Barenboim hands over the baton
OrchestrasFrom a correspondent in Berlin:
Touching ceremony last night at the Staatsoper in Berlin when a very frail Daniel Barenboim received the title of Honorary Chief Conductor and ‘passed the baton’ to his successor, Christian Thielemann.
Involuntary comic relief came with the Senator for Culture, Joe Chialo, who thanked the orchestra for music by Schöneberg (a Berlin suburb). Not until the audience burst into laughter did he realize that he meant Schönberg (Austrian composer).
picture from 2023
Comic relief? Or a terrible sign of the current state of affairs?
Thank you, DB, your place in music performance history is assured, let that not be in doubt. Your role in creating dialogue between people through art is equally recognised. Never in recent times has that been more needed than now. Let music-making in Berlin continue without missing a single beat.
Is this satire?
“Involuntary comic relief came with the Senator for Culture, Joe Chialo, who thanked the orchestra for music by Schöneberg (a Berlin suburb). Not until the audience burst into laughter did he realize that he meant Schönberg (Austrian composer).”
It’s a bit liked when JFK famously compared himself to a donut.
There was a Senator named Joe
Who didn’t have the slightest clue:
Schönberg with Schöneberg he confused;
The establishment was much amused
And laughed at him throughout the show.
In return, they got budget cuts,
Which really got their pampered guts.