How can one imagine an unimaginable God? How can you preach an abstract ideal, when that ideal cannot be captured in words? According to the biblical story, Moses tried to get out of the leadership because he is not a handy speaker. In the opera by Schönberg we see how Moses' brother Aron is presented as a smooth talker, who manages to seduce the people with the dance around the golden calf. In
… our time of terrorism and refugees, the biblical story evokes very different associations. That was also the reason for the Paris opera to put this opera on stage. Initially, Stéphane Lissner (artistic director of the opera) had the famous director apparently, but he passed away in 2013. His replacement was the acclaimed and controversial Italian director Romeo Castellucci. He managed to find effective images in this strict moralistic story. In the beginning everything is still distantly white. But as the people go wild, everything gets more and more smeared in a dirty black gunk. (HJ)more
