Grönemeyer Mourns Wilson in “Dear Bob”

The mourning following the death of theater visionary Robert Wilson shows no signs of abating. “Dear Bob, you are a wonderful, talented and inspiring person,” musician and composer Herbert Grönemeyer wrote on his social-media accounts on Friday, in English. “I wish you a pleasant and dreamy journey. The next stage and the light are waiting for you.”

Grönemeyer (69) and the American Robert Wilson (1941–2025) had worked together more frequently over the past two decades on theater projects at the Berliner Ensemble, a period that coincided with Claus Peymann’s tenure as artistic director.

Büchner and Goethe

In 2003, Grönemeyer provided the stage music for Georg Büchner’s Leonce and Lena in a production. In 2015, Wilson and Grönemeyer teamed up for Faust I and Faust II, after Goethe. Critics described the heavy Faust material as nearly a fully composed Disney-style musical.

The two artists had first met in the 1980s through Grönemeyer’s late wife Anna Henkel, who had acted in a Wilson production at Schauspiel Köln in 1998.

The Texan-born Wilson was among the most influential theater directors of the past decades. He collaborated with renowned playwrights, poets, musicians, and actors such as Heiner Müller, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Waits, and Marina Abramović.

Known for the opera “Einstein on the Beach”

One of his best-known works was the 1976 world premiere of the opera “Einstein on the Beach,” with music by Philip Glass and Lucinda Childs serving as the lead choreographer and dance soloist.

Wilson died on Thursday at the age of 83 at his home in Water Mill, New York, after a brief illness. After coming out as a young gay man, he had attempted to take his own life but was saved (reported by TheColu.mn).