Schlafes Bruder (1995)

Elias is born in the lonely farming village of Eschberg at the beginning of the 19th century. His birth is difficult: the midwife has to be fetched from the village in the valley despite the torrential rain. And the newborn’s heartbeat can only be heard after the birth attendant sings a passage from the Te Deum. Music is therefore literally born with him. Elias seems to have perfect pitch. In the school choir, he sings counter-melodies in an angelic voice that are not in the score—at first, his teacher has little understanding of this. Elias is an outsider everywhere, like Michel, the unbelieving charcoal burner who delivers blasphemous speeches in church. Only his mother knows who his real father is, and she regards the child as Satan’s punishment for her transgression. Elias grows up and hears voices everywhere, as if in visions. The only person who manages to reach him is the young Elsbeth, who falls in love with him, much to the displeasure of her brother Peter. But it is not so much concern for his sister that makes Peter jealous; he, too, is attracted to Elias. Elias, however, has eyes only for Elsbeth, even though she has been promised to Lukas. On an outing in a donkey cart, they grow closer. Elsbeth complains about Elias’s silence, but he says that inside him there is constant talk. He takes her to a large, flat river stone, which he believes to be God’s footprint and attributes mystical powers to. He thinks it may be possible to go straight to heaven from that place. Thanks to his musical talent, Elias succeeds in repairing and retuning the organ in the village church. The organist and schoolteacher is only partly pleased. He has long been worried about his position and fears Elias as a rival. In the end, this fear drives him to suicide. From then on, Elias is to play the organ during church services. He also begins giving music lessons to the village children. Elsbeth senses that Elias’s true love now belongs only to music. Deeply disappointed, she flees into Lukas’s arms. When Elias realizes this, he struggles with God and accuses Him of taking pleasure in his grief. In his despair, he turns to the atheist Michel and begs him to bring his beloved back to him. Michel replies, “What are you talking about? You can’t love at all, Elias. You are the loneliest person in the world. ... Those who love do not sleep.” Elias withdraws completely and neither plays the organ nor mixes with other people. Elsbeth then feels guilty and wants to return to Elias, but her brother stops her. He locks her in the house and sets it on fire. Elias, who can hear the fire before any of the other villagers, rushes to Elsbeth’s aid. As he rescues her from the flames, the fire spreads to the other houses, and the whole village burns down. The villagers hold the charcoal burner Michel responsible and burn him alive. Now all those left homeless—including Elsbeth, who is pregnant by Lukas—leave the village, while Elias stays behind with his family and a few others whose houses have remained more or less intact. Six months later, the cantor Fürchtegott Goller travels to Eschberg. He has been commissioned by his imperial and royal governor to visit all the churches in the country and inspect their organs. When he tries out the organ Elias has rebuilt, he is astonished. He is even more amazed when Elias sits down at the instrument and plays his wonderful music. He insists that Elias come with him to Feldberg. There, Elias takes part in one of the annual organ competitions. When Elsbeth hears about it, she hurries to the church, where Elias is performing his improvisation on the chorale “Come, O Death, Brother of Sleep” to the audience’s delight. Elias is declared the competition’s winner and escorted out of the church. Amid the noisy crowd, he cannot see Elsbeth, but he senses her presence and her love for him. In Peter’s company, he withdraws to his stone—the footprint of God. Elias remembers the charcoal burner Michel’s words: “Those who love do not sleep,” and resolves never to sleep again, hoping Elsbeth will find him there. But she does not come, and after several days without sleep, he dies. Peter buries him in tears near the stone. Years later, Elsbeth passes by the place with her daughter and sees that the stone has disappeared.