Little remains of The Hoarse Feathers Opera, a German Expressionist Silent Movie (1923-5). The image above is artwork prepared for a movie poster.
The following scene sequence (Dance of The Hoarse Feathers) is all that remains of this remarkable piece of early cinema.
The film’s setting was Schleswig-Holstein, with an ambiguous time period. The plot & characters were derived from a fusion of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Carroll’s Jabberwocky, and The I-Ching.
The following is a translation of the opening song from the libretto.
<~*****
Biting the pink star letters
I know I love to write,
Oh to write!
Oh to write and work
many times!
Many times!
Many times,
Then One !
Then One!
Oh, tell your eyes;
therefore, Oh to write!
Then One will stop you, lobby!
Sleepy! Before this glitch?
Oh, therefore Birth of Beauty?
It’s easy to see what’s going on arrival.
It will start at irrigation
and the land will get out of control.
As a result, is the town itself a domain?
How long do you think
Sigma Joule will keep this going?
Many times,
Then One !
Then One!
Another transformation transforms
the molter krona fault
into a fertile desert,
rather than a kilometre of consolation;
Simply put, the Allied Territorial
construct recognizes domain shells.
Get a good night’s sleep
for two minutes.
I planted After that –
Gain-wain made a huge profit.
The extensible part is time consuming.
Farmland by the river -Sopping.
Click on e and Indus.
Aces ink’ s men died of crabs.
I have a gumshoe smile –
Oh to write and work
many times!
Many times!
Many times,
Then One !
Then One!
The music was composed for the tuba, saxophone, kazoo,glockenspiel hurdy-gurdy, banjo ,bandura and bandoneon. Here are pages of the unique notation used in the musical score.
