Germany’s richest man offers Hamburg a new opera house
NewsThe transport billionaire Klaus-Michael Kühne has told Der Spiegel he’s prepared to back a new opera house in Hamburg.
Kühne, worth $36 billionaire at Bloomber’s last count, is majority shareholder in Kühne + Nagel and reckoned to be Germany’s richest man.
The mayor of Hamburg is unconvinced by the offer.
Does Hamburg need a new opera house? Or does he need to find meaning for his monetary fortune? Or both? Honest questions.
That’s the spirit! Sneer at private philanthropists. Question the motives of wealthy people who wish to support the arts. With luck, we’ll be able to make it such an unattractive proposition that private support of culture will cease altogether and we can rely entirely on the goodwill of the state – because state funding is always pure, disinterested and above reproach. (Valery Gergiev told me so himself).
In fact, let’s go further and delete from the repertoire any music contaminated by the patronage of the Filthy Rich. No Missa Solemnis, no Goldberg Variations, no Haydn symphonies or Monteverdi operas. Wonderful! Think of all the time we could save!
Relax. I have spoken to rich philanthropists myself, who explained to me that they seek meaning in their wealth by giving to the arts. I have not with a single word denounced the value of private donations. All I’m saying is that philathropists have their motives too. They expect some gratification for their gifts. Ideally it’s a win-win.
Depending on where the money comes from in the first place.
The opera house was entirely destroyed on August 2, 1943. The bombers dropped petrol and phosphorous on the roof causing a conflagration. The eternal sadness of war. The current Staatsoper opened on October 15, 1955. It probably needs renovation as with the houses in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Trier, and elsewhere.
Their acoustic is atrocious. It wouldn’t be unwelcome.
Good for Herr Kuhne!
If his offer IS accepted, he won’t be a billionaire for much longer…
Hamburg desperately needed a new concert hall – but opera house? The Staatsoper works just fine, thank you very much. And the offer comes apparently with so many controlling strings attached that no self respecting First Mayor of the state of Hamburg (not just a city in the German political system, but a state!) can take this poisoned offer.
It still needs a new CONCERT hall. It got one, but it’s designed as a circus, not so much for listening to classical music.
Tamino: Have you forgotten the Laeiszhalle on Johannes-Brahms-Platz?
Surely one of the best acoustics, in a good old “horseshoe” hall.
“The mayor of Hamburg is unconvinced by the offer.”
Why? More detail is necessary.