Real-life tragedies often become the subject of artistic renderings. Books, plays, movies, and music depict many of life’s hardest moments. However, while some tragedies such as the attack on Pearl Harbor have been explored in countless media, more recent incidents remain in a purgatory as artists ponder how soon is too soon? When are tragedies that impacted personal lives accepted into the public domain?
This question is particularly important to opera companies. Modern tragedies are a popular theme as they seek to engage audiences by commissioning and performing relevant works.
The Metropolitan Opera announced a new production and live broadcast of John Adams’ Death of Klinghoffer, depicting the 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro, as part of its 2014-2015 season. This will be the first time the Met performs this controversial opera which debuted in 1991. Klinghoffer’s controversy stems both from its recent subject matter and its portrayal of the hijackers, which has been characterized as “sympathetic.”
San Francisco Opera’s September 2011 world premiere Heart of a Soldier clearly put full support behind its protagonist Ricky Rescorla – who died on a rescue mission in the Twin Towers on 9/11. However, this work also was received tentatively as some wondered if a decade were really a sufficient caesura before bringing the national tragedy to the stage.
Some can strike the right balance such as Weinberg’s obscure The Passenger which premieres at Chicago’s Lyric next season. Inspired by true events, the opera dramatizes a chance encounter between a former Auschwitz prisoner and her prison guard years after the Holocaust. Weinberg’s friend and fellow composer Dmitri Shoshtakovich called the piece “a work that is much needed today.”
