In the latest hilarious instance of academic cottonwool balls, the University of Aberdeen has warned that students might be upset by a performance of Stravinsky’s Petrushka because someone dies in it.
A puppet, actually.
Read here.
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If the puppet identifies as non-binary I’m sure Stravinsky would be dug up and hauled before a committee to investigate hate crimes. Might take down all of his statues and burn all books about him, too: only way one can be sure his legacy won’t bring harm to oppressed communities.
At least that’s how we handle things in the USA.
Aberdeen actually issued a sensitivity warning about Peter Pan, for “gender confusion” issues that might upset some students. The mind boggles (before grinding to a halt).
The ballet is also triggering because of a scimitar-wielding homicidal Moor. After so many terrorist attacks, and the inherent Islamophobia in the work, “Petrushka” needs to be withdrawn from all performances in any form.
Not to mention the violation of animal rights in the dancing bear scene.
And a sexist cliche of women : the ballerina just turning stupidly around for pleasure of men
The fact that it is hard to tell if you’re being serious or not (I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing “Petrushka”) tells me everything that is wrong about our current society.
Pathetic! Please melt all wokey snowflakes.
We played my favourite Stravinsky masterpiece Petrushka for my two children and told them the fabulous story from age 2 on. I shall be doing the same for my granddaughter.
Seriously, one of the greatest works of the 20th century.
The world is going mad!
Civilization is doomed, the barbarians and philistine will win.
Have won!
Beam me up Scotty. There’s no intelligent life on this planet.
The issue today is Petrushka still has not signed a statement denouncing Putin for his provoked war against the collective West. Being a puppet, however, would make him an excellent stand-in for the EU.
The University should also avoid exposing its students to Hamlet, which has a much higher body count.
and Romeo & Juliet – high body count and (under current law) underage sex. Alhough we have a pregnant 12 year old in EastEnders at the moment and no-one is calling for arrest of the father…
By the way, didn’t they kill Bambi’s mother?
“Stravinsky’s 1913 ballet and orchestral concert The Rite of Spring has also been issued with a content warning due to its conclusion of a “young woman dancing herself to death”.” Uh-oh. No more screenings of The Red Shoes in British Cinema class.
I wonder how real this problem is.
I recall an interview with Salmon Rushdie who noted he had been teaching troubling literature in university classes for years and never once encountered a student who claimed trauma or needed a “safe space” from it.
At least there’s no smoking in it.
On the other side, there is a lot of booze in the first act.
Somebody dies in Handel’s Messiah too, doh!
How do these people make it out of bed every day?
“Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”
I often coach college and high school level string quartets. Often in the rondos that serve as last movements in classical works, one of the devices we see, particularly in Mozart and Haydn, is a playful delay in granting us the satisfaction of returning to the main theme. I used to point up the erotic nature of this; how pleasure is delayed and thus enhanced. I don’t dare do that any more. It’s like the massive helmets you see on very young kids riding a little tricycle. We seem to be terrified that our children and even young adults will actually experience life.
Max! I guess we can really tell you attended University of Michigan School of Music, where my violin professor once told me, “Woman, rape your violin!”
I suspect that the concern over the “‘potentially distressing’ nature of an on-stage death in the show” is a smoke screen: they’re actually more concerned with potential intolerance of those juxtaposed C-major and F#-major chords. (Must protect those youngins’ delicate ears, ya know.)
Good God, what’s going to happen when they see Wolf-Ferrari’s Secret of Suzanne? Or Salome? What a bunch of babies…
Gotta hand it to the U of A! Getting all the anti-woke grandads crying on the Internet is a great way to attract younger audiences to classical music!
That, or they actually do intend to kill the principal dancer on stage and needed to give out a real warning.