russia. totalitarian system of xx century. grotesque images of the clerks' with faces crippled by the reality of their existence. children in youth camps with red kerchiefs and fake smiles, marching to the beat of a drum. false joy, false pathos, identical appearances, masks instead of faces — this could all be a bad dream.

the soviet totalitarianism has a wide variety of faces: the owner of the theater of life, napoleon, tsar, and communist party leader… all people who push a heavy cart full of every burden that’s shared under socialist structure. everyone is a marionette.

the story revolves around the eternal battle between good and evil. the teacher is a jew, permanently confined to a psychiatric asylum. he wears a strait-jacket and is oppressed, but his soul is tuned to the voice of god, the sound of music and the noise of children, for whom he'd become not only a music teacher but a teacher of life. the teacher is the messenger of god; he brings knowledge to the people and love to the children.

the teacher's antipode, inseparable from him as day from night, is the sovereign. the sovereign is obligated to carry on the heavy burden of his power. his own fate makes him cruel and heartless and he then becomes the messenger of evil.

powerfully brilliant music is based on jewish folk-themes.