Apolloopera

The work is based on a real event—on June 16, 1944, the Allies bombed the Apollo refinery in Bratislava. The plot draws on actual accounts from life in interwar, multilingual Bratislava connected to “Apolka.” Everyday life here is confronted with the tense events of the 1940s. The barbarism of violence is seemingly pushed into the background by the simple characters of the old “Apollans” or their activities in workers' associations. APOLLOOPERA is not a political statement. The civilian lives of the “Apolaks” can serve as a metaphor for any human existence and its helpless struggle in the face of dehumanization and the technocracy of “complex solutions” to society-wide problems.

The authors depict the fates of “Apolka” through the lives of workers, foremen, civilians, soldiers, bomber pilots, resistance fighters, poets, and intellectuals. The libretto text is based on archival materials, contemporary specialized literature, photographs, chemical formulas for “Apolka's” special products, meeting minutes from association activities, quotations, witness testimonies… The libretto is complemented by period poetry, the authors' allusions to various poetic and prose styles, estrangement effects, songs… The authors of APOLLOOPERA (Marek Piaček, Martin Ondriska, and Marold Langer-Philippsen) develop the poetics already present in their previous joint projects dedicated to M. R. Štefánik (the opera The Last Flight), the events surrounding the “division” Czechoslovakia (Lesť rozmyslu), the history of Košice (the opera 66 Seasons), and the revolt against Romanticism (the opera Erlking, Štós).