Berin opera house said it has canceled a controversial production from its fall season, citing authorities' fears it posed undue security risks because it featured the severed heads of Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad.
In a statement released late Monday, the Deutsche Opera said it had decided "With great regret" To cancel a planned production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" From its fall season, after Berlin security officials warned of an "Incalculable risk" Due to scenes dealing with Islam, as well as other religions.
After its premiere in 2003, the production by Hans Neuenfels drew widespread criticism over the scene in which King Idomeneo presents the severed heads, not only of Poseidon, but of Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad.
"We know the consequences of the conflict over the (Muhammad) caricatures," The opera house said in a statement. "We believe that needs to be taken very seriously and hope for your support."
Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who is visiting Washington, condemned the decision, which came ahead of a planned Wednesday
conference on Islam.
"That is crazy," Said Schaeuble told reporters. "This is unacceptable."
In a statement released late Monday, the Deutsche Opera said it had decided "With great regret" To cancel a planned production of Mozart's "Idomeneo" From its fall season, after Berlin security officials warned of an "Incalculable risk" Due to scenes dealing with Islam, as well as other religions.
After its premiere in 2003, the production by Hans Neuenfels drew widespread criticism over the scene in which King Idomeneo presents the severed heads, not only of Poseidon, but of Jesus, Buddha and Muhammad.
"We know the consequences of the conflict over the (Muhammad) caricatures," The opera house said in a statement. "We believe that needs to be taken very seriously and hope for your support."
Germany's top security official, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who is visiting Washington, condemned the decision, which came ahead of a planned Wednesday
conference on Islam.
"That is crazy," Said Schaeuble told reporters. "This is unacceptable."
In Berlin they could of course not insult Judaism by featuring Moses. It is not Jesus or Buddha that is a problem, it is the fear of Islam. I say perform and be damned. It is now hardly original to be deliberately offensive to religions, what is being said, religion is something to be overcome? It reminds me of the performances put on during the French Revolution, Reason enthroned on the High Altar of Notre Dame du Paris, donkeys drinking out of chalices. The truth is of course, as history has shown, that what was really being portrayed was a culture that had lost its respect for any human values and moved from the Reign of Terror to the Napoleonic wars of European dominaton.
2 comments:
Yes one urinal in an art gallery is revolution, another is tedious.
If Jews can handle The Merchant of Venice, what makes liberals think that most Muslims will burn down the Deutsche Oper in Berlin for showing Idomeneo? Clearly, the liberals who tremble each time they hear the voice of rabble-rousers are to blame this time.
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