Elliott Carter is an interesting figure in various respects. There are composers who wrote wonderful music but did not influence the development of music over time. Mendelssohn, for example, is a great composer who wrote many masterpieces; we would be much poorer without the Octet, the Songs Without Words, and other works. To be perfectly honest, however, if Mendelssohn had never existed on this earth, the development of music would …
Every year, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra matures and develops in every possible way. This year, the orchestra performed two very challenging programs: the first act of die Walküre in concert version, and the Schönberg’s Variations for Orchestra Op. 31 with Brahms’s Fourth Symphony. This second program was completed alternately by Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin, cello, oboe, and bassoon, and Mozart’s Concerto for Three Pianos. It was a pleasure for …
There are photographs hanging on the walls of my dressing room in the Staatsoper Berlin, photographs that remind me of what I see when I look out the windows of my house in Jerusalem. They are slightly faded and here and there the paper is crumbling, but one can easily recognize the views. The old city, the Dome of the Rock with its shining cupola, the walls, the gates. Sometimes …
I have always believed that there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I have uttered these words repeatedly over the years. Today, it has become clearer than ever that it is insufficient to pay lip service to this idea without examining the consequences of it. We must seek and rediscover our own morality and remember that it mut go hand in hand with strategic thinking, since our …
I have often made the statement that the destinies of the Israeli and Palestinian people are inextricably linked and that there is no military solution to the conflict. My recent acceptance of Palestinian nationality has given me the opportunity to demonstrate this more tangibly. When my family moved to Israel from Argentina in the 1950’s, one of my parents’ intentions was to spare me the experience of growing up as …
Daniel Barenboim has written the following article for the program book of the new Don Giovanni production by Peter Mussbach, opening at the Staatsoper Berlin in December 2007. The Italian term dramma giocoso—literally, playful drama—which Mozart applied to the opera Don Giovanni, is at once a contradiction in terms and a definition of the very essence not only of this piece but of music itself. Even the funeral march of Beethoven’s …
The summer of 2007 has been an extraordinary one for the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, an ensemble that began in 1999 as an experiment whose continuation, let alone wild success, could never have been foreseen at that time. So much has been written and said about the orchestra since its founding that it seems unnecessary to recapitulate its entire history. Suffice it to say that it has been a source of …
I firmly believe that it is impossible to speak about music. There have been many definitions of music which have, in fact, only described a subjective reaction to it. The only really precise and objective definition for me is by Ferruccio Busoni, the great Italian pianist and composer, who said that music is sonorous air. It says everything and nothing at the same time. Therefore, all we can do is …
Madam Chancellor, Mr von Weizsäcker, Michael Blumenthal, Ladies and Gentlemen, To be awarded the prize ‘Mutual Understanding and Tolerance’ and to receive it here, in the Jewish Museum of Berlin, is a profoundly moving experience. That I am so deeply moved has something to do with the people who have bestowed this high honour on me. It has something to do with you, dear Mr. von Weizsäcker, you, who have …
The cancellation of performances of Idomeneo in Berlin raises the very important question of our perception of the Muslim world, an issue which has not been addressed in any satisfactory way. The production, which I have not seen and am therefore unable to comment upon, was temporarily removed from the Deutsche Oper’s repertoire this season because of elements in it which could offend or insult people who are in fact …