Musical Epitaph
On September 13 the National Opera hosted a soiree commemorating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America.
This concert could be described as a baton passed in a mournful relay race started by the chamber choir in Seattle and joined in on all continents as the first chords of Mozart’s Requiem sounded at 8:45 New York time. Before the rendition, Maestro Vladimir Spivakov told his story.
“September 11 was a bright day in Paris, as I rehearsed Richard Strauss’ Songs with the celebrated US singer Jessie Norman at the Chatle Theater. No one had any inkling of what would happen only a few hours later. We had hardly finished rehearsing when the director’s secretary walked in, looking alarmed, and asked me to join him at his study. The television was on with a news release about what had happened in New York. Only minutes earlier we had been in paradise and now, watching the screen, we were in living hell. Jessie Norman gripped my arm and wept, ‘It’s my country, my people, my heart, my soul!’ At that moment I felt so very close to her... After the tragedy the world has changed. It has become small. April 26, 1986, and September 11, 2001, are black spots on the face of mankind. And so the words opening this concert will be from the prayer, Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.”
Then the audience was captivated by Mozart’s eternal music. For the first time the Kyiv Opera saw and heard the Russian National Symphony Orchestra, directed by Vladimir Spivakov, and soloists Janice Chandler (US lyrical soprano), Elsa Maurus (French mezzo soprano), Robert Lee (South Korean tenor), Desmonde Byrn (Canadian bass baritone), and the National Opera’s choir directed by Lev Venediktov – all perform together.
Present in the audience was practically the entire Ukrainian political beau monde, including President Leonid Kuchma with the family, Premier Anatoly Kinakh with Mrs. Kinakh, people’s deputies, the business elite, heads of diplomatic missions, and prominent figures of culture and the arts. They all held their breath, taking in the magical music, and gave the performers a standing ovation in the end. And when Maestro Spivakov waved his baton for an encore of Part VI of the Requiem and the huge screen above came alive with scenes of the New York tragedy, now world history, many women in the audience wept with men turning away to hide the tears.
During the intermission, Mykhailo Reznykov, artistic director of the Lesia Ukrainka Russian Drama Theater, stressed, “A wonderful evening! They say that every moment of the present is a moment of eternity. It is an artist’s task to make such a moment. Spivakov and his orchestra, soloists, and the Ukrainian choir did just that. A great job!”
Hobart Earl, director of the Odesa National Philharmonic, could not hide his excitement: “The music said it all. For me the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington divided life into before and after the tragedy. On that fateful day I was rehearsing Dvorak’s From the New World, the best-known Slavic composition written in Manhattan. Thanks to CNN, we learned about the tragedy and could watch everything live. Looking at the screen, I thought it was not breaking news but scenes from a disaster movie. Thousands of people were dying because of political ambitions and religious fanaticism. We were actually on the verge of a world war. After the terrorist attack all countries went on alert status. This concert is a tribute to the September 11 victims. We have all been taught a lesson; now we know that evil can be overcome only by joining hands.”
Mykhailo Stepanchenko, chairman of the Union of Composers of Ukraine added, “This wonderful music united one and all. We paid tribute to all who died because of man’s thoughtlessness, intolerance, and pettiness. The US tragedy is a lesson taught the entire human race, that terror is a blind valley. Music has no language barriers and allows access to the very human soul. In the eighteenth century Mozart created an ideal with his Requiem, which we should do our best to approach. His music, tragic and lyrical, human and divine, shows what our world should be like. Mozart’s Requiem is a model of human relations the world over.”
Lev Venediktov, senior choirmaster of the National Opera of Ukraine, said that the singers enjoyed working with Vladimir Spivakov. “We mastered the Requiem in just ten days, two joint rehearsals and then we were on stage. Spivakov is a very subtle musician, his intonational orientation is that of a violinist. It’s very easy working with him. Spivakov knows exactly what he wants from the musicians and singers. Also, his approach to Mozart is untraditional in many ways, yet the maestro convinced the performers that it was an effective one. John Reed wrote Ten Days that Shook the World. For us it was ten days that shook our minds with great music. The choir has performed requiems by Bach and Verdi, and now we have this magnificent Mozart composition in our repertoire.
“September 11 is a very tragic date for me. I fought during World War II, from 1941 till 1945. We knew then who the enemy was. Now thousands of people died in peacetime. It is very important to prevent a repetition of the tragedy.”
Before the second part of the concert, US Ambassador Carlos Pascual stressed that the concert was a triumph of the human spirit. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton addressed the Kyiv audience via a space bridge.
Mayor Bloomberg said that everybody is forever linked by memories of the terrorist attack that claimed so many innocent lives that day, that the Americans are supported by the goodwill of people in various countries, and that they are rebuilding the city and reviving their spirit with such support. The memorial concert, stressed the mayor, is a powerful message addressing international solidarity.
Mr. Clinton said that the universal support shown by Ukrainians had special meaning for Americans; that the Ukrainians had their own experience in getting over the global catastrophe of Chornobyl. During his presidency both countries began to establish contacts. Now as never before everybody is aware of the fragility of the human race. This understanding brings both countries closer together. Mr. Clinton thanked President Kuchma and the Ukrainian people for the memorial soiree and asked permission to call the concert a holiday of united human spirit, which everybody could only welcome, and of the friendly relations between the two countries.
Maestro Spivakov stressed that he had chosen Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker for the second part of the concert, so the audience could return to their childhood and its fairy-tale world, even if for several moments, to see good get the better of evil. In response to encores, the orchestra performed Alfred Schnitke’s Adagio, Khachaturian’s waltz from Masquerade, and John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever.
President Leonid Kuchma thanked the performers, saying their music helped express Ukraine’s sympathy to the American people. “During World War II, the world united against Nazism by forming the anti-Hitler coalition,” he noted, “and today the world is united because everybody has become aware of this threat to the very existence of mankind. We would very much like to be united not only by our belief in a happy future, but also by hope and by love.” He also gave a present to the American people to commemorate the concert-requiem, The Eyes of the World, a canvas by Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Postupny. In the end, Vladimir Spivakov played the violin solo in Tomaso Albinoni’s Prayer for All and then said, “I’m sure that all of us – those onstage and in the audience – will remember this concert long afterward. We have come a bit closer to the idea that all mankind is one person.”
