I, for one, do not believe that all believers in one or another religion are evil, just because they believe in another way. I do believe that decency should take first place. That no one should spit into the eye of another because of what he/she believes or may have been led to believe.
History, alas, has too many, way too many, instances of the evil of 'suggestion', of 'brainwashing', of 'mesmerization', of 'indoctrination' ... however one calls it! Sadly, the controversy rages on and on.
I also believe, that human memories of 'bad' things are ever shorter!
May it be due the constant onslaught of images in the news of disasters, man made or natural, that we, seemingly, have lost the ability to empathize... too horrible, too ugly, too fearful - simply - too much to comprehend meaningfully.
Or because our brain just throws up a barrier to shut off dreaded images and feelings? We really may have an inherent ability to 'forget' bad in order to survive. And that IS the danger that events repeat themselves. Must every generation experience the unspeakable?
But is it really necessary that, as a friend recently pointed out, a Greek Orthodox Church (St. Nicholas) which had stood for almost 100 years, on Cedar Street in the 'shadows of the Trade Center' and was completely destroyed on that fatal day, has been 'forgotten' by the powers that be in New York? See photo at right. I know some will not quite understand why this day of national remembrances recalls to my mind a very controversial production of Wagner's Rienzi by the Deutsche Oper Berlin last January. Others, who read history, will do.
Below excerpts from various news sources at the time, photo from the Oper Berlin website:
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| Photo Deutsche Oper Berlin |
"Director Philipp Stoelzl has turned the title character from a 14th-century Roman tribune into a 20th-century fascist demagogue in an Alpine country that could easily be Germany. In case the point isn't clear, Stoelzl plays extensive film footage of Rienzi haranguing the adoring populace; invents a swastika-like flag emblazoned with the letter "R," and even provides a bunker for Rienzi to hide in with his sister, Irene. Oh, and she has blond hair like Eva Braun and exchanges long kisses with her brother that are far more than sisterly. This was all too much for some of the hometown audience, so that in the fourth performance of six, boos mixed with cheers both at the first-act curtain and at the conclusion."
And it would have to have been a Wagner Opera, given in Germany, in Berlin yet!
From the Deutsche Oper Berlin website: "Director Philipp Stölzl interprets RIENZI as a parable of the dangerous tightrope walk between idealism, hubris and realpolitik. The republican dream of the people’s tribune ends in dictatorship and destruction. For him, in a series of symbols unique to himself, the stage becomes a multimedia experiment, set up to show the inevitable fate of a “hero.”
Richard Wagner : RIENZI, Der Letzte der Tribunen
Rienzi – Torsten Kerl, Irene – Camilla Nylund, Steffano Colonna – Ante Jerkunica, Adriano – Kate AldrichPaolo Orsini – Krzysztof Szumanski, Cardinal Orvieto – Lenus Carlson, Baroncelli – Clemens Bieber, Cecco del Vecchio – Stephen Bronk
Berlin Deutsche Opera Chorus and Orchestra (chorus master: William Spaulding)
Sebastian Lang-Lessing, conductor, Philipp Stölzl, stage director and set design, Ulrike Siegrist, set design
Kathi Maurer and Ursula Kudrna, costume design
Recorded live from the Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2010. And now available on DVD-BluRay
Judging from the clip the singing was exceptional, the orchestra and chorus did well under the baton of Maestro Lang-Lessing, appreciated by HGO audiences during his appearances here.
