An opera on the life of Angela Merkel?
mainHamburg has commissioned an opera on the life and work of the outgoing Chancellor, who was born in the city in 1954 before being taken by her family as a baby to East Germany.
Hamburg’s SPD mayor Peter Tschentscher is putting 12 million euros into the project, provisionally titled the ‘Chancellor of Hearts’….
Before you read any further here, please check the date.
No composer has yet been named. Andrew Lloyd Webber should be first in line.
Herzlichen dank an klassik.com
Ever heard of April fools’ day?
Okay, obviously a joke. But there is no need to insult her by suggesting Andrew Lloyd Webber as the composer. Ms Merkel is a serious opera lover, and I’m pretty sure that she would not approve of some musical lightweight.
I have been approached today, and in a long telephone conversation I was asked to consider rather Wagnerian sounds since Mrs Merkel was a Bayreuth enthusiast. But the condition that there should be a parsifallic apotheosis at the end in which Mrs Merkel herself should walk around holding a shield with a picture on it of the Bundestag’s fat eagle, made me doubt the seriousness of the initiative. Also the fee of [redacted] seemed a bit meagre, so I called it off. (I recommended Olga Neuwirth however and a Regietheater treatment.)
Perhaps John Adams should write an opera “ Merkel in Abu Dhabi”
Is that the third evening to the Tetralogy:
-Eisenhower in Tehran (Das Ölgold)
-Rumsfeld in Bagdad (Das Giftgas)
?
April Fools’ notwithstanding, the Chilean composer Miguel Farías has a “pocket opera” on Angela Merkel, and another on Donald Trump.
“La seducción de Angela”:
https://www.elmostrador.cl/claves/opera-politica-de-alberto-mayol-y-miguel-farias-la-seduccion-de-angela/
https://youtu.be/uWhqq_ASprM
“Il s’est trumpé”:
https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/creation-mondiale-l-integrale/il-s-est-trumpe-de-miguel-farias-diffusion-integrale-et-portrait-du-compositeur-66241
https://soundcloud.com/miguelfariasv/il-sest-trumpe
It would be boring to anybody who is not fascinated by the
German political scene because there would not be a lot of tension in it, just a faithful ( I assume) married woman who, like many others, stood up to racists and recognized that wealthier countries have an obligation to individuals from poorer countries of the world.
The first prime minister of Germany? A female head of state is no longer considered a novelty in most of the world, especially one who got the post by slowly working her way up the political machine until it was “her turn”.
Incidentally, in spite of, or maybe because of the fact that she is so principled and therefore so boring, there are few politicians I admire more than Merkel in spite of being politically left of her on most things.
“…she is so principled…” Haha! Good April fool’s joke!
What we really need is an opera about James Levine, a true tragic hero ,tragic in the true sense of the word, in that his own flaws led to his downfall.
There is already a jazz opera entitled “Angela’s Ring, An Opera Revue of the European Debt Crisis.”
https://www.broadwayworld.com/ezoimgfmt/cloudimages.broadwayworld.com/covers/91imHwTYvnL._SS500_.jpg?ezimgfmt=rs:300×294/rscb12/ng:webp/ngcb12
https://www.neukoellneroper.de/play/angela-2/