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Reconciling Brundibár: Practical Considerations For Producing Hans Krása’S Children’S Opera, Daniel W. Chetel

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Brundibár, the children’s opera by Czech composer Hans Krása (1899–1944), is the story of two children who go to town to seek some milk to help their sick mother. When they arrive the children are bullied by the Brundibár, a mean adult who plays the organ grinder and takes the children’s money. To fight back against the overbearing Brundibár the children seek the help of the town’s young people—along with three fairy-tale animals—to make the town square a safe place again.

The piece was performed in 1942 by the children of Prague’s Jewish orphanage, and then presented with child singers …