Israel Opera stages War Requiem
OperaThe national company has replaced a Peter Grimes production in December with a topical new staging of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem.
Alexander Joel conducts.
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No music will bring back sanity or peace.
“….in jedes Vogellied hat ein grauenhafter Ton sich eingeschlichen; ein einziger nur, doch der tiefste Ton aller Oktaven- der des Todes. Und die schwalben steigen hoch, weil die Erde heut ein Kadaver ist und alles, was Flügel hat, aus ihrer Nähe flieht.
Und die Bäche sind klar und spiegelblank die Quellen, aber Ich habe das Wasser gekoste: es ist das Wasser der Sintflut.
….
Und aus dem einschnitt der harzigen Zeder werden die Tränen des Weltuntergangs rinnen….
“Es ist ein Ende der Welt…Das Traurigste von allen”
Giraudoux/Hartmann/Gesangszene
Is this some kind of sick joke? A joint production with the Mariinsky perhaps?
I’m not sure they understand the message of the work. I note that Arabic names are distinctly absent from the cast list. Britten is turning in his grave.
No doubt you people would prefer productions to be judenfrei.
Grow up! The whole message of the War Requiem is peace and reconciliation – if you don’t realise that then you probably shouldn’t be commenting. If the production was being true to Britten, and not a disgraceful cynical appropriation, the production would include a Palestinian soloist at the very least. Of course, it doesn’t. It is ‘peace-washing’, cynical, and offensive to memory of Britten and the message of the Requiem.
I can assure you he is not. You clearly have never been to Israel and know nothing about the people or the culture there.
Well you realize that the hebrew culture is a minor culture both historically and here in the states…as example America has a total population of 347 million plus and the Jews are 6 to 7 million….Internationally it is smaller…
You clearly have no idea of what is real and really possible in the societies of that region.
What is a “topical staging” of War Requiem in the middle of a war?
Particularly in the middle of a war started by the country that’s staging the War Requiem!
I know they have been looking for a reason — something made even more explicit by subsequent attacks on Lebanon and Iran — but nobody should be forgetting that Hamas lit the fuse, and in a particularly brutal and longlasting way. They could have pulled any rug Israel was standing on out from under them by returning hostages.
Nonetheless, the playing of Britten’s War Requiem shows either a pretty vivid cynicism or a literally tone-deaf approach to the music.
Things that happen within a country are not done by the country. It only seems that way to the kind of brutal collectivist mentality that makes this world such a shitty place.