Innocence Of The Jews Poem by gershon hepner

INNOCENCE


Let the supplanter look
Upon his work. Our faith
Will take the stones he broke
And break his teeth.


The lyrics Alice Goodman, music Adams,
the Passion of St. John declared this too:
the Jews are always blamed, the world needs totems
for innocence presumed to them taboo.

James Baldwin once said that white cleaved to the one thing that he, as a black person, could not afford: the romance of innocence (quoted in “Unhappy Endings: The Collected Carson McCullers, ” by Hilton Als, The New Yorker, December 3,2001) . I read this immediately after reading an article about the cancellation of a performance of John Adams’ “The Death of Klinghoffer” in Boston (“John Adams, Banned in Boston, ” NYT, November 25,2001) . He writes:

The prologue in particular, a 'Chorus of Exiled Palestinians, ' builds inexorably to a pounding climax in which the exiles issue a fearsome threat:

Let the supplanter look
Upon his work. Our faith
Will take the stones he broke
And break his teeth.

But how patronizing for the orchestra's directors to presume what audiences will or will not find offensive. Of course, art can provide solace and comfort. Yet art can also incense and challenge us, make us squirm, make us think. The Boston Symphony missed an opportunity to present an acutely relevant work. It might have sponsored preconcert panels, bringing Middle East historians together with Mr. Adams, Ms. Goodman and the director Peter Sellars, who was involved with this opera from its inception.
It later came out, however, that the Boston Symphony had a strong personal connection to the tragedy of Sept.11, which had affected its decision. The 'Klinghoffer' excerpts were to have been sung by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, directed by John Oliver. The husband of a longtime member of the chorus was aboard American Airlines Flight 11. He left behind two young children. Other members of the chorus were understandably reluctant to perform the music while their colleague and her children were grieving. In a recent conversation, Mr. Oliver, who calls the opera a beautiful work, said: 'From a human point of view, to enter into the aggression of the music would have been utterly painful. Our emotional and intellectual distance had been destroyed.'

Though Mr. Adams acknowledges that 'Klinghoffer' is an upsetting work, he argues strongly that it offers the sad solace of truth. Mr. Sellars has likened the opera to the Bach Passions, which relate the story of Jesus' crucifixion in gruesome detail, interspersed with consoling choruses and chorales that foster public reflection.
Some have found 'Klinghoffer' too soft on the terrorists, too quick to caricature Jews. What do three white Westerners know about ancient conflicts in the Middle East?
Yet a few days after the attacks, Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, while calling for decisive military action, courageously suggested that we Americans have not really tried to understand why so many Muslims hate us. That is exactly what Mr. Adams and his co-creators tried to do in 'Klinghoffer.' Today the opera seems amazingly prescient, though the music is more affecting when heard complete. After the ominous, ambiguous choruses of the exiled Palestinians and the exiled Jews, which come in pairs, it's cathartic finally to hear Leon Klinghoffer, a decent man 'who'd just as soon avoid trouble, ' sit up in his wheelchair and confront the terrorist Mamoud. The plain-spoken elegance of Ms. Goodman's words and the dignified rage of Mr. Adams's music ennoble this unlikely operatic hero.
Perhaps the Boston Symphony's move will embolden some other orchestra or opera company to perform 'The Death of Klinghoffer.' Whenever it happens, guaranteed, there will be another installment of the saga in the morning papers.

12/01/01