{"id":57200,"date":"2018-10-30T17:08:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T21:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/montreal\/?p=57200"},"modified":"2018-11-29T06:45:32","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T11:45:32","slug":"lettre-ouverte-hadrian-lopera-de-rufus-wainwright-antisemite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/montreal\/2018\/10\/30\/lettre-ouverte-hadrian-lopera-de-rufus-wainwright-antisemite\/","title":{"rendered":"LETTRE OUVERTE | Hadrian: l’op\u00e9ra de Rufus Wainwright est-il antis\u00e9mite?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Montreal-based composer Joseph Glaser pens an open letter about the COC\u2019s staging of Hadrian and anti-Semitic sentiment in line with the Pittsburgh attack. (Preliminary Hadrian costume sketches of Hadrian by costume designer Gillian Gallow, courtesy of the Canadian Opera Company)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Note de la r\u00e9daction: nous avons re\u00e7u hier cette lettre ouverte de Joseph Glaser, compositeur, au sujet de l’op\u00e9ra Hadrian, de Rufus Wainwright, pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 ces jours-ci \u00e0 la Canadian Opera Company, \u00e0 Toronto. Nous avons choisi de publier son point de vue, qui n’engage que son auteur.<\/h3>\n

To the COC artistic direction and the artistic team behind Hadrian,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yesterday afternoon, like so many around the world, I read in horror of the 11 Jews killed by gun violence in a synagogue in Pittsburgh. The gunman had shouted, \u201call Jews must die\u201d before opening fire on the congregation. As each detail came out I have been more and more disturbed by this attack on my people.<\/p>\n

But it occurred to me that I had heard these words before. I had heard them sung two days before by professional artists with the support of an orchestra of 75 players and millions of dollars of funding. Before it played out, in reality, I had seen this scenario played out in your production.<\/p>\n

As a composer of opera myself, I came to Hadrian with cautious excitement. This is the first commission from the COC in a long time and I figured it was my professional duty to support the production. In order to get a fresh look, I had purposefully avoided promotional materials. However as I watched the show unfold I grew increasingly upset at the way in which the historical aspects of the show were portrayed, especially in relation to the genocide that the historical Hadrian committed against the Jewish people.<\/p>\n

For context, the Hadrianic persecutions of the Jewish people in response to the Bar Kokhba rebellions are some of the defining moments in our history. Jewish culture was profoundly changed because of the systematic destruction of Jewish villages and places of worship, including the torture and execution of the leading rabbis and the desecration of the temple mount. One million people died in the combined casualties of the rebellion, persecutions, and famine resulting from Roman policy in the area. Historians have pointed to this moment as the one where the Jewish people lost its homeland and became a primarily diasporic population.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, any portrayal of Hadrian the emperor must confront these historical truths. However, Wainright and McIvor\u2019s portrayal was problematic in its apologism for the crimes committed by the historical figure and also the sublimation of Jewish stories into Christian narratives and imagery.<\/p>\n

In McIvor\u2019s telling of the story, Trajan and Plotina confront Hadrian with a choice; sign the document permitting the destruction of the Jews in order to see his lover Antinous for two more nights. At the end of the opera, after finding out about his lover\u2019s fate, Hadrian in a fit of anger signs the document and dies ascending to the realm of the gods.
\nIn reality, the Bar Kokhba rebellion took place a number of years before Hadrian\u2019s death, and by some accounts he personally oversaw the genocide. His direct involvement is attested to by the fact that the persecutions eased after his death.<\/p>\n

The goal of the creative team seemed to be to downplay Hadrian\u2019s involvement in the horrors of his regime in order to paint him as a lover, not a fighter, so to speak. His love for Antinous is meant to be redemptive, removing him from the personal responsibility of the political situation playing out around him. I am personally unconvinced by this historical approach, especially when its ramifications are still being played out in the intergenerational trauma of my people and the current political crisis in Israel and the Middle East.<\/p>\n

On top of the problematic historical revisionism, the show is also rife with problematic images. In the aforementioned final scene, I saw the apotheosis of a genocidal dictator in a scene that directly parallels the end of G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung while a choir of \u201cJews\u201d sung Lutheran-style hymns in the background, surmounted by what was (before it was redacted) an image of an eroticized Jesus, after I had listened to many different people singing very loudly calling for the destruction of my people. I had heard echoes of the Pittsburgh shooters \u201call Jews must die\u201d in the words of Turbo and the choruses of the senators. I had heard echoes of Charlottesville\u2019s \u201cThe Jews will not replace us\u201d in Plotina\u2019s \u201cI will not be forgotten\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hadrian\u2019s acquiescence to the genocide was rewarded with his deification and being reunited with Antinous. This act of evil was rewarded with love and we as an audience are supposed to accept that as good because \u201che loved\u201d more than anything. Meanwhile, the conflict of the opera is centered on the struggle between the \u201cmonotheists\u201d and the Roman pagans.<\/p>\n

When Hadrian sings, \u201cthe seeds of fallen fruit will sow empires\u201d it was clear to me who is seen as the true successors of the \u201cmonotheists\u201d. It was not the Jews, the \u201cfallen fruit\u201d, who converted the empire to monotheism. The implication here is that the Jews are proto-Christians, one of the underpinnings of much anti-Semitic thought.
\nIf these were not the conclusions Wainright and McIvor were after it shows that they were not in control of their images; something that is sloppy and amateurish at best and outright dangerous at worst given the subject matter and current political climate.<\/p>\n

It seemed as if Wainright and McIvor were blinded, sort of like how Hadrian was blinded by his love for Antinous, by their goal to portray a healthy homosexual relationship. A good goal in itself, but what we got was a love letter to powerful white men, Wagner, Verdi, and Massenet, that was too caught up in itself to realize it\u2019s own implications.
\nWhat I wanted was moral grey area. I wanted exploration of the relationship between the personal and the political. I wanted a critical look at how love interacts with political turmoil. Instead, love became the panacea to absolve Hadrian of all sins, and that\u2019s not the kind of art I\u2019m interested in right now.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I don\u2019t think that your production of Hadrian is anti-Semitic per se. But it does tread dangerously in those waters. I know for me, watching the production was hard work and the confluence of my viewing and the latest news has broken me down a little.<\/p>\n

While it is definitely important to explore subjects that are uncomfortable to us and not to limit our expression, I demand that our artists can do better than what I saw Thursday night. This is not a call for censorship but rather a challenge to all our creators: Make art that is good both aesthetically and morally, don\u2019t shy away from exploring our uncomfortable stories for all of their moral grey areas, and don\u2019t be afraid to condemn our characters for their flaws even as we hold them up for their virtues.<\/p>\n

I hope this letter provides you with an opportunity to reflect on the art you want to bring into this world and I look forward to seeing the next years of commissions from the COC. I strongly believe that art shows us who we are and I am hopeful that in the future our portrait will be more humane.<\/p>\n

Thank you for reading,<\/p>\n

Joseph Glaser, composer, Jew.<\/strong><\/p>\n

LIRE AUSSI:<\/h2>\n

OP\u00c9RA | 10 questions sur le Ring de Wagner par un sceptique de l’op\u00e9ra<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n