# Changes in the repertoire?



## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Do you think the current political unrest in the North Africa and Middle East affect the repertoire of opera houses? I mean, will operas like L'Italiana in Algeri, Il Turco in Italia and Die Entführung aus dem Serail etc. be dropped?


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

*Extremism...*

never could surprise me.

Martin....in the centre of everything


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Dont think so.. for what reason?


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## Lipatti (Oct 9, 2010)

Are you referring to a situation similar to this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/world/europe/26iht-germany.2943303.html


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## Herkku (Apr 18, 2010)

Yes, something like that. The Muslims are made fun of in many operas or depicted as merciless savages in others.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I think there's already a reluctance to stage anything which offends a religious or racial group. 

While we can say they were written a long time ago, I'm uncomfortable with some of Verdi's librettist's words.


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## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

sospiro said:


> I think there's already a reluctance to stage anything which offends a religious or racial group.
> 
> While we can say they were written a long time ago, I'm uncomfortable with some of Verdi's librettist's words.


I take it you watched 'Othello' (an English translation) on BBC yesterday. There are obviously passages in that which could be criticised.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

jflatter said:


> I take it you watched 'Othello' (an English translation) on BBC yesterday. There are obviously passages in that which could be criticised.


Yes I did. I like Keel Watson & saw him live last year as Don Pasquale. Otello's first few words are some of those which make me uncomfortable.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

About the article linked above, which talks of the cancellation of Idomeneo in Berlin after concerns for the safety of the cast and operagoers:

"The disputed scene is not part of Mozart's 225-year-old opera, but was added as a sort of coda by the director, Hans Neuenfels. In it, the king of Crete, Idomeneo, carries the heads of Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha and Poseidon, god of the sea, onto the stage, placing each on a stool."

This should teach the crazy Regie directors to stop tampering with the content of operas.

Now, for the fact that some operas depict Muslims in unfavorable lights: many others depict Christians in unfavorable lights (one example among many: Don Carlo). And if it is a question of making fun of Turks, etc, Falstaff makes fun of an Englishman, L'Elisir d'Amore makes fun of an Italian man, and so forth.

In my opinion this is all crazy, and talks of how troubled our world is becoming.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Howe about the operas that make fun of women, over half the population.

Even enshrined in a title: Cosi fan *tutte*.

I did feel a bit uncomfortable about the "Childish savage" treatment of native Americans in La fanciulla del West.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

mamascarlatti said:


> Howe about the operas that make fun of women, over half the population.
> 
> Even enshrined in a title: Cosi fan *tutte*.
> 
> I did feel a bit uncomfortable about the "Childish savage" treatment of native Americans in La fanciulla del West.


In my opinion, political correctedness shouldn't be part of how we approach opera. These works have been written decades or centuries ago, when societal values were quite different. We need to enjoy them for what they are, instead of applying current values to the libretti.

Besides, _Così fan Tutte_ is not entirely misogynistic. There are some nuances. The two boys are depicted as silly as well, and the last intervention by Don Alfonso is actually quite excusatory of the girls' behavior, and conveys a message that we are all human, we all make mistakes, and the girls' value on the eyes of their fiancés shouldn't be hindered by what had just happened. In a sense, da Ponte expressed a rather modern view of male-female relationships at the very end (better late than never). Plus, it's a comic opera. If we were to get upset about what comedians say, nobody would be able to watch stand-up comedy without getting angry, since they usually make fun of *everybody*.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Sure - just reinterpret them. Set them in the Crusades or Muslim Spain, then switch the roles of the Christians and the Muslims. 

Would probably be good for us.


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## karenpat (Jan 16, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> Besides, _Così fan Tutte_ is not entirely misogynistic. There are some nuances. The two boys are depicted as silly as well, and the last intervention by Don Alfonso is actually quite excusatory of the girls' behavior, and conveys a message that we are all human, we all make mistakes, and the girls' value on the eyes of their fiancés shouldn't be hindered by what had just happened. In a sense, da Ponte expressed a rather modern view of male-female relationships at the very end (better late than never). Plus, it's a comic opera. If we were to get upset about what comedians say, nobody would be able to watch stand-up comedy without getting angry, since they usually make fun of *everybody*.


I agree. Cosi fan tutte is one of my favourite operas and I've never been offended by it in that sense. I'm just fascinated and wonder what people Mozart's time thought of it (I'm sure it's documented somewhere) and whether that view of women in general was the norm.

About operas like L'Italiana in Algeri, when I saw it I did notice that it conveyed a very simplistic view of Turks/"Orientals" as being completely gullible and Italians as being very cunning and smart. I think it's easier to "get away" with new productions of it if it's fairly traditionally staged so it looks like something from another time and not too contemporary; a kind of fairytale setting.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

I agree with all the comments but the fact remains that followers of Islam feel great distress when their Prophet and religion are insulted. 

The fact that I think they may be over-sensitive or over-reacting doesn't change this. 

(BTW I'm not a follower of any religion)


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## Delicious Manager (Jul 16, 2008)

As a person who holds all races in equal esteem and all religions in equal disdain, I say NO! As soon as you allow politics (and/or religion) to interfere with art, you have unacceptable censorship.

Any religion or other belief should have the strength of character and belief in its own foundation to withstand any amount of criticism or humour levied at it. If we withdrew all the operas which failed the 'PC test' in one way or another, we'd have no repertoire left.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

If Nazism drove Wagner off many opera stages... why not?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

World Violist said:


> If Nazism drove Wagner off many opera stages... why not?


Kind of unfairly so, because Wagner lived and died before the rise of Nazism (a fact that surprisingly many don't know!), and there are no explicit Nazi ideas in his operas (as opposed to his writings) except for a couple of mentions of pure blood in Lohengrin and of the purity of German art in Die Meistersinger that don't amount to much. Ideas that Alberich and the Nibelungs are a metaphor for jews do not hold water.

His writings on the other hand contain lots of garbage.

But I've learned to like the operas, not the man. Yes, he was despicable as a man, but outstanding as an artist.

There are other examples of artists with flawed lives and ideas who nevertheless produced worthy works of art.

Today even in Israel they produce Wagner's operas, and I think we should follow their example.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

What's more under the Nazi era, productions of Wagner operas declined in number rather than increasing. By all accounts Hitler's taste in music ran as much to operettas such as Merry Widow and Fledermaus, in fact when in Berlin he never missed a production of these, but you don't see Lehár and J. Strauss tarred with the Nazi brush. I think the problem is Winnifred's (Wagner's daughter-in-law) strong personal friendship with Hitler that has retrospectively damaged Wagner.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

"If we withdrew all the operas which failed the 'PC test' in one way or another, we'd have no repertoire left. "

Absolutely!

I find the racist and sexist content in the libretto of "_Die Zauberflöte_" extremely offensive, and yet this remains one of my favorite operas -- thanks to Mozart's glorious music.


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