Das Urteil

In his adaptation of Franz Kafk a’s short story Das Urteil, Dieter Schnebel does not merely retell the story, but instead adopts an analytical and atmospheric approach to the plot. Th e musicians move around the performance space, taking about a dozen diff erent physical positions, for example standing in a row to symbolise the merciless sequence of events, or gathering in a symmetrical form playing wooden ratchets to indicate the harshness of judgement. The text of the protagonists has been substantially abridged and is divided between the vocal performers. As early as 1959, Schnebel had already written playing instructions ‘for unnatural instruments, natural singing voices and other sound sources and the audience’ entitled Das Urteil [The Judgement]. This original version, available in a digital edition, has the possibility of being performed by an unlimited number of musicians and vocal soloists, transforming the short story into music and sound.