the fairy tale «the snow queen» by hans christian andersen tells the moving story of kay and gerda, whose friendship is almost destroyed by a magic mirror formed by the devil himself. broken into billions of pieces it is scattered over the world. if a splinter gets into a person’s eye, it turns his heart into a block of ice and makes him see only the bad and the ugly in all around him. one beautiful summer’s day, such a splinter drops into kay’s eye and his heart becomes frozen and cruel. the following winter he succumbs to the snow queen’s charm and follows her into her palace at the north pole. while kay is vainly attempting to solve the snow queen’s puzzle and thus be able to complete the word «eternity», gerda sets out on her adventurous journey into the north to seek kay and perhaps melt his frozen heart with her tears. this fairy tale both fascinates through its cold scenic imagery and its vivid characters.
the performance of the fairy tale «the snow queen» by hans christian andersen combines the original epical text with the music of the composer wolfgang roese. the human narrative voice thereby remains to be the communication medium. dramatization is not achieved on the text level but by juxtaposition of narrative text and music.