Tim Watts: KEPLER'S TRIAL
Friday 28 October: 8:15pm - 9:45pm
Saturday 29 October: 8:15pm - 9:45pm
St John's College Chapel, St John's Street, CB2 1TP
Johannes Kepler's mother Katharina might well have remained entirely in the
shadows had she not, in the summer of 1615, been accused by a neighbour of
being a witch. The case dragged on for six years, eventually leading to a
trial, in which the famous astronomer, putting his life on hold, took over
his mother's defence. Drawing on Ulinka Rublack's recent book, 'The
Astronomer and the Witch', Kepler's Trial tells this story. It is the
culmination of a highly unusual creative process, in which a team of
scholars working in a wide range of different fields from several different
institutions met regularly to explore the story, and to consider the
challenges posed by bringing it to the stage. The opera seeks to illuminate
the story through the combination of allusions to the music of the early
seventeenth century (cornetts and sackbuts, chorales, Lutheran drinking
songs) with video sequences by Aura Satz that amplify its themes of
darkness and light, moon and sun, sight and illusion, with, at its centre,
the depiction of the aging woman.
For further information about the background, design and production of the
opera, please see http://keplers-trial.com/.
The production has been made possible with funds from St John's College,
the Faculty of History and the Faculty of Music.
To book go to
http://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/events/tim-watts-keplers-trial
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