An diesem heutigen Tage

The work was created at the suggestion of the director Walter Haupt and the illustrator, musician and translator Hans-Henning von Voigt-Alastair who had translated letters written by Maria Stuart from Old French, Old English and Latin into German. The drama by Elisabet Woska and Wilfried Hiller is based on extracts from these letters and two sonnets by Maria Stuart in the original Old French and is scored for one actress and four percussionists who play a total of 43 percussion and sound colour instruments.
The role makes substantial demands on the actress spanning a wide expressive spectrum ranging from normal speech, whispering and repetitive litanies to ecstatic dramatic expression. In Scene 5 (defamatory letter), she is forced into a precisely defined rhythmic corset. One of the percussionists plays a rhythm similar to a heartbeat on a low-pitched drum which persists unceasingly up to the climax. The other percussionists also gradually begin playing, setting accents and quasi encircling the actress. Prior to the climax, all four percussionists home in on the heartbeat rhythm which increases in dynamic level until the actress can hardly be understood. At the point of climax, the music breaks off and the percussionists continue playing the heartbeat rhythm but inaudibly. Softly and yet clearly, the actress concludes her monologue.