Martinů's mice
In this picture book with CD, the most powerful person in the world is sought; the saxophone quartet clair-obscur helps with music by Bohuslav Martinů.
Bohuslav Martinů's father was a tower keeper and the family lived in a room high above the East Bohemian town of Polička. Until he was seven years old, the sickly Bohuslav rarely left the church tower. And from up there, the people in the streets must have looked like mice. I wonder if it's because he was able to entertain us with his mouse ballet Who is the most powerful on earth? demonstrates some human-all-too-human behavior?
Even mice are not immune to megalomania. Father Mouse only wants to give his daughter to the most powerful man as his wife, but she already has her eye on the prince mouse. He makes a good impression at first, but unfortunately the much more powerful sun rises over the scene. While Mr. Sun is still mulling over the marriage to the mouse girl, the Cloud Prince pushes him away: Father Mouse has found another new marriage candidate. And so it goes on until finally a wall is chosen as the ideal groom. However, the prince of mice and his entourage have already undermined it so much that it collapses during the proposal.
In 1922, Martinů wrote a comedic ballet libretto from this story based on an English fairy tale and composed cheerful, often grotesque music to accompany it, which brings the plot vividly to life. The bride and groom are seen dancing a shimmy (an early reference to jazz) and are carried away by waltzes and polkas. Christoph Enzel arranged the orchestral score for the saxophone quartet clair-obscur. And anyone expecting a certain tonal monotony can rest assured: saxophones have rarely sounded so loud, so mouse-tripping, so thunderous and wall-crushing.
The pictures are produced very sparingly using the collage technique and are often tongue-in-cheek: the saxophone quartet joins the procession of mice and the mice have put on glasses to negotiate with Mr. Sun. In short, this book is a great joy for children and adults alike.
Bohuslav Martinů, Who is the most powerful on earth? A musical fairy tale, played by clair-obscur and illustrated by Meriel Price, narrated by Wolfram Berger, picture book with CD, Fr. 22.90, NordSüd-Verlag, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-314-10283-7
