''The Death of Klinghoffer'' is an American
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
, with music by
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...
to an English-language
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
by
Alice Goodman
Alice Goodman, Lady Hill is an American poet and librettist. She is also an Anglican priest, working in England.
Biography
Goodman was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and attended and graduated from Breck School.
She was educated at Harvard Univ ...
. First produced in Brussels and New York in 1991, the opera is based on the
hijacking of the passenger liner ''Achille Lauro'' by the
Palestine Liberation Front
The Palestinian Liberation Front ( ar, جبهة التحرير الفلسطينية, PLF) is a Palestinian political faction. Since 1997, the PLF has been a designated terrorist organization by the United States and by Canada since 2003. The P ...
in 1985, and the hijackers' murder of a 69-year-old
Jewish-American
American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora J ...
wheelchair-using passenger,
Leon Klinghoffer
Leon Klinghoffer (September 24, 1916 – October 8, 1985) was an American man who was shot, killed and thrown overboard from the cruise ship ''Achille Lauro'' by members of the Palestinian Liberation Front who hijacked the ship in 1985.
P ...
.
The concept of the opera originated with theatre director
Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where ...
,
[ Christiansen, Rupert, "Breaking Taboos". ''Opera'', 54(5), 543–548 (May 2003)] who was a major collaborator, as was choreographer
Mark Morris. It was commissioned by five American and European opera companies, and the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
.
The opera has generated controversy, including allegations by Klinghoffer's two daughters and others that the opera is
antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and glorifies
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
. The work's creators and others have disputed these criticisms.
Performance history
![PeterSellarsOjai](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/PeterSellarsOjai.jpg)
Theatre director
Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where ...
developed the concept of this opera
and was a major collaborator, as was choreographer
Mark Morris. The opera was originally commissioned through a consortium of six entities: the Brussels opera company
La Monnaie
The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...
, the
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California.
History
Gaetano Merola (1923–1953)
Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he ...
, the
Opéra de Lyon
This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names.
"Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...
in France, the Los Angeles Festival (separate from that city's opera company), the
Glyndebourne Festival
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.
History
Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, ...
in England, and the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
.
The first performance took place at the Théatre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels, Belgium, on March 19, 1991, directed by Sellars. The next month, the
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
premiere took place. This was followed by a
Nonesuch __NOTOC__
Nonesuch may refer to:
Plants
* ''Lychnis chalcedonica'', a wildflower
* ''Medicago lupulina'', a wildflower
Places and structures
*Nonesuch, Kentucky
*Nonesuch Island, Bermuda
*Nonesuch Mine, Michigan
*Nonesuch Palace, mis-spelling of ...
studio recording in that French city with the same cast.
The first US performance was at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
on September 5, 1991.
Controversy ensued. An opening scene depicting a suburban family, the Rumors, was permanently cut from the score on grounds that it caused offense due to anti-Semitic stereotypes. The Nonesuch recording, released in 1992, does not include this music. Because of the reaction to the subject matter and philosophy of the opera, planned stagings at
Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundr ...
and in Los Angeles were cancelled.
When the original production was staged by
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California.
History
Gaetano Merola (1923–1953)
Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he ...
in November 1992, the Jewish Information League mounted protests. The first staging in Germany took place in 1997 in
Nürnberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ci ...
, followed by a second German production at the
Opernhaus Wuppertal
Opernhaus Wuppertal (Wuppertal Opera House) is a German theatre in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses mostly performances of operas, but also plays, run by the municipal Wuppertaler Bühnen. The house is also the venue for dance perfo ...
in 2005.
Another European production was given in February 2001, in Helsinki at
Finnish National Opera
The Finnish National Opera and Ballet ( fi, Suomen Kansallisooppera ja -baletti; sv, Finlands Nationalopera och -balett) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the T ...
. The first complete UK performance was a 2002 concert in London by the
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
.
Penny Woolcock
Penny Woolcock (born 1 January 1950) is an Argentine filmmaker, opera director, and screenwriter.
Early life
Penny Woolcock was born in Argentina and raised in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. In 1967, she founded a radical theatre group and was b ...
directed a British television version of the opera, in revised form, for
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
, with the
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
conducted by Adams; its soundtrack was made in 2001, the telecast aired in 2003, and a DVD was released on
Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...
in 2004. The first Australasian performance took place in February 2005 at the
Auckland Festival
Formerly known as Auckland Festival, Auckland Arts Festival or is an annual arts and cultural festival held in Auckland, New Zealand. The Festival features works from New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia and beyond, including world premieres of new wor ...
, New Zealand. The first fully staged UK production was given in August 2005 at the
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
by
Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland.
History
Scottish Op ...
.
The opera received a new production at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in December 2003. The
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship.
Hi ...
, through its Curtis Opera Theatre and Curtis Symphony Orchestra, gave a performance in Philadelphia in February 2005. Four years later, students at the
Juilliard Opera Center performed a semi-staged concert version with Adams conducting.
''The Death of Klinghoffer'' received its second full American staging in June 2011 at
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL) is an American summer opera festival held in St. Louis, Missouri. Typically four operas, all sung in English, are presented each season, which runs from late May to late June. Performances are accompanied by th ...
, conducted by
Michael Christie, directed by James Robinson, and starring
Christopher Magiera as the Captain and
Brian Mulligan as Klinghoffer. The opera received its first London production on February 25, 2012, starring
Alan Opie
Alan Opie (born 22 March 1945 in Redruth, Cornwall, England) is an English baritone, primarily known as an opera singer.
Education
He attended Truro School and went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University as a choral student in 196 ...
as Klinghoffer and
Christopher Magiera as the Captain, conducted by
Baldur Brönnimann
Baldur Brönnimann (born 1968, Basel) is a Swiss conductor.
Biography
Born in Basel, Brönnimann studied at the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel and was a junior fellow in conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. From 2008 ...
and staged by
Tom Morris at the
English National Opera
English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...
, in a co-production with the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
. In June 2014, the Met's general manager
Peter Gelb
Peter Gelb (born 1953) is an American arts administrator. Since August 2006, he has been General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Career
Early career
While in high school, Gelb began his association with the Metropolitan Opera ...
announced that after discussions with the
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
the planned
Live in HD transmission of the production would be cancelled. The opera was set for seven performances at the Met in October and November 2014 and performed as scheduled.
After being dropped from production by the
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.
Leadersh ...
, the opera received its Los Angeles area premiere in March 2014 with
Long Beach Opera Long Beach Opera is a Southern California opera company serving the greater Los Angeles and Orange County, California, Orange County metroplex. Founded in 1979, it is the oldest continually running opera company in the L.A. area. Though small in siz ...
, conducted by
Andreas Mitisek and staged by James Robinson.
Roles
Synopsis
Prologue
The
prologue
A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...
consists of two choruses, the "Chorus of Exiled Palestinians" and the "Chorus of Exiled Jews", each of which is a general reflection about the respective peoples and their history.
Act 1
''Scene 1''
The unnamed captain of the ''
MS Achille Lauro
MS ''Achille Lauro'' was a cruise ship based in Naples, Italy. Built between 1939 and 1947 as MS ''Willem Ruys'', a passenger liner for the Rotterdamsche Lloyd, it was Achille Lauro hijacking, hijacked by members of the Palestine Liberation Fr ...
'' recalls the events of the hijacking. Prior to that, most of the passengers had disembarked in Egypt for a tour of the Pyramids, and the ship set out to sea to return later for the touring passengers. The hijackers had boarded during the disembarkation. When the hijackers commandeer the ship, the passengers still on board are collected in the ship's restaurant. The narrative shifts to a Swiss grandmother, traveling with her grandson while the boy's parents are touring the pyramids. The ship's first officer, given the fictitious name of
Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno (; ; la, Iordanus Brunus Nolanus; born Filippo Bruno, January or February 1548 – 17 February 1600) was an Italian philosopher, mathematician, poet, cosmological theorist, and Hermetic occultist. He is known for his cosmologic ...
, informs the Captain that
terrorists
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
are on the ship and one waiter has been wounded. The Captain and First Officer try to keep the passengers calm. Molqi, one of the hijackers, explains the situation to the passengers at gunpoint. The Captain and Molqi have an encounter, where the Captain orders food and drink to be brought, and offers to let Molqi choose the food for the Captain to eat.
''Scene 2''
Following the "Ocean Chorus", another hijacker, Mamoud, keeps guard over the Captain. Mamoud recalls his youth and songs he listened to on the radio. The Captain and Mamoud have a dialogue, in which the Captain pleads that individuals on the two sides of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict could meet and try to understand each other. Mamoud dismisses this idea. During this scene is a passenger narrative by the Austrian Woman, who locked herself in her cabin and remained hidden throughout the hijacking. Act 1 ends with the "Night Chorus."
Act 2
The "Hagar Chorus", relating to
the Islamic story of Hagar and the Angel and
the Biblical story of Hagar and Ishmael is sung. It represents the beginnings of Arab–Israeli tension, of which the hijacking is one historical result.
''Scene 1''
Molqi is frustrated that he has received no reply to his demands. Mamoud threatens all of the passengers with death.
Leon Klinghoffer
Leon Klinghoffer (September 24, 1916 – October 8, 1985) was an American man who was shot, killed and thrown overboard from the cruise ship ''Achille Lauro'' by members of the Palestinian Liberation Front who hijacked the ship in 1985.
P ...
sings, saying that he normally likes to avoid trouble and live simply and decently, but going on to denounce the hijackers. Another hijacker, called "
Rambo
Rambo is a surname with Norwegian (Vestfold) and Swedish origins. It possibly originated with '' ramn'' + '' bo'', meaning "raven's nest". It has variants in French (''Rambeau'', ''Rambaut'', and ''Rimbaud'') and German (''Rambow''). It is now best ...
", responds in harsh terms about Jews and Americans. The passenger, the British Dancing Girl, recalls how well the fourth hijacker, Omar, treated her and the other passengers, for example, letting them have cigarettes. Omar sings of his desire for martyrdom for his cause. At the end of the scene, Omar and Molqi have a dispute, and Molqi takes Klinghoffer away. The "Desert Chorus" follows.
''Scene 2''
Marilyn Klinghoffer talks about disability, illness, and death. She thinks that her husband Leon was taken to the ship's hospital, but he was shot, off-stage. The hijackers have ordered the Captain to say they will kill another passenger every fifteen minutes. Instead, the Captain offers himself as the sole next person to be killed. Molqi appears and says that Leon Klinghoffer is dead. The "Aria of the Falling Body (Gymnopédie)", sung by Klinghoffer, follows.
The "Day Chorus" links scene 2 to scene 3.
''Scene 3''
After the hijackers have surrendered and the surviving passengers have disembarked safely in port, the Captain remains to tell Marilyn Klinghoffer about her husband's death. She reacts with sorrow and rage toward the Captain, for what she sees as his accommodation of the hijackers. Her final sentiment is that she wished that she could have died in her husband's place.
Musical analysis
The general style of the opera's music resembles that of Adams'
minimalist music
In visual arts, Minimal music, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimal ...
period, in the vein also of music by
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
and
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...
. Intervallic relationships such as ''
affekt
The doctrine of the affections, also known as the ''doctrine of affects'', ''doctrine of the passions'', ''theory of the affects'', or by the German term Affektenlehre (after the German ''Affekt''; plural ''Affekte'') was a theory in the aesthe ...
'' are used to evoke certain emotions. The drama is portrayed primarily in long monologues by individual characters, with commentary by the
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
, which does not take part in the action.
Both Adams and Sellars have acknowledged the affinity of the opera's dramatic structure to the sacred
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
, in particular his ''
Passions
''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and pro ...
''. The plot of the opera does not contain a detailed re-enactment of the events of the hijacking and the murder of Klinghoffer; the major events are not directly portrayed on stage and occur between the opera's staged scenes. The artists originally considered the opera as more of a "dramatic meditation" or "reflection", in the manner of an oratorio, rather than a conventional narrative opera driven by plot.
Based on this aspect, the opera has been criticized as undramatic and static, particularly in act 1, whereas act 2 is more "conventional" in terms of operatic narrative.
In defence of this unconventional structure, John Ginman has analysed the particular dramaturgy and structure of the opera.
The opera's choral passages have been performed and recorded separately as ''Choruses from Klinghoffer''.
Controversy and allegations of antisemitism
Controversy surrounded the American premiere and other productions in the years which followed. Some critics and audience members condemned the production as antisemitic and appearing to be sympathetic to the hijackers. Adams, Goodman, and Sellars repeatedly claimed that they were trying to give equal voice to both Israelis and Palestinians with respect to the political background.
Lisa Klinghoffer and Ilsa Klinghoffer, the daughters of Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer, anonymously attended the 1991 U.S. premiere of the opera in New York City. Afterward the Klinghoffer family released the following statement about the opera: "We are outraged at the exploitation of our parents and the coldblooded murder of our father as the centerpiece of a production that appears to us to be anti-Semitic."
The dramatic expression of asserted Palestinian historical grievances generated criticism of the opera's alleged sympathy with Palestinian terrorism. Others accused the creators of anti-Semitism for their portrayal of fictional Jewish-American neighbours of the Klinghoffers, the Rumors, in a scene in the original version. The couple were characterized in a way many Jews believed to be offensive and inappropriately satirical. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' theater critic
Edward Rothstein
Edward Benjamin Rothstein (born October 16, 1952) is an American critic. Rothstein wrote music criticism early in his career, but is best known for his critical analysis of museums and museum exhibitions.
Rothstein holds a B.A. from Yale Universi ...
was particularly scathing in describing the scene and its place in the play; he described it as expressing "scorn of American Jews and anybody else without mythic claims on the world's attention" while eliminating altogether the Israeli position, asking rhetorically "Who could tell from this work just what the Jewish side really isa sort of touristy attachment to an ancient land?" Following the American premiere, Adams deleted this scene, while revising his opera for all future productions.
Following the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, the
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, ...
cancelled a scheduled performance in November 2001 of extracts from the opera. This was partly in deference to a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, who lost a family member on one of the hijacked planes, as well as due to perceptions that the work was overly sympathetic to terrorists. In a widely discussed ''New York Times'' article,
Richard Taruskin
Richard Filler Taruskin (April 2, 1945 – July 1, 2022) was an American musicologist and music critic who was among the leading and most prominent music historians of his generation. The breadth of his scrutiny into source material as well as ...
defended the orchestra's action. He denounced Adams and the opera for "romanticizing terrorists".
John Rockwell
John Sargent Rockwell (born September 16, 1940) is an American music critic, dance critic and arts administrator. According to '' Grove Music Online'', "Rockwell brings two signal attributes to his critical work: a genuine admiration for all ...
of ''The New York Times'', in a review of the Penny Woolcock film version, countered that the opera ultimately "shows unequivocally that murder is nothing more than that, vicious and unconscionable".
Adams responded to Taruskin's criticisms on a number of occasions, including this 2004 statement:
Not long ago our attorney general, John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...
, said that anyone who questioned his policies on civil rights after September 11 was aiding terrorists; what Taruskin said was the aesthetic version of that. If there is an aesthetic viewpoint that does not agree with his, it should not be heard. I find that very disturbing indeed.
In a more academic analysis, musicologist Robert Fink countered Taruskin's accusations of antisemitism, with particular reference to the deleted scene with the Rumor family. Fink has discussed how the removal of this scene disrupted the original dramaturgical structure of the opera, as the singers of the members of the Rumor family took on symbolically ironic later roles in the opera. Fink further posited that the reaction of American audiences to the portrayal of the Rumor family was partly because it was sociologically accurate. He discussed the scene in the historical context of past depictions in American popular culture of Jewish-American families.
A separate academic study by Ruth Sara Longobardi discusses the opera with respect to issues about depictions of Palestinians and Jews. She explores how the use of contemporary media in productions, such as the Penny Woolcock film of the opera, affects perception of the two sides of the political conflict.
The 2009
Juilliard
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
performance generated renewed controversy. A letter to ''The Juilliard Journal'' protested the opera as "a political statement made by the composer to justify an act of terrorism by four Palestinians". The school's president,
Joseph W. Polisi
Joseph William Polisi (born 1947) was the President of The Juilliard School from 1984 to May 2017, having assumed the position upon the death of his predecessor, Peter Mennin.
Born in New York City to an Italian family, Dr. Polisi is the son of W ...
, responded with his own letter, stating that he was "a longtime friend of Israel and have visited the country on numerous occasions", as well as a recipient of the King Solomon Award from the
America-Israel Cultural Foundation
The America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) is a non-profit American foundation that supports cultural projects in Israel.
History
The America-Israel Cultural Foundation was established in 1939 to support the growth and development of a Jewish ...
. He described ''Klinghoffer'' as "a profoundly perceptive and human commentary on a political/religious problem that continues to find no resolution". He added that Juilliard and other institutions "have to be responsible for maintaining an environment in which challenging, as well as comforting, works of art are presented to the public".
In June 2014, the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...
in New York cancelled an international simulcast and radio broadcast of this opera due to "an outpouring of concern" locally that it "might be used to fan global anti-semitism". In addition to cancelling both broadcasts, the company agreed to include a statement from Klinghoffer's daughters in the printed program of the production.
Peter Gelb
Peter Gelb (born 1953) is an American arts administrator. Since August 2006, he has been General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Career
Early career
While in high school, Gelb began his association with the Metropolitan Opera ...
, general manager for the Met, stated:
I'm convinced that the opera is not anti-Semitic, but I've also become convinced that there is genuine concern in the international Jewish community that the live transmission of ''The Death of Klinghoffer'' would be inappropriate at this time of rising anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe.
In an official statement, Adams said: "The cancellation of the international telecast is a deeply regrettable decision and goes far beyond issues of 'artistic freedom,' and ends in promoting the same kind of intolerance that the opera's detractors claim to be preventing."
In a September 2014 ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine piece, critic
Justin Davidson
Justin Davidson (born in Rome, Italy, in 1966) is a classical music and architecture critic.
In 1983, he graduated from the American Overseas School of Rome, where his mother was an English teacher. Davidson began his journalism career as a loc ...
denied that ''The Death of Klinghoffer'' was anti-Semitic or glorified terrorism, stating that the title character is "the opera's moral core, the one fully functioning human being." He described the opera as "imperfect" and "politically troubling", writing that its attempt to show the historical justifications for both sides is both needlessly provocative and hampers the drama: "Explaining historical events is not an opera's job, and never has been.
..What matters is how vast events frame a human drama, translated into musical form." He also said that the decision to model the opera on the Bach ''Passions'' "might actually be the most offensive thing about the opera, since a Jewish murder victim is conscripted to serve as a Christian symbol of redemption."
First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
expert
Floyd Abrams
Floyd Abrams (born in July 9, 1936) is an American attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He is an expert on constitutional law and has argued in 13 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
Abrams represented ''The New York Times'' i ...
wrote in October 2014 that, though there were no First Amendment issues: "the killers ... chose to commit their crime. So did
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.
Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at the age of 12 fo ...
,
James Earl Ray
James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998) was an American fugitive convicted for assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. After this Ray was on the run and was capt ...
and
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...
. We can expect no arias to be sung in their defense at the Metropolitan Opera, and there is no justification for any to be sung for the Klinghoffer killers."
Former New York City mayor and opera fan
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 198 ...
wrote that while the Met had a First Amendment right to present the opera,
Equally, all of us have as strong a First Amendment right to ... warn people that this work is both a distortion of history and helped, in some ways, to foster a three decade long feckless policy of creating a moral equivalency between the Palestinian Authority, a corrupt terrorist organization, and the state of Israel, a democracy ruled by law.
American writer and feminist
Phyllis Chesler
Phyllis Chesler (born October 1, 1940) is an American writer, psychotherapist, and professor emerita of psychology and women's studies at the College of Staten Island (CUNY). She is a renowned second-wave feminist psychologist and the author of ...
, an opera aficionado, conceded the legal and artistic right to perform the opera, but claimed that it "beatifies terrorism, both musically and in the libretto".
In support of the production,
Oskar Eustis
Oskar Eustis (born July 31, 1958) has been the Artistic Director at the Public Theater in New York City since 2005. He has worked as a director, dramaturg, and artistic director for theaters around the United States.[The Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...]
said: "It is not only permissible for the Met to do this piece – it's required for the Met to do the piece. It is a powerful and important opera."
References
External links
Libretto Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments.
Formed in 1930 throu ...
* Mitchell Cohen
"Going Under with Klinghoffer" ''
Jewish Review of Books
The ''Jewish Review of Books'' is a quarterly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs from a Jewish perspective. It is published in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
The magazine was launched in 2010 with an editorial board that ...
'', Spring 2015.
* Bernard Jacobsen
"Seen and Heard International Opera Review" performance of February 18, 2005 of ''The Death of Klinghoffer'', Philadelphia, on musicweb-international.com. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
"Alice Goodman: The furore that finished me"by Stuart Jeffries, ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 30 January 2012
"''Klinghoffer'' at the Met"by
Paul Berman
Paul Lawrence Berman (born 1949) is an American writer on politics and literature.
His books include ''Terror and Liberalism'' ( a ''New York Times'' best-seller in 2003), ''The Flight of the Intellectuals'', ''A Tale of Two Utopias'', ''Power and ...
, ''
Tablet
Tablet may refer to:
Medicine
* Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill"
Computing
* Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...
'', 23 October 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Death Of Klinghoffer
Operas by John Adams (composer)
1991 operas
Minimalist operas
English-language operas
Opera world premieres at La Monnaie
Operas set in the 20th century
Operas based on real people
Race-related controversies in opera
Religious controversies in opera
Opera controversies
Political operas
Operas
Death in music
MS Achille Lauro
Cultural depictions of American men
Cultural depictions of businesspeople