LUDIQUE! - Ein Leben lang - Liebe und Leidenschaft

A LIFE LONG
Love and passion: LUDIQUE!

After a completely sold-out tour in the Netherlands and Belgium, the international theater duo LUDIQUE! comes for the first time to Germany (to the Renitenztheater, Stuttgart) with its latest program "EIN LEBEN LANG".
In the year in which the singer, composer and poet Robert Long would have celebrated his 80th birthday, the two overall artists Gerald Drent and Martin Mulders fulfill one of his life's wishes by presenting his music and lyrics for the first time in German theaters.
Supported by his widower Kristof Rutsaert, they have reinterpreted his work 16 years after Robert Long's death and transformed it into musical theater for the first time. Dr. Michael Kunze, who also translated much of Long's repertoire into German in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, has written ten new translations for this unique music theater piece. A premiere in both senses of the word.

Let yourself be enchanted by the wonderful voices in which the sounds of a bass-baritone and (counter)tenor merge. Open your heart and let yourself be touched by an extraordinary everyday story full of love and passion as only life can write it.'EIN LEBEN LANG' is the 5th program of LUDIQUE! after 'Beseelt', the award-winning music theater play 'ZARAH, die Sünde der Liebe', 'From BERLIN with Love' and the theater concert 'APROPOS'.

Featuring the music and lyrics of Robert Long, translated into German by Dr. Michael Kunze.

LUDIQUE: Gerald Drent and Martin Mulders
Musical direction: Peter van de Zwaag
Photo: © Sushilla Kouwen

Dr. Michael Kunze 1979 about Robert Long:

"When producer John Möring asked me to translate Robert Long's Dutch lyrics into German, I asked: who is this? A singer from Holland, John said, who writes beautiful melodies. He has incredible success in his homeland. This is probably due to the fact that he interprets his songs very convincingly with heart and commitment.
Aha, I said, a kind of Udo Jürgens.
Not quite, John replied. Robert Long also writes all his own lyrics. He speaks a clear language against environmental devastation, mass stupidity and discrimination, for example, homosexuality.
So a protest singer, I said.
No, that's not Robert Long either, John defended himself. His strength is definitely the quiet tones, the small everyday stories...
Well, I interjected, so he's a songwriter.
But no, was the answer. The lyrics are important, but not more important than the music. Besides, he sings very well...
Why didn't you say it right away - he is a chansonnier.
Hardly. His songs appeal to a very wide audience....
That's when I gave it up.
Listen to Robert Long's songs, John said, and pressed the literal translations of the lyrics into my hand. A little while later, I was a Robert Long fan.
For five weeks I locked myself up with the material to translate the songs into German. Rarely has a job given me greater pleasure.
But if someone asks me now: who is Robert Long - how do I explain it?
I say: Robert Long is not a pop singer, not a protest singer, not a songwriter, not a chansonnier. He's all of those things together and none of those things.
Robert Long is Robert Long."

Source: LP Robert Long - Über Kurz oder Länger - EMI 1979