June 2002 - Nr. 6
Mögliche Begegnung
(Possible Encounter)
by Herwig Wandschneider
The Karlsruher "Theater Hiddigeigei", self-described as an „Ensemble of Theatre Enthusiasts", presented Paul Barz’s „Mögliche Begegnung" at the Transylvania Club in Kitchener. The play was performed as part of the "First Canadian-German Festival" organized by the German Consulat in Toronto and actively supported by the German- Canadian Congress.
The story is based on the thought of what might have occurred at an encounter between the Geniuses of Georg Friedrich Händel and Johann Sebastian Bach. While the two never met, the background, other occurrences and characterization of the two is said to be authentic. The imagined encounter revolves at first around Bach’s emotionally charged envy of Händel’s financial success in spite of his „mediocre music", and Händel’s apparent lack of appreciation for the „little Thomaskantor’s" music and devotion to his music, rather than to the money he could earn with it. The mutual put-downs eventually evolve into expressions of honest fears and feelings, admissions of how much they admire each other’s genius, and to „Brüderschaft".
![f.l.t.r.: Jörg Vögely as Johann Christoph Schmidt, Oliver Bernhardt as Georg Friedrich Händel, Christian Bauer as Johann Sebastian Bach [photo: Herwig Wandschneider]](206c-HW-Begeg-2.jpg)
Nice
comedy with a Happy End, but tragic that it did not occur in real life.
Credible performances by Oliver Bernhardt (Händel) and Jörg Vögely (Schmidt
– Händel’s Page), but even as a poor family men supporting 20 children, my
vision of Bach did not match the characterization produced by Christian
Bauer, although the part of his occasional emotional flare-ups were
convincingly portrayed. One is left with the emotional need and challenge to
research the characters to better understand the real personalities behind
their genius.
Dr. Hochschild came to Kitchener for this performance and together with Ernst Friedel introduced the play, which was attended by nearly 200. The predominantly German audience clearly demonstrated a yearn for German theatre, something Dr. David John envisages as part of his interaction between the University and the K-W Community in form of the proposed Waterloo Centre for German Studies. (see also the May issue on the Internet at http://www.echoworld.com/B0205/B0205bHW.htm)
