State Theatre at Gärtnerplatz, Munich
Russian premiere: November 14, 2018,
Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko
Moscow Music Academic Theatre
Supported by Leonid Schaffer
The opera was commissioned by the Munich Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz. The American composer Thomas Morse studied the theme for 10 years and for 3 years he practically led the life of a recluse while working on the score.
Thomas Morse: "It's a huge responsibility. I asked myself every day whether I have the right to touch such a serious topic? Emilie Schindler's story is more psychological than historical, and it gives us an opportunity to understand better the people of that time, to feel how they perceived the terrible course of things surrounding them".
ACT I
Emilie Schindler is on her own, gloomy. Her family life hangs in the balance. In her house, he has to regularly receive the Nazis, her husband’s business partners. And Oskar’s new idea about the factory is just a gamble.
Oskar and Emilie are preparing for a party for the Nazi officers. Oskar hopes that connections with them will help him achieve financial success. Emilie blames her husband for an affair with one of the officer’s wives, Oskar asks his wife to forgive him for this moment of weakness. The most important thing now is not to scare away the coming success.
The Nazi officers who came to the Schindlers are laughing discussing ways of solving the “Jewish problem.” But Emilie can’t make herself laugh about it. To everyone’s surprise, she praises the food prepared by the Jewish servants and calls for humanity. Oskar mitigates the awkwardness of the situation by inviting women into the living room.
Left alone, the men discuss Schindler’s plan. He proposes to start the production of ammunition, refitting the factory of enameled products that belongs to him. It will help the army and benefit everyone present. Finding workers is simple: instead of sending Jews to camps, the Nazis can make them work for the good of Germany. Oskar manages to convince the SS officers to support his plan.
Officers’ wives discuss Emilie. They do not want to accept her. Neither does she seek friendship with them. Under the pretense that Ockar has to depart early next morning, she sends the guests away. After a goodbye, the officers finally accept Oskar’s proposal.
Schindler can’t hold back the joy. If his plan comes true, he gets free labor. He happily hugs Emilie. Emilie is at first incredulous about the impulse of her husband’s passion, but then lets herself be carried away to the bedroom. She loves him in spite of his betrayal.
The next morning, Oskar explains the plan to his wife: Jews from the ghetto will work at his factory for free. If he manages to understate the profits that need to be shared with the Nazis, he can get good dividends. Emilie is shocked by the idea of preying on slave labor. Oskar fends off her objections: for ghetto dwellers, this is better than death. Otherwise, they will die in a concentration camp. Emilie, overwhelmed by this argument, agrees to support her husband.
Emilie is alone again. Her disease separated her from her husband for a long time. She recalls a coup in the Oskar’s worldview: now he treats the Jewish workers of his factory as equals.
After a long separation, Oskar meets Emilie at the Krakow train station. She is very offended: there has been no word from Oskar during her long-time illness. She is incredulous about his new plans. But Oskar has an amazing gift of persuasion. He agreed with the Nazis to move to Moravia, to the region where he and Emilie were born and raised. He plans to open a new factory in Brunnlitz and transport his workers there. Emilie forgives him again. He asks for her help, and she is again ready to support him in everything, including this perilous game.
ACT II
The new factory is equipped, but Schindler is in a frenzy: his plans are hindered by quartermaster Schneefeld. The delay is critical: a train with Jewish women was sent to Auschwitz (the Nazi death camp) instead of Brunnlitz.
Emilie comes to the rescue: Schneefeld was her school swimming instructor, and she is ready to flirt with him.
Another streak of unrest in the family life of the Schindlers: Oskar went to Munich with his secretary Hilde. Emilie manages the factory alone. Risking her own life, she helps a pregnant prisoner woman and hides her.
However, hunger takes over the factory. There is no food, people die. Unable to fight this on her own, Emilie finds an ally: a rich mill-owner Frau von Daubek agrees to take part in helping the prisoners and to give them bread.
Emilie is awakened in the middle of the night. A train with prisoners that has been on the move for several days, arrived. People were left in unheated cars in a thirty-degree cold with no food or water. Many died, the rest are on the edge of death.
Calling her husband, Emilie persuades him to help the survivors and find a place for them at the factory. Oskar gives the necessary orders, and Emilie saves people from the imminent death.
There is a radio announcement that German army lost the Stalingrad battle. The war is coming to an end.
The Schindlers prepare to leave. Oskar says goodbye to “his Jews” and persuades the guards to lay down their arms.
The Schindlers with their maid Marthe and several former prisoners travel from Germany to Switzerland by train. There they are met by Americans, commanded by a cheerful lieutenant Klein, an American Jew. Americans want to arrest Oskar as a Nazi agent, but Marthe and the Jews stand up for him. They were saved by Oskar and consider him a hero. Commander Klein agrees to get the Schindlers across the border.
Emilie and Marthe, who spent these tragic years together, say goodbye to each other. Marthe leaves for the USA in search of happiness.
Oskar and Emilie come to Buenos Aires. There is a completely different atmosphere here. People sing and dance in the streets. But Oskar remains true to himself: he cheats on Emilie with a street singer.
Oskar and Emilie live in Argentina for several years. Suddenly, Oskar receives an invitation from Germany: his friends from a Jewish organization offer him to run an enamelware factory. In a haste, he leaves, promising to return soon. Emilie is left alone. She will never see Oskar again.
Years go by, Emilie grows old. He becomes friends with the former Oskar’s mistress Hilde, who arrived in Argentina on the same ship.
The old Emilie is visited by a journalist from an Argentine newspaper. She tells him about Oskar, not knowing that this journalist is the son of Oskar from another mistress. But even if she knew, that would not change anything. She still loved her late husband, with whom they saved one thousand two hundred people.
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