed by the muse. On the contrary, writing poetry is work. I sit down at my desk and make the decision to write. Then suddenly one word appears on the paper and then the next. In the best case scenario, that becomes a poem. Thank you for the lovely conversation and good luck with this precious project.

novembrig

novembrig describes the circle of life, of which death is a natural part, and is a project close to the heart of the cultural patron Alois Bischof. Feeling the lasting impression of poet Elsbeth Maag’s cycle of poems – originally written in dialect – he came up with the plan to make this sensuous text available to a wider circle of people. He encouraged the poet to translate her work into Standard German with the aim of spreading the new text version throughout the German-speaking region with a new contemporary scoring by the composer Ulrich Zeitler.

 

Zeitler’s composition hears and feels the atmospheric density between the lines of what cannot be put into words. The composer’s musical versatility leads to a nuanced, unmistakable yet elusive sound language.

Preview: 31 October 2023
in the catholic church in Buchs

Premiere: 3 November 2023
in the TAK theatre in Schaan