Best of Budapest & Hungary

On 15 November, the song cycle Sommerreise will be presented at Víg Szalon, performed by Csilla Radnay and directed by Ági Jókai. The work by composer Péter Wolf and lyricist Péter Fábri is a novel counterpart to Schubert’s Winterreise, written from a female perspective.

    Sommerreise is the reverse of Schubert’s epoch-making Winterreise. “What’s the original song cycle? Winterreise. That’s already been created, so I thought ours should be Sommerreise. That one was written for a man, and Péter Wolf wanted to compose for a soprano, so gradually everything got turned around,” explained lyricist Péter Fábri in an interview about the work’s creation.

    In Winterreise, a man laments in 24 songs that his lover has left him. In Sommerreise, the protagonist is a woman; the story takes place not in winter but in summer; her lover doesn’t break up with her — he disappears. The woman doesn’t leave — she arrives — and after that, all sorts of things happen to her, above all she begins her life anew.

    Director Ági Jókai sets this female story, performed by Csilla Radnay and András Szép, in a surreal Barbie world. “I collect Barbies and know a lot about them. In my mind, we are all a bit like dolls. In real life, too, we sometimes get through tragedies, difficult times, or even joyful situations with the help of play. We often see our connections as a game without thinking about what we cause the other person. What is a heavy burden and hardship for one might be just another trophy for the other. This woman was left standing, and now she recalls what happened to her,” the director emphasised.

    The production will be performed in English with English and Hungarian subtitles on 15 November and 18 December.