Russia’s culture minister Vladimir Medinsky on Sunday fired the director of a Siberian theater. Boris Mezdrich as director of the Novosibirsk State Opera and Ballet Theater had committed the sin of staging Wagner’s opera “Tannhauser” which offended the powerful Russian Orthodox Church. It is the latest example of the rollback on free speech under the Putin regime.
Orthodox Christians protested the production in Siberia as offensive to the Orthodox Christianity and reflecting the values of a decadent West. They appropriately waived pictures of President Vladimir Putin who, as we have previously discussed, made the Church a major ally in his consolidation of power.
The modern production of “Tannhauser” has been defended by Russian artists and intellectuals, but Putin’s government has shown little patience or interest in artistic or political freedom.
Medinsky replaced Mezdrich with Vladimir Kekhman, director of the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg.
Source: Yahoo
Issac: “If you stand back far enough and observe what he has been doing, it is not that different than what any major world power would do or has done.
Business as usual.”
And tit fir tat:
A Ukrainian-born pianist was barred from playing at Canada’s Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) for expressing views on the situation in Ukraine via Twitter, according to the soloist herself. The move led to a social media storm tagged #LetValentinaPlay.
http://rt.com/news/247297-canada-orchestra-pianist-ukraine/
Seems the Russians don’t have a monopoly on rolling back free speech rights after all.
Surely those nice Canadians wouldn’t censor someone. You must be mistaken. 😉
Nick aka Liddle Noodnik
Leave it to you to take an objective observation and hitch your pony. Sometimes it’s disappointing.
Lordy lordy, we have us a Putin lover. LOL! I don’t see how the most dangerous man on earth, could be “the lesser of 2 evils.” You must know about some aliens from other galaxies that are worse? But, abiding a KGB Commie would be consistent w/ your other world views.
Paul & Ponacrates
I hope you took my post as an objective observation of the situation. The Russian Orthodox Church was demonized by the government for decades until it was understood that to rule a people you needed to dig deeper than patriotism. Nothing goes together better than religion and patriotism. This is more important in a land experiencing the chaos of rapid transition. The moves of Putin exhibit, perhaps, the necessary power in a time of potential chaos. He very well may be the lesser of the potential evils. If you stand back far enough and observe what he has been doing, it is not that different than what any major world power would do or has done.
Business as usual.
issac: “It will take a while before Wagner, Hitler’s favorite aryan, is again taken for his musical genius, especially in Lower Slobbovia.”
True, and the fact that self-professed Nazis have spent the past year terrorizing and slaughtering Russian-speaking civilians in Ukraine doesn’t help his cause much either.
Not a fan of censorship in any context, but the context here is important. The situation in the Ukraine is affecting the Russians profoundly, and is causing a deep rethink of their country’s entire post-Soviet association with the West.
In this context, Putin (with apparent popular support) continues to take steps to purge those who advocate greater cooperation with European and US cultural institutions, NGO’s etc., because many of these groups are suspected of being fronts for 5th column elements seeking a “Maiden in Moscow”.
Viewed in this light, the firing becomes much less a case of free speech and more an issue of internal Russian politics. My guess is our poor Siberian director of a government sponsored cultural institution (a political appointment) just found himself on the wrong side of the purge. Bad timing for him.
Does anyone see the irony of a former Communist KGB chief[Putin] being allied w/ the Orthodox Church, a church persecuted by Communists and the KGB? A great history prof taught us, if you want to truly understand history, you must appreciate irony.
Nick – like the Chinese have “reformed’ the churches in China, so the Soviets “reformed” the churches in the Soviet Union. This was especially true of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Ponacrates
Maybe they should bake a cake.
= = =
I’ll send flowers…
… Anyone got pizza?
“Russia’s culture minister Vladimir Medinsky on Sunday fired the director of a Siberian theater.”
Pretty tough to lose a job in Siberia.
I mean, you’re already in Siberia: where do you go from there?
Paul C. Schulte:
Thanks for providing some very necessary detail.
The jingoism is strong in this one.
“Max-1 – this is why the “Piss Christ” upsets people.”
Maybe they should bake a cake.
Some countries can draw on the past for present day moves, no matter how perverse. The USSR lost between 20 and 40 million people, depending on the archive. You can link almost any patriotic platform or emotional move to that. It will take a while before Wagner, Hitler’s favorite aryan, is again taken for his musical genius, especially in Lower Slobbovia.
issac – I am going to recommend a documentary to you. To Russia With Rock. It is a Finnish documentary of the Soviet Rock and Roll scene prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The best rock band in the film is from Siberia. 😉 IMHO
Talent knows no borders.
Ah, both “Deutsch” and “decadent” start with “de”. I guess that explains it.
I guess they are lucky they didn’t try to stage it in an Orthodox church — it would have been Pussy Riot all over again.
Paul C.
Personal relationships shouldn’t be offended with what other people say/do…
… IF they’re strong.
Talk about offending deeply held beliefs…
Max-1 – this is why the “Piss Christ” upsets people.
If you read the NYT article it makes more sense. The director restaged it as a modern film director and added Jesus to the plot. The Orthodox Church had taken them to court and lost, but this was their payback for losing.
They even play Wagner in Israel now…still Russians hold grudges.
I think Don de Drain may have made the central point. Much as Hitler forbade Russian music, now Russia is forbidding German music.That will teach them to participate in overthrowing Ukraine.
That’s right. No more decadent works by German composers like Tannhauser. Let’s have some nice Russian family values performances by Russian composers. Like Stravinsky’s ballet Le Sacre du Printemps.
Russians may feel threatened by Muslim population growth in Russia and its surrounding former Republics. Thus its strong defense of its Christian Orthodox Church.
What offended the Orthodox Church? The title character sins, realizes he has sinned, is found out, is humbled, and then receives redemption through the love of a woman. Too much and too explicit sinning in the beginning? Or the fact that he seeks absolution from the Pope (who won’t give it to him — which seems contrary to doctrine, but I’m not Catholic so maybe I don’t understand)? I see the connection to the West, but I really don’t see the decadence. Maybe the staging and costuming of Act 1 were just too much for the priestly class?
Russian Tea Party