This creation of Ute’s is a song cycle to the love poems of Pablo Neruda.

Born Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto in 1904, Pablo Neruda took his pen name after the Czech poet Jan Neruda.

Neruda became known as a poet in his teens, and wrote in a variety of styles from surrealist to overtly political tones, as well as erotically-charged love poems. These poems are what Ute’s Neruda Song Cycle is based on.

Because of his politically charged activities and writings, when President González Videla outlawed communism in Chile in 1948, Neruda was forced into exile. In 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Neruda also collaborated with Picasso on highly politically inspired works, and Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez once called him “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.”

In 1973, around the time of the Augusto Pinochet coup d’état, Neruda was diagnosed with cancer and died the same year. Pinochet had denied permission to transform Neruda’s funeral into a public event, however, his legendary status prompted thousands of grieving Chileans to disobey the curfew and crowd the streets.

Here are some videos related to the project:

Above: “The Saddest Poem/N.20” from Ute’s performance at the Palau de le Musica in Barcelona, Spain.		Above: The trailer and an interview with Ute about the project.
Above: Here is an excerpt from ‘The Saddest Poem/N.20’		Above: Ute Lemper Sings Pablo Neruda (NYediting)

Various Reviews: