MEDIATHEK

The principal source of inspiration for the opera, World War I, was revolutionary and with the advent of weapons of mass destruction, flouted all of the rules of “civilised” warfare. Historian Christopher Clark wrote: “The protagonists of 1914 were sleepwalkers, watchful but unseeing, haunted by dreams, yet blind to the reality of the horror they were about to bring into the world.” This metaphor aptly captures the nature of developments in our current world as well.

War can be poignant, giving us acts of heroism and noble hopes, but sooner or later it becomes subsumed in blood and mud, heroism turns to brutality or painful loss, and the great promises of collective happiness turn to personal tragedy for every individual. The maps of territories waiting to be conquered do not show the devastated landscapes.
 

In addition to the text written by Jaan Kaus, text from The Iliad by Homer, the drama Andromache by Euripides, the novel Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and Estonian folk songs have been used in the libretto.

Märt-Matis Lill´s opera "Into the Fire" was one of the most extensive and important new Estonian musical compositions of 2017 and was a winner of the National Culture Awards - one of the highest accolades.

For „the high calibre of musical production“ the Musical Production annual Award is given by the Estonian Theatre Union to Märt-Matis Lill, Jan Kaus, Taago Tubin and Taavi Kull for the opera “Into the Fire” in 2018.