When Johannes Brahms recommended to his pupil Gustav Jenner that he should first recite a poem like an actor and only then set it to music, he had the customary way of speaking on stage at the time in mind. Richard Wagner also wanted the singers to speak the texts first when rehearsing his operas and only learn the vocal lines later. Arnold Schönberg even tried to notate the manner of speaking in the theater with the notation invented by Engelbert Humperndinck.

Today, more than 100 years later, this theater language is hardly used and often unknown. While Attila Hörbiger was still able to speak Jedermann at the Domplatz in Salzburg in such a way that he did not need any technical aids, today actors and actresses are increasingly amplified in theater performances. The aesthetic reference of theatrical language has become that of film and television, to which performers and their audiences have long since become accustomed. However, this evening aims to bring to life just how close reciting and singing once were on stage.