Strike at Mannesmann's (Streik bei Mannesmann)

World premiere Large version august 1973

Students of various drama schools and music academies in Germany (FRG)

Music direction Thomas Jahn
General artistic direction Hans Werner Henze

World premiere Small version 1974

Hamburg

Ensemble Hinz und Kunst

The Composer’s Contributions

1. Luca Lombardi: Ouverture
2. Niels Frédéric Hoffmann: The Language of the Strike
3. Thomas Jahn: Text Accentuations 1 and 2
4. Thomas Jahn: Intermezzo
5. Niels Frédéric Hoffmann: Song and Dance of the Turkish Workers
6. Thomas Jahn: The Occupation of the Roller Table
7. Dietrich Boeckle: Women’s Song
8. Hans Werner Henze: Boiler Song
9. Wilfried Steinbrenner: Worker’s Song
10. Luca Lombardi: Trade Union’s Song
11. Hans Werner Henze: Call for Solidarity
12. Hans Werner Henze: Background Music for the Declaration of the Youth’s Committee of Solidarity
13. Hans Werner Henze: Final Song

Comment

„Erika Runge’s text keeps the minutes of the strike in Spring 1973. She limited herself to a considerably short detail of the collective action of the Mannesmann workers against the employers. However, she chose a particularly instructive part, a model for similar actions. The identification as „staged cantata“ results from the combination of scenic elements (dialogue scenes, movements of actors on stage, use of props) with the static concert conception like in the historic genre of the cantata (epic display of the events by choir and soloists).“

Max Nyffeler, booklet for the LP „Steik bei Mannesmann“ (excerpts)

The LP was published at communist label „Pläne“ in 1977 and was awarded the prize of the Deutsche Phono-Akademie „Artist of the Year“.