Der arme Bratscher Hieronymus und die silberne Gauklerin

Last year, I was contacted by Ludwig Hampe from the German Viola Foundation asking if I would be interested in composing a sister work to Der Josa mit der Zauberfiedel [Josa with the magic fiddle] but focusing on the viola. I was able to enlist Stefan Ark Nitsche as the author and the melodrama of the poor viola player Hieronymus was created. We found his wonderful name in the Dürer Museum in Nuremberg and the ten scenes were developed using the ten letters of his name. Hieronymus plays Gregorian chants to St Cecilia who liberates him from poverty. The work tells the story of the poor viola player’s journey from his homeland filled with extensive fields of grain, to the Black Sea, and then upstream along the Danube until he finally arrives in the small town of Weißenhorn. His initially hopeless situation culminates in a joyous finale.
Wilfried Hille