Comoedia de Christi Resurrectione

SYNOPSIS

Women are mourning the death of Christ at his grave. A mysterious voice from earth promises them hope while a choir of angels reminds them of the peace of the grave.
Six soldiers are keeping watch over the burial place, observed by the devil who is hanging around the gravestone. The men are talking about the weather, blethering on about God and all subjects under the sun and also utter their thoughts on the deceased in the tomb: he has really stirred up public order around here! Was it not also said that he would rise from the dead after three days? And anyhow: who could this generous tailed man be who is sitting on the grave and apparently asleep? A mourner? And why do they suddenly all feel so sleepy?
The watchmen have hardly fallen asleep when the devil seals the grave with a magic stone: Christ should on no account conquer death through his resurrection! The evil spirit retreats when he spies the six watchmen of the new guard appearing. They take a mistrustful look at the apparition with his cloven hooves, but are reassured when he also throws them money. Naturally, the conversation of the twelve soldiers turns immediately to the dead man. Wasn’t he supposed to be a worker of miracles? Probably more likely an agitator! Whatever – the old guard marches off not before humorously warning the new guard not to let the dead man escape.
The new watchmen soon turn to their favourite occupation: playing cards. And of course Beelzebub itches to be included! He joins in the game, even jumping off the gravestone for this purpose, but the six watchmen cheat without respite. They rip him off down to his winking magic stone, but here he does not let them get the better of him. He wins this round and triumphantly shouts out “Gewunnen!!” [“I’ve won!!”]
This time however, he encounters tough luck. In his enthusiasm, he has forgotten the gravestone and the angels are already rejoicing at the resurrection of Christ. The devil is so incensed that he even hacks off his own tail.

COMMENTARY

After the success of the Weihnachtsgeschichte, Orff was requested to compose an Easter play. Although the commission was issued by a television company, the composer drafted the work to be suitable for performance in the theatre. It is therefore no surprise that this Comoedia was staged a year after its television broadcast. While the televised film had focused on reduction as a stylistic principle, the stage production was equally successful with its emphasis on sensuous opulence: the scene onstage represented a holy sepulchre in a Bavarian Baroque style, thereby picking up on Orff’s principle of world theatre.
In adherence to this world theatre concept, the work also contains different languages which Orff assigned to the various groups of figures: the watchmen speak Bavarian dialect, the devil Bavarian and Latin, the choirs of angels Latin and the mourning women Latin and Greek.
Alongside the elements of the burial and resurrection rites, Orff also incorporated set pieces from medieval mystery plays: the initial calls of silentium hark back to a time before curtains were opened to attract attention for the beginning of a performance. The utilisation of the devil is also a medieval tradition, albeit substantially altered by Orff: his Beelzebub displays far more individualised, demonic features.