At dusk an old shabby woman scraps around a massive pile of junk, in which she has gathered all her possessions and memories. She lights a candle, is confused, and mumbles. She endlessly arranges and rearranges her rubbish. Gradually, from under all her junk a bed becomes visible. It is her deathbed upon which she lays down after some delay. Wearily moaning, groaning and faltering. She starts to sing. At first with some hesitation, but increasingly with more pathos and ardour she brings a glowing and moving farewell to life. Once her aria is completed, she blows out the candle and rises to heaven. From afar we continue to hear her sing softly.
In Uwe Leipe Mastdrammis there is no text, not in the sense of a coherent language. The woman has no command of the language (anymore). The language used is fictitious and merely focused on sound and expression, using the voice in every conceivable form. Uwe Leipe Mastdrammis presents a portrait of a soul in the transition from life to death.
Robert Zuidam composed a full-length work for mezzo-soprano Gerrie de Vries and Nieuw Amsterdams Peil. Uwe Leipe Mastdramnis is an anagram of Nieuw Amsterdams Peil.
The staging is by Jeroen De Man (De Warme Winkel) with whom NAP has collaborated before in Anaïs Nin from Louis Andriessen.