Tuesday, October 03, 2006

My friend and colleague ...

... David Stearns has a characteristically interesting piece on the Idomeneo controversy at the Deutsche Oper Berlin: Artistic-freedom issue comes to a head.

He mentions that "director Peter Sellars interpreted Tannhäuser as a parable about the fall of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart in 1988." And this leads me to wonder: How could that possibly have enhanced - and not diminished - the opera? Why do artsy-craftsy types always think that turning a classic work of art into an editorial about today's news is somehow profound? Headlines almost always prove ephemeral. No one would think of interpreting an opera as a parable about Bernard Goldfine and his vicuna coat, would they? (And practically no one reading that sentence will have any idea of what I am talking about - though it made the headlines for days on end once.)

1 comment:

  1. I remember Gerry Studds, though, of later vintage, and he did more than stalk the boys. And got re-elected what, five times?

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