Rattle hedges Met Rosenkavalier

Rattle hedges Met Rosenkavalier

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norman lebrecht

October 31, 2019

Sir Simon Rattle has pulled out of the December 28 performance of Rosenkavalier at the Met.

His replacement is Gareth Morrell.

 

Comments

  • Aaron Herschel says:

    A work by the former President of the Reichsmusikkammer.
    Antisemitism seems to be acceptable at the Met these days.

    • Olassus says:

      Are you really so ignorant or just acting the goat?

      • FrauGeigerin says:

        Indeed very ignorant. It seems that you comment on SD only o trash German and Austria composers, without knowing exactly why Strauss became the Reichsmusikkammer leader (he wanted to make change to the copyright laws), why he was fired, how he supported jewish artists during the Nazi period, how he did what he could to protect his son’s half-jewish political family (including driving to Terenzin from Munich), how he refused to participate in the aryanizing process… did he fight Nazism? No. Did he collaborate actively with the Nazi regime? Also NO.
        When Strauss died he had already been absolved of any Nazi affiliations.

        • Robin Worth says:

          And did the US army not send a detachment to Bavaria in 1945 to ensure that Strauss was safe? He was never a Nazi but had to live in an environment with which he had little comfort

        • Mark Starr says:

          Frau Geigerin is correct. Conductor Igor Markevitch knew Richard Strauss quite well. When Markevitch was in Israel to conduct the Israeli Philharmonic, he wrote a letter protesting the ban on Strauss’ music in Israel, published as I recall in the Jerusalem Post. He defended Strauss’ character against any charges of anti-Semitism. He pleaded that Strauss’ music be put back into the repertoire in Israel.

          Richard Strauss was not Richard Wagner.

          • Novagerio says:

            Mark: On the other hand Richard Wagner died 50 years before Hitler’s rise to power…

          • HerrClarinet says:

            Wagner did indeed write against jewish composers but he also was not a Nazi (mostly because he died long before the NaZi time). Wagner was a controversial character who should be credited (or discredited) for creating cultural antisemitism the momment he, instead saying “Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer are bad composers”, said “they are bad composer BECAUSE THEY ARE JEWISH”… at the same time he befriended jewish musicians (including Hermann Levi). I don’t think anyone would discuss that he was an a****le, but he was also a great composer that has been championed by a great number of jewish musicians.

    • Bruce says:

      LOL.

      News flash: they have also performed Wagner, and will likely perform more in the future. Brace yourself.

    • Novagerio says:

      Aaron, were you the zionist terrorist idiot who tried to smash Heifetz’s Strad in Jerusalem for performing the R.Strauss Sonata?…

    • Has-been says:

      One of the most ill-informed comments to ever appear here.

    • Aaron Herschel says:

      So far 94 antisemites have made it clear where they stand.
      Music by Nazi composers should not be performed, doing so is supporting their ideology.

      • norman lebrecht says:

        People who disagree with you are not antisemites. Calm down

        • FrauGeigerin says:

          Well said, Norman.

        • MacroV says:

          Norman – it would be nice if, as site owner, you would help elevate the level of discussion and delete comment threads that digress far from the subject at hand. This particularly series is not really germane to the news that Sir Simon is skipping one of 6 planned performances of Rosenkavalier.

      • Novagerio says:

        Aaron: Don’t worry, composers like Werner Egk, Ernst Pepping, Paul Graener, Max Trapp, Kurt Hessenberg, Karl Marx, Theodor Berger, Bernhard Sekles, Max von Schillings, Günter Raphael, Gerhart von Westerman and Hans Brehme are hardly performed at all, even in Germany.
        On the other hand, you don’t seem to have a problem with Nikolai Miaskovsky, Nikolai Roslavets, Vissarion Shebalin, Yuri Shaporin, Dmitry Kabalevsky, Gavrill Popov, Tikhon Khrennikov, Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi, Georgy Sviridov, Vanno Muradeli…

    • Edgar says:

      „Was sich überhaupt sagen lässt, lässt sich klar sagen; und wovon man nicht reden kann, darüber muss man schweigen.“
      ―Ludwig Wittgenstein

      Other than that: boy, do you need therapy!

  • Gustavo says:

    Quite understandable so shortly after Brexmas dinner.

    Hard to swallow.

  • Cassandra says:

    … Leaving
    the sinking ship.

    • Karl says:

      Don’t even get on the sinking ship.

    • Don Ciccio says:

      Nonsense. He’s only pulling out of the December 28 show and is scheduled to conduct the rest of the performances.

    • Yes Addison says:

      Yeah. Rattle had made arrangements to come to New York to conduct a single Rosenkavalier on December 28, and now he’s so upset at the same thing that has upset Cassandra that he’s telling the Met to forget it. It’s another devastating and well-deserved blow for them.

      Now for the real-world version: He was down for six Rosenkavaliers, and in the event, he will conduct five. One can imagine more emphatic demonstrations of leaving a sinking ship.

      • Yes Addison says:

        Perhaps significantly, the performance Rattle will not conduct is the only one that will not feature Mrs. Rattle (Magdalena Kožená). The Octavian of 28 December will be Angela Brower.

        A correction to the above comment: There are seven performances in all, and Rattle will conduct six.

  • Mustafa Kandan says:

    I wonder why? I would have been bit disappointed if I was attending. It is a work which requires the best cast & production to reveal its treasures, as I have found out when I attended a most unsatisfactory performance of it in Berlin’s Komische Opera (I think they should stick to small scale operas and operettas there).

    • AnySchiffInAStorm says:

      The Komische production – complete with its upturned scenery – was revelatory, about the only time I’ve enjoyed this dismsl work. Bernadette Greevy was outstanding as the Marschallin.&

    • Miguel Meler says:

      I am attending and indeed disappointed.

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