Landesbühnen Sachsen “The Four Seasons”

On the Changing Rhythm of Nature—A Musical and Choreographic Exploration

With birdsong and the rumble of thunder, Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” musically traces the arc of nature throughout the annual cycle—picturesque, yet full of dramatic contrasts. The new dance piece by Natalie Wagner and her artistic team takes this Baroque classic as the starting point for a contemporary exploration of the rhythm of nature. Composer Nikolaus Woernle deliberately fragments and alters Vivaldi’s motifs and structures, placing them in new contexts and blurring the firmly established images of the seasons.

At the heart of the piece lies a world in which the laws of nature—which we take for granted—are thrown into disarray. What happens when the taken-for-granted loses its validity? Sequences shift, extremes collide, and reliability dissolves. Nothing seems stable anymore—a reflection of the ecological and climatic changes that shape our present and whose effects are becoming increasingly palpable. Natalie Wagner invites us to experience nature not as a stable rhythm, but as a fragile system.

The choreography opens up an atmospheric space in which perception, sound, and movement merge—a reflection on change, vulnerability, and our relationship to the world that sustains us.

At 6:30 p.m. in the foyer, choreographer Natalie Wagner will give an introduction explaining how the production came about, its conceptual framework, and background information on the composer, set designer, dancers, and the history of the production.

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