Christmas at van den Bergs
| Christmas at van den Bergs | |
|---|---|
| EP by Helge Schneider | |
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Publication |
1992 |
| Label (s) | Roof Music |
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Radio play, comedy |
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Title (number) |
4th |
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running time |
13:14 |
Christmas at van den Bergs is a radio play by Helge Schneider , in which the Christmas party of the eponymous family is described. The radio play was released as an EP by Roof Music in 1992. A new edition was published in 2012 by the Roof sub-label tacheles! In addition, the radio play was included in full length on the 2003 compilation "22 very, very good songs (Best Of)".
Emergence
The recordings were made in October 1992. Helge Schneider recorded all the roles himself, sometimes with a disguised voice or subsequent alienation of the language. The musical contributions as well as all sound effects were created by Schneider himself, whereby the coffee machine, clock etc. were noted as "roles" in the credits in the booklet itself. A certain "Doctor Freese" is said to have played on the church organ .
The van den Berg family was named after Schringo van den Berg , a friend of Helge Schneider.
content
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The radio play is divided into four parts, each of which depicts a different part of Christmas.
December 24th, 4 p.m. at van den Bergs : The van den Berg family, consisting of father Heinz, mother Erika and son Jürgen, has just finished lunch, now there are other Christmas activities to be done, such as setting up and lighting the Christmas tree and Jürgens Playing the recorder , which is first praised by the parents, then criticized. Then Santa Claus appears and presents Heinz with a pair of underpants , which, to Heinz's displeasure, have no slit . Santa Claus then turns to Jürgen and, with reference to his "golden book", gets him to admit a wrongdoing: Last year he bit the pastor in the leg and is punished by Santa Claus for being beaten, against which the parents initially protest, but then come up with it. Finally, Santa Claus prepares to leave and refuses the cup of coffee offered by Erika, which she takes note of being devastated.
Church attendance : the van den Berg family goes to church for worship. The pastor gives his sermon while he is constantly eating potato pancakes in the pulpit . When he sees the van den Berg family, he wants to send them out again immediately, but mentions that such demands are not allowed to be made at Christmas because one has “understanding” - so he lets van den Bergs do it. He then appeals to the audience to tolerate his potato fritters during the sermon, and encourages them to sing the following song together.
The Gift Song : A gospel- like song about Christmas that asks Santa Claus to give gifts as generously as possible. Musically, this song is based on call and response between the pastor's solo singing and the choir's replies.
Christmas dream : At the end of the song, Jürgen or Helge Schneider himself is surprised to find that he only dreamed the previous events . This is followed by a monologue by Schneider, in which he recalls Christmas in 1957, which was celebrated in poor circumstances, and emphasizes that he was nevertheless extremely happy about the modest gifts of this festival (mainly food). In contrast, his wishes today are much greater - in addition to luxury, world peace is expressed as a wish.
Then Jürgen is woken up by Heinz and Erika - the Christmas tree is still to be bought. Heinz is outraged that Jürgen had put on one of his beloved slitless underpants. Santa Claus also takes note of his remarks off- screen - he now knows what gift “I will bring this man to earth”. The radio play ends with a chord on the organ.
reception
"Christmas at van den Bergs" enjoys cult status among Helge Schneider fans and is occasionally placed in a row with Loriot's " Christmas at Hoppenstedts ", which is also identified as an implicit model for the radio play. Retrospective reviews of the radio play are accordingly benevolent:
“'Christmas at van den Bergs' proves that special, weird humor can also be successful, and even twenty years after the original appearance of this little picture-less play, this recording has that typical charm that is inherent in all audio, written and visual documents lives. "
“Conclusion: With 'Christmas at van den Bergs', Helge Schneider is in top form. Quasi single-handedly, he describes a more or less normal Christmas party and skilfully tickles the absurdities of everyday life between genius and madness. "
However, the fact that it is a very specific work that draws on many typical characteristics of Helge Schneider's work was restricted:
“[...] you [have] to be familiar with the Helge Schneider subject matter and the idiosyncratic pronunciation of the singing gentlemen's cake, because the much-mentioned devil is often in the detail - and he unleashes the joke so that it comes out. And that extends to production. High gloss would be inappropriate here. "
Conversely, “Christmas at van den Bergs” was also seen as an example of the quality of Helge Schneider's humor:
“In 2012 Helge Schneider also received the Great Karl Valentin Prize because he was able to demonstrate“ outstanding artistic achievements in the successor to Valentine ”. How this is true is well documented by the new mini radio play from 'Roof Music'. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Meyer-Potthoff, Ulrike: HELGE SCHNEIDER - Christmas with the van den Bergs (radio play). In: Terrorverlag. Retrieved December 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Körner, Andreas: Jürgen, play something! - Re-encounter: Helge Schneider's Christmas classic. In: Dresdner Latest News. December 17, 2012, accessed December 21, 2018 .
- ^ A b Popp, Daniel: Helge Schneider - Christmas at van den Bergs (radio play). In: booknerds.de. November 25, 2018, accessed December 21, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Köhler, Holger: Helge Schneider - Christmas at van den Bergs. In: Popshot. November 22, 2018, accessed December 21, 2018 .