Katzenjammer – A Comic Set to Music

The world’s oldest comic strip was once created in New York – conceived by an artist of German origin: “The Katzenjammer Kids”. With their unmistakable humour and their wonderfully quirky German-English gibberish, they made comic history. The careers of Rudolph Dirks and his brother Gus, who was also a cartoonist, led to fame and fortune – but not to happiness for both of them. This is precisely where the humorous yet tragic comic adaptation “Katzenjammer” comes in. The idea for this extraordinary project was conceived at the 2024 Comic Salon: inspired by the exhibition “Katzenjammer Kids – The World’s Oldest Comic” and Alexander Braun’s insightful guided tour on the creators of the “Katzenjammer Kids”, Christoph Kröll developed the concept for a musical adaptation – in the tradition of the comic readings developed in Erlangen, yet with a musical approach all of its own. Over the course of more than six months, the work was developed with great intensity at the Akademie für Tonkunst Darmstadt. During the weekly rehearsals, a multi-layered work took shape, combining image, text and music in a touching way in a composition by Christoph Kröll. The world premiere took place in Darmstadt in March 2026. Three musicians are responsible for the musical realisation: pianist Ning Zhang, flutist Dingjin Ma and clarinettist Yuezhen He. Together, they lend the story sound, tempo and emotional depth. The programme is rounded off by well-known melodies from successful comic book adaptations.