Der Kontrabass - von Patrick Süskind

In this single theater text by the author of 'Perfume', we experience the afternoon of a strange man alone on the empty rehearsal stage of an opera house with a few beers and his double bass. The nameless bass player, a civil servant in the state orchestra for life, who is seemingly cursed to live with this greatest of all string instruments, encounters his loneliness and seeks to blame his failure on this oh so unwieldy and yet most indispensable of all orchestral instruments.

In the course of the entertainingly sarcastic performance about the completely underestimated importance of the instrument, the comedy of the eccentric orchestra official turns out to be the blues of a deeply desperate man. His eloquent cry for recognition and love finally condenses into a vision of a scandal that he plans to create from the orchestra pit. He hopes that this will attract the attention of Sarah, a soprano who is far too young for him and for whom he feels an affection that is as unrestrained as it is senseless. He blames the double bass for the fact that this love has no chance and is unrequited.