Music to read – My coming out

Music to read – My coming out


“I always wanted to be faithful, but there were always the musicians getting in the way of good intentions. It was like the Pied Piper of Hamelin: Someone makes beautiful music and I sneak behind like a paralyzed rabbit. I then saved myself from so many falls by making music part of my profession – writing about music, working for music, writing and editing libretti, working at the Cologne Children’s Opera for twelve years, always close to what music can do…”

Elke Heidenreich

(A Dream of Music: 46 Declarations of Love (German Edition) (p. 11). Random House Verlagsgruppe GmbH.

1984, Olympics in L.A., the song of the games was called “Reach Out” and a butcher’s wife from Wanne-Eickel regularly leaned on her windowsill and commented on the Olympic events. What really stuck with me was her question about who this “Richard” was that they were always singing about…. That’s how I got to know Elke Heidenreich in my twenties. I was still living in Namibia, we didn’t have access to German television yet, and there was no streaming – but there were video cassettes! And a smart rental company in Windhoek, who hired the family in Germany to record everything important for the Olympic Games and send it to Namibia (which was still called South West Africa at the time). Less than a week after the events, we were able to borrow the tapes, and to my great luck, someone found Elke Heidenreich’s clever contributions interesting enough to record them….

Since then I have been an avowed fan of Elke Heidenreich! Whether Else Stratmann, the long-running Brigitte column or her program Lesen! – It’s all there, honest, sometimes against the grain and always a pleasure.

Of course, Elke Heidenreich has done much more, but it would go beyond the scope of this article to list her life’s work. I want to concentrate on her great love of music, whether classical or pop.

Photo – Elke Heidenreich © Leonie Kleist



Indeed, music has accompanied her throughout her life, just like books.

Because Schubert is dead, you have to love the person playing the “Wanderfantasie” by proxy, “you kiss (the) musicians, although you only ever want to kiss the music.” (A dream of music).

I’m allowed to write here in a completely biased and partisan way, and as a huge fan of Elke Heidenreich I did a somersault with joy – and at 64 that’s really not so easy! – when I found out that the well-known writer and literary critic was presenting a reading with and about music in Immling this summer with the pianist Marc-Aurel Floros, her partner.

That’s what Immling is all about: it’s not just opera and concerts, it’s simply about everything that has something to do with music. Whether the “Threepenny Opera” is performed, which is not actually part of the opera genre, or there is a

Photo – Cornelia von Kerssenbrock & Festival Choir © Verena von Kerssenbrock



Ballet, there is a “musical” surprise every summer! And this year you will have the great pleasure of listening to Elke Heidenreich’s passionate and delightful texts (I’ve enjoyed every one so far…) about music and its influence on all our lives.

And if you are also a fan, you can also bring a book to be signed! Tickets are still available, the whole thing takes place in our air-conditioned Festspielhaus and if you ask me, it’s definitely an event you shouldn’t miss!

The reference to the grand opera gala is also a must. Every year I quickly check the schedule to see if there’s another one this year, and HURRAY, another highlight this summer!

The opera gala is a tribute to our festival choir – 80 choristers from the region (some come from Munich!) – with their commitment to Immling a very important part. During the festival, they sing with young singers from China, Georgia, Iceland, Namibia, France, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and, of course, Bavaria, as the choir is also international. Our choir members practically live in Immling in the summer, rehearse every day and many take vacation time for the performances. And what they have to be able to do: memorize Italian and French texts, act like professionals on stage with the soloists, never lose sight of the next cue during the performance, take it easy on their voices between rehearsals and performances.

At our opera gala, they then sing without pauses, which is quite a feat for “amateur” singers! They absolutely deserve our support! But the Immlingen audience knows what it has in its festival choir – there was a standing ovation for the choir at the Aida premiere!

As you can see, there’s a lot on offer on the Chiemgau hill this week, so take a look, it’s definitely worth it!

As always, sincerely

Yours, Christiane Berker

Photo – Festival choir © Verena von Kerssenbrock