Text by Jonathan Moore, based on subjects of the novel of the same name by Sholem Asch
Translation: engl. (J. Moore)
Place and time: In the circus, in a Café in the city, around 1900

Characters: Mottke (baritone) - Marie, an artist (soprano) - Kanarik, a Wrstler, also Pimp (tenor) - Circus Director (speaking part, also bassbariton) - Mottke’s Mother, also Artist 5 and Chancress (alto) - Big Clown, also Chancre (bass) - Artist 1, also Chanele, daughter of the Chacre (soprano) - Artist 2-4, also Whore 1-3 (soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto) - Samll Clown, Circus worker and so on. (silent parts)

The book by the Yiddish author Sholem Asch (1880-1957) is in the tradition of the European picaresque novel and describes the adventures of an outsider who runs aground on the society in which he finds himself and on his incapacity to adapt himself to it. To create the circus and brothel atmosphere of his chamber opera, Franke invented a "mixed form on theater, staged chamber music, opera and musical”. His stylistic tour de force also includes a confident acknowledgement of the "tradition of jazz and rock music, the sounds of everyday life, both banal and trivial”. (Bonn opera 1997/98)