At various stages of his creative life, Pablo Picasso repeatedly turned to the figure of the ‘sad jester’ Harlequin and identified with him. Volker David Kirchner’s 'Groteske für acht Bläser', created in 1981 on the occasion of a Picasso exhibition, also performs the constant tightrope act between earthy humour and melancholy of the harlequin figure, evoking the spheres of Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Debussy’s Faun as well.