Cancel Russian culture? Well, the Met is playing Eugene Onegin…
NewsOf all Vladimir Putin’s wanton lies, the claim that Russian culture is being cancelled in the West is patently ridiculous.
As Zachary Woolfe writes in the New York Times: ‘The names of Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff are being removed from playbills,” President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on television on Friday.
‘Never mind that “Eugene Onegin” opened at the Met that evening, as the New York Philharmonic was playing Shostakovich across the street. And later this week the Philharmonic performs three concerts of Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev, with Rimsky-Korsakov and yet more Rachmaninoff the week after….’
Here’s Rick Perdian’s account in New York Classical Review: There was something spectacular in the Metropolitan Opera’s season premiere of Eugene Onegin: Piotr Beczała’s sensational singing in his Act II aria. Beczała gave voice to Lenski’s memories of his carefree youth as he awaits for Onegin to arrive for their fatal duel in beautiful, molten tone, coupled with a passionate, yet subtle, outpouring of emotion. This exceptional artist, at the pinnacle of his powers, transformed Lenski’s aria into an unforgettable moment.
Up to that point, the performance had been on a low simmer. Tchaikovsky, himself, didn’t think Pushkin’s novel had the strongest plot — a egotistical cad rejects a naive country girl, kills his best friend in a duel, and is left in despair when years later, the girl, now an alluring woman married to a wealthy prince, acknowledges her love for him, but rejects him.The story did inspire him, however, to compose some wonderful music.
Yet the dramatic inertness of the opening scenes was due to Ailyn Pérez’s Tatiana, who was singing the role for the first time. Tatiana is described as shy, but Pérez made her into an introvert, who was little more than a cypher.
Read on here.
image: Ailyn Pérez and Igor Golovatenko in Onegin. photo: Marty Sohl/Met Opera
No Norman, it is not ‘patently ridiculous’. It is not nearly as black and white as you portray here. Russian music IS in fact being cancelled in many places around the globe. Just not ALL. And you know that full well. As you have reported several such cases in recent weeks yourself. A little bit more accuracy on this website and a little less ‘easy journalism’ wouldn’t go amiss.
Why don’t you give SD readers an example of serious journalism by mentioning all the cancellations (complete with cancellation _reason_ as published in the media), after which you mention all the opera houses, concert halls, etc, who _are_ programming Russian music? Don’t you think this would be more useful instead of criticizing NL’s black and white statement (your opinion), with a perfectly blanket statement of your own? And if you experience unaccountable “difficulties” in finding the opera houses and concert halls programming Russian titles, don’t worry, I will help you. Don’t forget that Russian opera is but a tiny percentage of the classical popular international repertoire opera houses rotate every 3-8 seasons, just a drop in a veritable sea of Italian, German, and French titles. If you experience “difficulties” with this fact, don’t worry, I can enlighten you, _with figures and sources_ . Proof could be a novel experience for you…
Just why do you call on a commenter–who is not a journalist–to “give SD readers an example of serious journalism.”
@No comment
Your reasoning is wrong. If someone makes generic statements they should back them up with facts, journalism or no journalism, otherwise they are just trolls. Until @Dr Tara Wilson comes up with proof supporting her blanket statements, I will consider her a troll. Let’s see how “many” are the places canceling Russian music around the globe, and how many places perform Russian music, not forgetting that Russian music is just a small percentage of the international repertoire, a fact many people do their best to forget or just ignore.
She is actually a serious scholar of Russian music. She is not a troll 🙂
I am really tired by the woke’s newest darling, championing Russian victimhood. Does Putin pay you well?
Russia’s actions cause disgust in many places around the globe for reasons that you obviously cannot understand.
Do you know Tara Wilson? Do you actually know what she thinks or understands? Her point was about inconsistent journalism. She gave no other opinion on music, war, or anything else, as far as I can see…
Just letting people know that the poster who wrote the two comments “Do you know Tara Wilson? Do you…” on March 28th is a different poster than the “guest” who wrote the other “guest” comments on March 27th. Some trolls just like to impersonate other posters. I am the guest who wrote the March 27th comments.
People who understand Russia’s reason for it’s action in Ukraine do not necessarily agree with you. We are all horrified by war and devastation of another country and the suffering of the people. Ukraine has been adopted by the US with promises to join the EU and NATO. US regime change has given political power to extreme right wing supported by Nazi sympathizers and military. Implementation of Minsk2 could have avoided this war. The US/UK/EU have back Russia against a wall to stuff NATO right up against another border. I believe that Biden, US intransigence is playing a large part in Ukraine not bending to the obvious, Crimea is lost. Donbas is lost ,Stoltenberg has said there is no prospect of Ukraine joining NATO in the foreseeable future.
You can always find the one place that goes to an absurd length and so in your mind supports Putin’s absurd assertion.
But you know what a major difference is to Russia? No government is telling them what to do. The MET, the Philharmonic, and others are free to continue to program as they see fit. Some organizations might respond to public demand or their own sense of sensitivities. But no performer or director is being fired, jailed, or exiled over programming decisions.
And it is this fundamental freedom that dictatorial regimes fears most.
Exactly. The Dr.Taras of this world fail to register that classical music is a commercial enterprise entirely dependent on the goodwill of the audience, and that musicians are free to choose what to play and audiences are free to choose what to listen to. They seem to envisage a Big Brother taking all the right decisions according to the correct ideological principles of the moment.
Do you know ‘Dr Tara’? If not, why are you commenting upon what she is thinking? ‘The Dr Taras of this world’…. really?
Just letting people know that the poster who wrote the comment “Do you know ‘Dr Tara’? If not…” on March 28th is a different poster than the “guest” who wrote the other “guest” comments on March 27th. Some trolls just like to impersonate other posters. I am the guest who wrote the March 27th comments.
Who was “fired, jailed, or exiled over programming decisions” in Russia? Names please, and credible source citation. Please spare us the “oh but they _would_ have been fired, jailed, etc., had they dared to bla bla bla.” This never ending victimization of everything Russian, inside and outside Russia, is getting tiresome and not a little ridiculous. Soon the Orthodox Church will have to canonize them by the dozen, while alleged victims are still laughing all the way to the bank.
Good for them. Why sabotage Tchaikovsky and punish the Met singers?
It’s a masterpiece and a work of art, and Russian music should not be weaponised for the behaviour and thinking of Putin and the Kremlin’s behaviour.
There is indeed a vast over-abundance of Russian singers and pieces performed in New York (especially at the Met!) way beyond their actual quality levels. Hopefully Putin’s actions have at least helped to permanently re-arrange this.
To paraphrase the great Hannah Arendt, “Russian music is not guilty.” Neither the Russian language.
Culture should be a bridge, building cultural links during times of peace and collaboration and keeping those bridges open also even during war. It is an avenue to maintain a line of communication with the public and the “woke” approach to censor is very harmful. Once you crush the bridge you can’t always rebuild and even then, you start from zero. If McDonald’s was open in Moscow you would have locals clinging to their American icons. And the same with Russian high culture in the west. Don’t succumb to the woke routine. Russian literature and culture are valuable to the west.
I fully endorse shunning those who are too weak to speak out against Putin, but trying to deny the hundreds of years or Russian culture before that is criminal. No reason to deny the existence of Balakierev or Rachmaninov or Shostakovich. As far as I know none of them supported Putin. Wake up and be smart about your protests, people.
A little historical perspective would not come amiss. The history of music, politics, and war is complicated and there’s no simple formula for balancing the responses to it. During the first World War of the 20th century, there was a moratorium on Wagner in the U.S., but during the second, there wasn’t – in the first case, an association of enmity with the enemy’s culture; in the second case, a conscious choice to draw a line BETWEEN the enemy nation and its culture. Both responses are understandable, and both are in the air currently with respect to Russia. Who dares call either one “wrong”? They are choices by the responsible parties to express their convictions in the way that seems best to them.
Proof that Putin is mistaken: no detectable decrease in the number of performances Tikhon Khrennikov’s music receives in the US.
I think we should let everyone program Russian music and just send Will Smith over to Russia to bitch slap Putin.
The Moniuszko competition in Warsaw has just announced that they canceled the participation of all Russian competitors, and Stuttgart opera’s casting director Boris Ignatov was removed from the jury (because he has a Russian passport). What a loss! No Russian music to be played here will be the next step no doubt.