Dramaturgie im zeitgenössischen Tanz ist ? positiv gemeint ? ein heißes Eisen. Idealerweise sind Dramaturginnen und Dramaturgen während der Erarbeitung eines Stücks die besten Freunde der Choreografen.
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Director Milos Forman fumes over the decision to cancel the Mozart opera "Idomeneo" in Berlin: if we really want 100% security, we should move to North Korea. The FAZ opens a new chapter on the Günter Grass debate, revealing further hypocrisy in the author's past. High praise is sung of Saul Friedländer's comprehensive and differentiated history of the Holocaust. And Henning Mankell is anything but surprised by the success of the far right in Sweden's most recent elections.
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Navid Kermani bemoans the intellectual decrepitude of orthodox Islam: most Swiss village parishes can do better! And the cancellation of Mozart's "Idomeneo", where the heads of Jesus, Buddha, Poseidon and Muhammad all roll, continues to excite opinion. For the FR, the Deutsche Oper has renounced its historic mission. The NZZ reveals how Berlin's interior minister had a hand in the cancellation, while SZ prints the Criminal Investigation Office's assessment of just what the risk was.
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Much to do about "Idomeneo". The decision by Berlin's Deutsche Oper to strike the Mozart opera from its programme for fear of violent reprisals from the Islamic community has unleashed a storm of protest in the feuilletons. What has become of Germany's famed state-subsidised cultural courage? The opera house's decision meets with little understanding and much outrage. Fortuitously coincident with the uproar is a conference on Islam in Germany, which opens today in Berlin.
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Freed from the rules of Dogma, Lars von Trier's newest film now obeys the computer generated dictates of Automavision. The German premiere of Hans Werner Henze's opera "Upupa and the Triumph of Filial Love" delights with glockenspiel tones. And there's a musical shower of potatoes, meat grinders and dentures at the opening of the Steirischer Herbst festival in Graz.
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The NZZ reports on a charged debate over Koranic interpretations in Egypt as well as the secret service's presence behind every international invitation extended to Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo. Ayaan Hirsi Ali's latest book is a must-read for anyone working on immigration policy, the music trade fair Popkomm proves the theory of long tail economies and Michael Thalheimer's staging of Oresteia is bloody good.
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V.S. Naipaul celebrates the achievements of the Empire. Palm-winning Chinese director Jia Zhangke tells how he got "Still Life" past the censors. Author Walter Kempowski says Grass should have kept his mouth shut. And an obituary for cameraman Sven Nykvist tells of the obsession he shared with Ingmar Bergman for dangerous, dead, misty, sallow light.
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György Konrad defends Ferenc Gyurcsany, a responsible Hungarian politician. Abdelwahab Meddeb looks to Turkey for hope. The Raqs Media Collective talk about their letters from the anciant Indian seer Vyasa. Die Welt talks to the world's slowest writer. And Die Zeit decries slipper-wearing on the path to operatic bliss.
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The FAZ analyses the rise of male bonding and the extreme right in the East German provinces. Hungarian author György Dalos writes that what sets the current riots in Budapest apart from 1956 is democracy. Indian writer Shashi Tharoor tells why English beats other Indian languages in expressing India's diversity. And Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream recalls the chaos of playing in the GDR.
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Finnish remixer Jimi Tenor tells why parental protectiveness has prompted him to plunder the classics. The FAZ portrays the square peg of an Islamic TV preacher, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Conductor Kent Nagano enthuses about intense silent communication. And the SZ picks at the salmagundi of marginalia at the 46th German Historians' Conference.
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The SZ compares Benedict XVI's approach to inter-religious dialogue with that of his predecessor. The FAZ focusses on the martial-imperialist strains in Islam. Indian writer Vikram Chandra explains how the Indian economic ideal has bred corruption. Moscow gallerist Marat Guelman is a fine example of the marriage of aesthetics and politics in Russia. And Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz divulges the trick for writing good literature.
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With respect to China's Mao cult, the NZZ speculates about how we would feel if Germany tried to capitalise on Hitler trinkets. Die Welt reminds us that literature in India is only to be enjoyed by a narrow literate minority. The FAZ advises Günter Grass to admit doubt. And it seems that Michel Houellebecq applied a fictional touch to his own biography: he's two years older than he's always claimed, his mother is in fact alive and he was born a banal Michel Thomas.
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As "Perfume" the movie hits the screens, the FAZ defends all the close-up nose shots: you don't shoot a porno without sexual organs. And director Tom Tykwer responds to critics: "The book doesn't smell either." Iraqi writer Khalid Al-Maaly accuses Arab intellectuals of duplicity. And Die Zeit looks critically at swarm intelligence and the digital future.
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The papers pay tribute to Joachim Fest, former FAZ publisher and embodiment of post-war bourgeois conservatism, who died on Monday. Die Welt reflects on the mixed legacy of rapper Tupac Shakur, who was murdered a decade ago. The NZZ reports that Manhattan is losing its demographic heart. And painter Neo Rauch celebrates the loss of embarassment that comes with age.
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For all its snuffling, sniffing and snorting, Tom Tykwer's film version of Patrick Süskind's "Perfume" fails to convey the aromas of the novel. Martin Pollack's anthology "Sarmatian Landscapes" takes a fresh look at the former freedom-loving Sarmatian republic. Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Wiener Philharmoniker have put the right time signatures back into Mozart's E flat major symphony. And the pop star Pope gets prime time on the public broadcasters.
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In Venice, there's a haunting, sensual look at cities at the architecture Biennale and a thoroughly satisfying close to the film festival there. In Düsseldorf, there's a fantastic exhibition of Caravaggio, the murdering artistic genius. Nobel Prize winning author Gao Xingjian talks about why he collaborated with China's communist regime. And the fifth anniversary of 9/11 prompts reflections about the changed world of pictures and identities in which we live.
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Historian Tony Judt laments that liberalism has become a dirty word. New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman laments that Europeans are so hard to fire. Die Welt celebrates the restoration of the giant cinematic advert for Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier". The NZZ explains how hotel journalism functions in Iraq. And Swedish publisher Svante Weyler wonders why the Swedes even bother voting.
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Conductor Daniel Barenboim warns Israel against only playing the American card. Ayaan Hirsi Ali issues a wake-up call to European govermnents. Die Zeit has discovered the secret avant-garde of world cinema in Venice. Iraqi writer Najem Wali points to the refusal of the Arab media to discuss Wahabist fundamentalism. And filmmaker Valeska Griesebach enthuses about the moment when people come alive.
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For literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki, the engagement to write is all the engagement a writer needs. Kurdish singer Sivan Perwer says his songs are the truth and nothing but the truth. Valeska Grisebach's Brandenburg tragedy "Longing" hits the screens tomorrow. And the SZ celebrates the memoirs of Hitler biographer Joachim Fest, in a land of moral Kaspar Hausers.
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A biography of Atatürk's wife is the latest book to incite wrath and legal action in Turkey. Heinz Spoerli's new ballet "moZART" suggests that the Austrian composer is too tender a flower for today's hectic world. Moscow's "Patriarch" high-class apartment block confounds the senses, but apparently not its inhabitants, with its pre-Soviet style jamming. Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang is sending off sparks in Berlin. And John Banville's Booker Prize winning novel has sent the NZZ into liquid rapture.
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Die Zeit assesses the mysterious statements made by Iranian dissident philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo after 4 months in prison. Lawyer and feminist Seyran Ates tells why she threw in the towel. Filmmaker Tom Tykwer explains his fascination with Grenouille in Patrick Süskind's "Perfume". And for the NZZ, the excitement surrounding the "Midsummer Night's Dream" mash-up in Greece was ouzo-induced.
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As a media revolution starts with Google Books, Mauritius establishes itself as Cyber Island. Polish author Pawel Huelle sees opportunism in the Polish reaction of disgrace with Günter Grass. Belgian artist Francis Alys talks about the Latin American condition of being not quite there. And the Mafia in Palermo has become a role model for the young.
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