me Israel Aestra
JULU 3-QUGUSU
8
1979
me Israel Assam
FOunoeD bu a.z8. ppopes
JULU 3-aUGUSB 1979
Member of the European Association of Music Festivals
Executive Committee:
Asher Ben-Natan, Chairman
Menahem Avidom
Gary Bertini
Jacob Bistritzky
Gideon Paz
Honorary Presidium:
ZEVULUN HAMMER
GIDEON PATT Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism
TEDDY KOLLEK
SHLOMO LAHAT
-
Minister of Education and Culture
-
-
-
Mayor ofJerusalem
Mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo
Leah Porath
Ya'acov Mishori
Jacob Steinberger
J. Bistritzky
Director, the Israel Festival.
Director, The Arthur Rubinstein
International Piano Master Competition.
Thirty years of professional activity in
the field ofculture and arts, as Director
of the Department of International
Cultural Relations in the Ministry of
Culture and Arts, Warsaw; Director of the
Polish Cultural Institute, Budapest:
Director of the Frédéric Chopin Institute,
Warsaw. Mr. Bistritzky's work has
encompassed all aspects of the
developmentofculture, the arts and mass
media: promotion, organization and
management of international festivals and
competitions. Organizer of Chopin
competitions in Warsaw and International
Chopin year 1960 under auspices of
U.N.E.S.C.O.
Artistic Advisor
—
Prof. Gary Bertini
The Public Committee and Council:
Gershon Achituv
Menahem Avidom
Yitzhak Avni
Mordechai Bar On
Asher Ben-Natan
Gary Bertini
Jacob Bistritzky
Abe Cohen
Sacha Daphna
Finance Committee:
Menahem Avidom, Chairman
Yigal Shaham
Micha Tal
Meir de-Shalit
Walter Eytan
Festival Staff:
Shmuel Federmann
Yehuda Fickler
Daniel Gelmond
Dr. Reuven Hecht
Dr. Paul J. Jacobi
Moshe Koi
Arye Lipshitz
Dr. J. Melkman-Mechnian
Dr. Arye Muscat
Uri Ofer
Gideon Paz
Eliezer Peri
Gershon Plotkin
Orna Porat
Leah Porath
Daniel Recanati
Dr. Elimelech Rimalt
Moshe Ron
Dr. Herzl Rosenblum
Shalom Rosenfeld
Moshe Sanbar
Prof. Michael Sela
Michal Smoira-Cohn
Jacob Steinberger
Uri Toeplitz
Assistant Director: Ilana Parnes
Director of Finance: Isaac Levinbuk
Secretariat: Rivka Bar-Nahor, Paula Gluck
Public Relations: Irit Mitelpunkt
Organization of Performances in Caesarea: Shmuel Zemach
Main Ticket Distribution: "Rokoko" ticket office
Feature articles and Editing: Michael Ohad
Translations: Amatzya Amon
Editorial Assistance: Ilana Parnes, Rivka Bar-Nahor
Design of Festival brochure, programmes, posters
Printed in Hamakor Press Ltd, Jerusalem
Printing Coordinator: Ignac Stefanicki
Publicity: Government Advertising Department
Official Carrier: EI-AI Israel Airlines
&
leaflets: Raphie Etgar
Official Travel Agency: Conventions (Kopel Tours) Ltd.
Acknowledgement
The Israel Festival Association gratefully acknowledges the assistance
rendered in the preparation of the Festival by the:
Australian Embassy
British Embassy
Diplomatic Representation of Greece
Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
The British Council
The Italian Cultural Institute
Cultural and Scientific Relations Division
Jacob Tsur
Prof. Arieh Vardi
Yaakov Yannai
Dr. Yosef Yzraeli
Gabriel Zifroni
-
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
EI-AI Israel Airlines
Israel Government Tourist Offices
Israel Philharmonic
Mehta/Pavarotti
Cameran Singers/ltai
7
Sat.
Nabucco/Verdi
Nabucco/Verdi
Israel Philharmonic
Mehta/Pavarotti
Israel Baroque Players
Cameran Singers/ltai
89
Sun.
Israel Baroque Players
Eric's Puppet Company
The Dybbuk/Anski
The Dybbuk/Anski
Mon.
10 Tue.
11 Wed.
Cinderella/Prokofiev
12 Thu. Cinderella/ Prokofiev
Boris Berman
Siegfried Palm
14 Sat.
15 Sun.
16 Mon.
Cinderella/Prokofiev
Rinat Choir/Ericson
Siegfried Palm
Boris Berman
Jerus. Symphony
Workshop (morning) Jerus. Symphony
Workshop
Eric's Puppet
Company
Compagnia Ferruccio
Soleri (2 performances)
17 Tue.
Christa Ludwig
Rinat Choir/ Ericson
18 Wed.
19 Thu.
Compagnia Ferruccio
Soleri (2 perfor.)
The Dybbuk/Anski
Quartetto Italiano
Christa Ludwig
21 Sat.
22 Sun.
Lysistrata/ Aristophanes
Lysistrata
Quartetto Italiano
Fried
-
Vered
23 Mon. Lysistrata
24 Tue.
Quartetto Italiano
Brooks Kerr/ Jazz
Every Good Boy...
Marisa Robles/Harp
25 Wed.
Every Good Boy.../
Stoppard
Pena
-
Bonell
26 Thu.
Guitar Recital
Marisa Robles/Harp
28 Sat.
29 Sun.
30 Mon.
31 Tue.
Pena
-
Bonel
Paco Pena Flamenco Co.
London Dance
Paco Pena Flamenco Co.
London Dance
2
4
56
7
8
Thu.
Sat.
Nuova Compagnia
Inbal/Bible Seminar
Bat-Dor/Bible Seminar
London Dance/Seminar
Bathsheva/Seminar
Nuova Compagnia
Sun.
Mon.
Tue.
Wed.
Nuova Compagnia
Australian Ballet
Australian Ballet
29 Sun.
Marisa Robles/Harp
London Dance
Paco Pena
Flamenco Co.
Paco Pena Flamenco
Nuova Compagnia
Kibbutz Dance Co.
The influence of Ur, Babylon and Egypt on our early cultural
development was considerable, less so that of Greece and its Olympian
mythology, which our forebears resisted with vigour. Apollo the sun
god, Dionysos the god of wine and the arena games were foreign
to the Jewish spirit. When Antiochus of Syria attempted to Hellenize
Jerusalem by force, he provoked the Maccabean revolt. Having wiped
out of the Maccabees, Herod did impose Hellenization, and we may
Five thousand years of Mediterrgpgan civilization in
a
single festival of
music, dance and drama! Would it not have been simpler to write an
encyclopaedia, in twelve volumes?
In the introduction toKldseph and His Brethren", Thomas Mann
considers several of the stories in Genesis
—
the expulsion from the
Garden of Eden, the Flood, the Tower of Babel
-
and suggests they
were common to many peoples and cultures. His theory is supported
by the archaeologists who have shown that biblical legends had their
roots in the lore of neighbouring societies. Noah, for example, that
"just man and perfect in his generations", woiiljd appear to be none
other than Utnapishtim who figures in the ancient Mesopotamian Epic
of Gilgameslji'-hi.sstory has itsorigins in Urof the Chaldees, Abraham's
thus conjecture that performance of "Lysistrata" in the Roman
a
amphitheatre at Caesarea in July 1979 is not necessarily the play's
Caesarea premiere. It may well have been performed there long ago for
the entertainment of some Roman governor. Be that as it may,
Aristophanes' comedy, opening as it does with the Athenian women's
decision to cut down on their wifely duties and closing with the peace
birthplace. Moses listened to the One God addressing him "out of the
midst of the ijysh" and Akhnaton, king of Egypt, who rejected the
celebrations, is
a
timely salute to the peace signed by Israel and Egypt.
This most ancient example of pacifist theatre will not be presented in
the style of 411 BCE (the year of its Athenian premiere); ithas been
transposedtothebeginningofthetwentiethcentury. In another respect,
however, director Evangelitos has remained true to the Aristophanic
tradition: all the female characters are portrayed, as in the original
production, by male actors.
gods of his fathers, also prayed to one god, and wrote hymns to the
sun. It was not by chance that Thomas Mann identified as Akhnaton
the Pharaoh whose dreams were interpreted by Joseph. But if our
business is witfi the Israel Festival, let us also recall that the Roman
amphitheatre at Caesarea, where the Deutsche Oper Berlin will present
"Nabucco", an opera describing the destruction of the First Temple
The Romans used to refer to the Mediterranean as mare nostrum, "our
by Nebuchadnezzar, was built by HerodHess than
before the destruction of the Second Temple.
a
hundred years
sea." That was during
a
rare period of history when one power, to the
exclusion of all others, held sway from Gibraltar to Palestine. Nearly
2000 years later, Benjamin Disraeli strovetoestablish British hegemony
No nationcreates
cultures and unaffected by them. The Land of Israel was, from the
dawn of time, vast highway linking kingdoms, continents and
a
culture invacuo, wholly detached from surrounding
over the Mediterranean
the waves" and almost achieved his object, when he acquired for the
British government controllingshare intheSuez Canal and prevented
-
thdse were the days when "Brittania ruled
a
-
civilizations. To thesouth lay Egypt. From the north cametheAssyrians
and Babylonians, the Persians, Greeksand Romans. Abraham journeyed
to the Land of Canaan from Ur, where many of the laws written into
a
the Czar from taking control of Turkey.
No matter which nation formally controlled the Mediterranean, there
was always another powerthatthreatened thefortunes of seafarers and
the Torah were promulgated centuries before the birth of Moses. The
Philistines arrived by sea, having abandoned the great cultural centre
of Creteand, incidentally, giving the lands name, Palestine. They were
invading the coastal plain of Israel as Joshua crossed the Jordan and
shipping in the Sea: the pirates. When Goethe as young man visited
a
Italy he was warned notto sail from Naples to Sicily since those who
did so were never sure of reaching their destination and frequently
ended up in the slave markets ofTunis. Piracy enters into the story of
Rossini's "L'ltaliana in Algeri", to be performed in the Festival by
captured Jericho;
a
reminder of some of the troubles they caused our
¡¿forefathers is contained in ttle opera "Samson and Delilah," which we
were able to see not long ago in Caesarea under Zubin Mehta's direction.
The merchant cities of the Phoenicia®Tyre and Sidon, are of greater
antiquity than the Philistine towns Gaza and Ashkelon. Phoenician
ships, moreover, ruled the Mediter^iean long before the Greeks' and
it was from the Phoenicians that the Greeks learned the secrets of
glass-making and received their alphabet. Cultural as well as
commercial relations between the Phoenician cities and the kingdom
of Israel were very close in the reign of King Solomon, who imported
from Hiram, King of Tyre, cedarwdfed and gold for construction of
the Temple. Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, King of theSidonians, was
married to Ahab, King of Israel, anil brought to his capital, Samaria,
the cult of Baal and other Sidonian pastimes. It was those same
Sidonians, with their compatriots from Tyre, who built the great
north-African trading centre of Carthage, which would one day
challenge Rome's supremacy inKe Mediterranean.
Eric
’
s
PuppetCompany. Onedoubts iftheAlgerians,acrossthesea from
major contribution to their
Rossini's Italy, see in his operatic frolic
a
cultural heritage. The Algiers of the opera is as absurd as Alice's
Wonderland, though the subject of the European maiden whisked off
to the harem of an oriental despot is ever-popular with writers and
readers alike (and at least one other composer used it: Mozart in his
"Seraglio"). Rossini's treatment is not cheap sensationalism; it is pure
parody. Isabella escapes from Algiers with her lover Lindoro, after
turning the Bey's harem upside down.
Italy has an important place in this year's Festival. The commedia
del
I
'arteweare tosee is in thehands of Ferruccio Soleri and company,
who will give
a
selection ofcharacteristic pieces. Harlequin, the madcap
from Bergamo, is of course the heart of the matter and we shall have
various glimpses of his career, as he advances from humble odd-job
man to "Servant of Two Masters"; with him will appear his traditional
companions, Don Magnifico, Brighella, Columbine and Smeraldine.
In the programme to be given by the Nuova Compagnia di Canto
Populare, it is Harlequin's cousin Pulcinella who holds the centre of
the stage, though here the emphasis is not on comedy, but on song
Our neighbours, the Egyptians, accorded their kings eternal life, both
before and after death, and perpetuated their images in carvings,
sculptures and paintings. Thus v^e have
a
good idea of what some of
them looked life: Akhnaton, for example, Tutankhamen and Ramses
II. Among our own people, on the other hand, the second
commandment forbade graven i-ages and consequently no likeness
exists of David or Solomon. Yet the heroes of the Bible fertilized the
imagination of poets, artists and composers in every generation. The
world today has its likenesses of Moses and David in the sculptures of
(with authentic instruments and execution). Each song tells
a
story,
but let us not for moment confuse these songs with the Neapolitan
a
sugar-plums which Caruso and Gigli made so popular. These are the
songstheordinary folk ofNaples have sungsince thesixteenthcentury,
songs of protest and insurrection, songs about bakers and thieves and,
of course, love songs.
Michaelangelo
musical identity in the spirituals that the negro slaves sang in the
cotton fields of the southern United States. In our century the Bible
has been fruitful source of ideas for choreographers and in the
-
and gives them (and many another biblical figure)
a
We shall be given
Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini
a
taste of classical Italian opera
—
Rossini, Bellini,
—
by the celebrated Italian tenor Luciano
a
Pavarotti. And if we have mentioned opera, then we must turn to the
majoreventofthe Festival, Verdi's "Nabucco", tobe performed by the
Deutsche Oper, Berlin. Ostensibly theopera relates thestory ofthefall
International Seminar on the Bible in Dance we shall be hearing about
someofthese: Adamand Eve, Cain and Abel, David and Goliath, Ruth
the Moabitess and Job
-
from the Old Testament; and Salome, Judas
Iscariot and Miriam mother of Jfsus from the New.
of Jerusalem in 586 BCE and the destruction of the FirstTemple by
Nebuchadnezzar. It was not the historical narrative, however, that
brought "Nabucco" such resounding success and made Verdi's
a
household name throughout Italy. The Italian patriots who attended
the first performance at La Scala in 1842, were quick to associate the
plight of the Jewish exiles weeping by the rivers of Babylon with their
own situation under Austrian domination. Verdi's heart-stirring
melodies (which covered up the weaknesses of melodramatic libretto)
a
moved them to tears. When, at the end of the opera, Nebuchadnezzar
proclaims that he will rebuild the Temple, they cheered. The chorus
"Va pensiero, sull'ali dórate" became the unofficial anthem of the
Italian struggle for independence.
The Mediterranean pirates who contribute to the general merriment of
"L'ltaliana in Algeri", played
a
much more menacing role in the life of
the Spanish classicist Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Cervantes
started his career as soldier and, while on his way home from the
a
Battle of Lepanto, was taken prisoner by pirates and held for ransom
in Algiers for five years. It was after this gruelling experience that he
applied himself to writing. He began working on what became the
most celebrated of Spanish literary works, "Don Quixote", while he
was in prison. Now, in
a
happy blend of arts and cultures, "Don
Quixote" comes to the Israel Festival to be danced by the Australian
Ballet to choreography by the Russian Rudolf Nureyev.
To the best of our knowledge there were no cultural ties between
Israel and the Iberian Peninsula in the days of the First and Second
Temples. But in medieval times, popularly known as the "Dark Ages",
a
glorious chapter was written in the annals of Jewish science and
literature, not in the hostile Christian north of Spain, soon to burn
or expel its Jews, but in the tolerant Muslim Kingdom of Cordova.
In the ancient ballads of Spain, Andalusia is depicted as
Eden, the Kingdom of Cordova as land of miracles. In the tenth
century Cordova was pearl among the cities of Europe, glittering
a
Garden of
a
a
a
centre, where Jewish and Arab scholars collaborated in their study of
medicine, mathematics and philosophy. Hasdai ibn Shaprut was the
Caliph's physician and, later on, his political adviser and minister of
finance. When Cordova had fallen and Granada took its place, Shmuel
Hanagid filled similar eminent positions. The great Jewish philosopher, known as the Rambam, was born in Cordova, though he was forced to
flee Spain when the Jewish community was swept away.
As the Jewish poets had been stimulated by the landscape and
atmosphere of Andalusia, so were the gypsies who arrived there when
the flower of Muslim and Jewish civilization had long since withered.
Spokesman of Andalusian music Paco Peña will be appearing in the
Festival in the dual capacity of guitarist and director of his Flamenco
Dance Company. The company offers
a
programme of what Peña calls
"flamenco puro", as different from commercialised flamenco as chalk
from the proverbial cheese.
We have not touched uponthemusic that is to be heard in the Festival,
works from the Baroque period in Italy and France by Couperin,
Scarlatti, Frescobaldi and Vivaldi. Still, though only an encyclopaedia
could dojustice to theuntoldwealth ofculture with which the peoples
oftheMediterranean have enriched human society during five millenia,
nevertheless
a
festival of opera, ballet,theatre and music can create
a
sense of the many cultural cross-streams that were the making of
Mediterranean civilization.
THE DEUTSCHE OPER BERUH
NABUCCO
Opera in Four Acts
Music by Giuseppe Verdi,
Libretto by Temistocle Solerà
■
•
k
1
............
1
Under the Patronage of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of
Germany, His Excellency, Mr. Klaus Schuetz
July 5, 8, at 8.30 p.m., Roman Theatre, Caesarea
July 7, at 9 p.m., Roman Theatre, Caesarea
*•
1
r_
____
>
The Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra
The Deutsche Oper Berlin Chorus
Conductor Jesus Lopez Cobos
Director Gustav Rudolf Seltner
Design and Costumes Filippo Sanjust
Chorus Conductor Walter Hagen-Groll
Stage setting and technical production
Lighting and Amplifying system Zilberboim
Reuven Picarsky-Greenspan
The Cast:
Nabucco, King of Babylon Ingvar Wixell, baritone
Michail Svetlev, tenor
Bengt Rundgren/Harald Stamm, bass
Angeles Gulin, soprano
Ismaele, nephew of Zedecia, King of Jerusalem
Zaccaria, the High Priest
Abigail, slave, believed to be the eldest daughter of Nabbuco
Fenena, daughter of Nabucco Carol Wyatt, soprano
High Priest of Baal Tomislav Neralic, bass
Abdallo, old retainer of Nabucco Volker Horn, tenor
Rahel, sister of Zaccaria Yoko Numura, soprano
Pupils of the ballet school
of the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Hebrew and Babylonian soldiers, Levites, Hebrew and Babylonian
women, magicians, crowd
The opera is sung in Italian
Intermission after the third scene
BY THE RIVERS OF BABYION
Giuseppe Verdi detested any kind of publicity. He consistently refused
to be interviewed. He never responded to attacks on him in the press.
He rejected suggestions about writing his memoirs: "For fifty years
Verdi, who considered himself to have done with opera, refused even to
look at the libretto. Merelli, however, was insistent and stuffed the
thick wad of manuscript under his arm. "I came home in
depression and flung the manuscript on the table. It happened to fall
open and despite myself my attention was caught by line from the
exiles' chorus: 'Va, pensiero, sull'ali dorate' (Go, thought, on golden
wings'). read one page, then another, then remembered had decided
never to write again. went to bed, put out the light, but that chorus
gave me no peace. got up, read Solera libretto, then read it again,
knew it by heart." The sequel to this story is now
a
state of
people have put up with my music. Why should
I
now condemn them
a
to read my prose?"
Yet every rule has its exception and in 1879 Verdi's friend, the
publisher Giulio Ricordi, was permitted to write down the composer recollections ofhisearlydays in Milan. Amongthe memorieshe revived
- I
- I
s
I
I
’s
were the terrible events he lived through as
a
young family man. It is
and again. By dawn
history.
I
some forty years prior to his conversation with Ricordi and he is
working on his comic opera, "Un Giorno di Regno." He falls ill and is
unable to pay the rent. His young wife Margherita slips secretly out of
