SINGERS NÄHMASCHINE IST DIE BESTE (SINGER SEWING MACHINES ARE THE BEST)

Singer sewing machines are the best.

Paul van Ostaijen was inspired to write his 1921 ode to Singer when his friend, the poet Floris Jespers, bought one of their sewing machines. In 1966 Otto M. Zykan used this text as the basis for his “Singer opera”. When he asked the Singer Company to provide either financial or moral support, his request was declined. This response had a significant influence on the plot of his “Opera, or Ode, or Opera-Ode”.

Only fragments of Zykan’s “Opera-Ode” have survived. Irene Suchy has gathered together all the available pieces of the puzzle, while composer Michael Mautner has filled in the gaps and brought the whole work up-to-date. The programme also includes pieces by Kurt Schwitters, who was something of a forerunner of — and a template for — the Dadaists, including the “Schmäh” (cheap trick) avant-garde in Austria. His work contains an impressive range of vocal utterances, delivered with relish.

This event offers a kaleidoscope of scenes and songs, both comic and absurd, on various topics: the consumer society, the advertising industry, and artificiality, all set against the background of politics.