Daniel Kehlmann / Elaine Loebenstein
Lichtspiel
Wednesday
31
January
2024
19:30
Berio-Saal
Performers
Daniel Kehlmann, Lesung
Elaine Loebenstein, Klavier
Programme
Daniel Kehlmann liest aus seinem neuen Roman »Lichtspiel«, Elaine Loebenstein spielt zu Ausschnitten aus Filmen von G. W. Pabst
Presented by
Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft
»Lichtspiel«
He was one of the greats of cinema, perhaps the greatest director of his era: at the time of the seizure of power, G. W. Pabst was filming in France; he fled to Hollywood to escape the horrors of the new Germany. But under the blinding California sun, the world-famous director suddenly looks like a dwarf. Not even Greta Garbo, whom he has made immortal, can help him. And so, almost as if through no fault of his own, Pabst finds himself back in his native Austria, now called Ostmark. The barbaric nature of the regime is felt acutely by the returned family. But the propaganda minister in Berlin wants the film genius, he knows no opposition, and he promises a lot. While Pabst still believes that he will resist the wooing, that he will not submit to any dictatorship but that of art, he has already taken the first step into hopeless entanglement.
Daniel Kehlmann's new novel about art and power, beauty and barbarism is a triumph. »Lichtspiel« shows what literature is capable of: letting the truth emerge through invention. At the Wiener Konzerthaus, the author will now read from his new work, accompanied by excerpts from films by the protagonist G. W. Pabst - accompanied on the piano by the outstanding silent film accompanist and improviser Elaine Loebenstein.