The opera bouffe, written by Roermond's Emiele Seipgens, is a comic dialect opera from 1864 and is based on the romanticized story of the robber Johannes Bückler, who was notorious in the Rhineland-Palatinate region. The performance is a tradition that is repeated every time with an interval of about 7 years. Over the last 160 years, the opera has always grown with the times, and again in 2017 a number of changes have been made in which the original story has not been abandoned. Many thousands of Roermondaren have contributed to the performances over the years, on stage, in the orchestra pit or behind the scenes.
The Schinderhannes 2000+ foundation was founded to maintain the tradition. It approaches people who want to make an effort to realize a new production. Every time a new foundation is established which has only one purpose and that is to realize a new Schinderhannes production. The starting point of the Schinderhannes 2000+ Foundation is to create a new production every 7 years. In 2017 there are 130 people participating in the performances. About 9 to 10,000 people will attend the shows. 4250 school pupils have registered to come and look at the performances.
On Boxing Day 1865, Schinderhannes was first performed in Roermond in the Groote Societeit . To this day, only the Roermond dialect is spoken and sung in the show. There is only one Dutchman on the scene: the devil. The Roermond archives show that the opera was staged between 125 and 250 times. The 7-year interval seems more like something from the last decades. It is suspected that the number 7 is derived from the devil's appointment with Schinderhannes who comes to get him after 7 years. The original piece was intended as a 40-minute break piece. Over the years, all kinds of additions have been made up, so that the show lasted no less than 3.5 hours in 2009.
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