Fearing Islamic reaction, Germans silence an opera

BERLIN -- One of Germany's foremost opera houses has abruptly canceled a modern production of Mozart's ``Idomeneo" because of fears of a violent reaction to a scene showing the severed head of the Prophet Mohammed.

The cancellation, at the urging of security officials, triggered a furious debate over freedom of expression. Muslim groups in Germany voiced satisfaction with the decision, while leading politicians and artists called it a cowardly surrender to religious extremists.

``This is crazy," Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told reporters yesterday during an official visit to Washington. ``This is unacceptable."

The cancellation comes three weeks after Pope Benedict XVI ignited anger across the Islamic world by quoting from a medieval text that branded certain teachings of Mohammed as ``evil and inhuman." The pontiff's remarks were made during a lecture at a university in his native Germany.

The controversial contemporary version of Mozart's 225-year-old classic, which was to have opened for its third season at Berlin's Deutsche Oper in November, includes a scene in which King Idomeneo, the protagonist, lurches around the stage near the severed heads of Mohammed, Jesus Christ, Buddha, and Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the sea.

The staging, a modern modification made by stage director Hans Neuenfels, has been interpreted to mean that God is dead and that humanity no longer need rely on divine guidance. Mozart's ``Idomeneo" was first presented in Germany in 1781, and featured only Poseidon. The addition of Mohammed, Jesus, and Buddha were made by the German stage director to emphasize the modernity of Mozart's message.

In the two previous seasons, some Christian and Muslim groups expressed anger at the production.

The decision to cancel was made late Monday. In August, German security officials had quietly warned the opera house that the production posed an ``incalculable" risk to patrons and performers, according to Kirsten Harms, director of Deutsche Oper.

There was no specific threat of attack from Islamic radical groups, German government officials said last night.

The advice given by security officials reflects the unease in Europe following massive rioting by Muslims in France last year; deadly protests across the Muslim world and in Islamic communities in Europe sparked by political cartoons depicting Mohammed; and a series of terrorist plots, thwarted by intelligence officials, involving Muslim radicals in Britain, Germany, and Denmark.

``This is a protective reaction, indicative of the times we live in," said an Interior Ministry official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists on the matter. ``Terror can hit a Berlin opera house as readily as a New York skyscraper. This is reality for the Western world."

Officials seemed to be contradicting one another, as antiterror investigators urged Deutsch Oper to stop the production while their political superiors, apparently caught off guard and outraged by the move, immediately condemned the cancellation of a work revered by many German opera fans.

In a statement, the opera house said it was particularly alarmed by violent Islamic reaction this year to cartoons of Mohammed that appeared in a Danish newspaper.

``We know the consequences of the conflict over the caricatures," the opera house said in a written statement. ``We believe that needs to be taken very seriously."

Neuenfels raged against the decision, telling German reporters that cancellation of the opera represented abject surrender to ``some hypothetical anticipated reaction of some berserk consumers. [It] is acceptance of blackmail."

Harms said Deutsche Oper was simply acting prudently.

``If I were to ignore this and say, `We are going to stage this nevertheless,' and something were to happen, then everyone would say, `She ignored the warning of security officials,' " Harms said at a news conference in Berlin. ``They would be right."

That stance received support from Berlin Police Chief Dieter Glietsch, who said it was a good idea to remove any sources of friction ``in a climate that's already tense between Islam and the Western world."

But Wolfgang Thierse, deputy speaker of Germany's Parliament, called the cancellation of the opera a blow to free artistic expression, a fundamental Western value. ``This is a very dangerous sign of fears of violence motivated by Islam," he told reporters. ``What will come next?"

About 3.2 million Muslims live in Germany, which has a total population of 82 million. Terrorism fears rose in July when assailants placed bombs on two regional passenger trains, but the devices failed to explode. Two Lebanese-born students have been arrested in the case.

By coincidence, cancellation of the opera precedes today's long-touted conference between top German government ministers and leaders of the Islamic community to discuss ways of improving dialogue.

``We'll be talking to German Muslims over issues of coexistence," said Schäuble in an online interview with Der Spiegel magazine. ``We want to avoid a clash of cultures."

The Austrian-born Mozart is beloved almost as a native son by Germans.

Deutsche Oper announced that it will replace the composer's ``Idomeneo" with conventional productions of ``The Marriage of Figaro" and ``La Traviata" for the fall lineup of operas.