‘The Flying Carpet’ series: Heligoland

Read by: Klaus Hemmerle
Music: Transatlantica – Philipp Furrer (Weissenborn guitar), Adrian Würsch (Schwyzerörgeli), Samuel Baur (drums & percussion)

Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), one of Germany’s most significant poets, embodies many facets: he is a Romantic and a satirist, a lyric poet and a journalist, but also a sharp critic of bourgeois society. This versatility is also evident in his works on the North Sea.

For Heine, the sea, as a mighty force of nature, stands in contrast to the narrow-minded and bourgeois German society of the Restoration period. Typical of his style is the alternation between romantic enthusiasm and biting irony. Particularly in his ‘Helgoland Letters’, he reveals himself to be an original and unconventional thinker with witty and incisive phrasing.

The poems and letters are read by Klaus Hemmerle, an actor and dramaturg with the ‘Fliegender Teppich’ theatre company. Accompanying this is maritime music, full of wind and vastness, from the ‘Transatlantica’ ensemble led by Philipp Furrer with his very special Weissenborn guitar, played whilst seated, Adrian Würsch on the Schwyzerörgeli and the percussionist Sämi Baur. Ahoy!

Flyer ‘The Flying Carpet’ Season 26/27
all eight musical and literary island journeys

‘The Flying Carpet’ concept: Klaus Hemmerle
In collaboration with the Theater Rigiblick Zurich