Brave are they who are afraid and do it anyway

STANDARD: How did it come about that a fairy tale by a German-Syrian writer became a children's opera? Doderer: When Dominique Meyer asked me if I would write a children's opera, Rafik Schami immediately came to mind - I have been reading his books for a long time. I then got in touch with him and met him in Vienna. He also sent me other things, but it was clear relatively quickly that it would be Fatima.

STANDARD: What themes interested you in it? Doderer: The liberation of dreams and also the courage that Hassan and Fatima have. Fatima is clever, and it's ingenious how she manages to outwit the lord of the castle. She wants to make sure that her brother and the other children get their dreams back. This story is about children really having something to say and that we should take them seriously.

STANDARD: In the story, the children's dreams are stolen. But aren't dreams exactly what you can't take away from even the most helpless? Doderer: The dreams symbolise inner wealth. The lord of the castle stands for the materialistic world, for the world of greed. He has everything in terms of external wealth, but he is dead inside, he no longer has any dreams.

STANDARD: What dreams did you have yourself as a child? Doderer: I dreamed a lot, and I still dream a lot! I loved horses, the wild, adventure, living, loving ...!

STANDARD: That means you were close to the fearless Fatima as a child anyway! Doderer: I was not fearless, but one is only courageous when one is afraid but does it anyway. I had a free childhood, was outdoors a lot, we travelled a lot. I grew up partly in Vorarlberg and partly in Corsica. My parents were great, they are great! My mother is approaching 80 and is still a Fatima!

STANDARD: You studied piano. When did you first feel the desire to compose? Doderer: I come from improvisation. My music was already there at the beginning, reading music and playing pieces came afterwards. After I dropped out of all schools, playing the piano was my raison d'être. Friends of mine introduced me to the composer Gerold Amann, and I was able to study with him from the age of 18. Writing was always inside me, and the way I did it more and more was like a liberation.

STANDARD: What music interests you today? Doderer: Everything that sounds good. I love Puccini, Italian opera, Strauss have influenced me a lot in instrumentation, I love Shostakovich, Bruckner, Luigi Nono and Lutoslawski. And I even like techno.

STANDARD: Are you still attacked by the so-called avant-garde faction nowadays if you also compose tonally? Doderer: By a few, but in an aggressive way. In the meantime, people tend to leave me alone because I am played a lot ... 

STANDARD: Do the tones and sounds just tumble out of you, or do you fiddle around for a long time? Doderer: It flows. When I sit down, something is immediately there. But then I also like to work things out. In general, I can get very involved in a material, in a sound world, especially in operas.

STANDARD: You did without an overture for "Fatima". It starts immediately, Hassan stands on stage and speaks to the children. Doderer: I wanted the children to have a reference person right away in this big house. Only when he goes into the forest is there an orchestral interlude. I want to connect with the children, open them up, but I don't want to scare them. A big aria by the mother, expressing her grief as she waits for Hassan, was cut out for me - rightly so. It was too long. With the children, it has to go on quickly. And there are three songs to sing along to, that was Dominique Meyer's idea.

STANDARD: Is it true that you took in a Syrian family with two small children in your flat? Doderer: Yes, they lived with me for a few months and recently moved out. I found a flat and a job for them. They are nurses, they want to work, they want to go back to normality. We should all do something, each in our own way. It was an exhausting time, but also a beautiful time. Of course, I was close to despair from time to time. But still: You should get involved in something like that! After all, life is wild and loud.  

Stefan Ender, 2015 / derstandard.at

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