The Death of Klinghoffer: A Multicutural Opera Part 1

The Death of Klinghoffer is a multicultural opera through and through. This can be seen on a variety of levels. First, the overall plot of the work: on an Italian cruise liner in the Mediterranean, Palestinians hijack the ship and kill a Jewish prisoner. Here, the century old struggle between Jew and Palestinian climaxes aboard a ship of another ethnicity.

In addition, there are other ethnicities on board who witness this entire struggle between Jew and Palestinian. Of all the arias in the first act, the nations of Switzerland, Italy, and Austria are represented in this struggle between Palestinian and Jew.

Also contributing to the tense nature of the plot, Adams writing is also very tense and dramatic. In his youth, Adams was regarded primarily as a minimalist composer. While his writing cannot and should not be lumped into the category of minimalism, much of it does retain and utilize minimalistic traits.

Here, Adams uses the driving motor like rhythms generated by minimalism as a way to build tension. This is very evident in the Chorus of the Exiled Palestinians. It opens quietly, but continues to build to a fierce climax. Throughout the duration of this first act, Adams uses driving rhythms at all dynamic levels, so even though the music itself might not sound openly dramatic or intense at every single moments, always present is the driving rhythm. Symbolically, one could view this as meaning that even though a brief respite may have been arrived at, the main issue is lurking, ready to make itself prominent once again.

Combined with the content of the first act (and as will be examined next week the second act), there is little optimism in this piece. In addition, as the work progresses, the focal point of the conflict narrows until finally it is between Jew and Palestinian, climaxing in Klinghoffer's death.

This first act is a piece of music that is highly relevant to our country today (the second act is also relevant, but for different reasons, which, when combined with the first act, makes this opera one of tremendous relevance today.) It is because it shows how the struggles of just two nations can affect the nations of the world.The issues raised by The Death of Klinghoffer are by no means fun to deal with. They affect everyone directly and likewise must be dealt with (personally, I am a fundamentalist Baptist and I have my own beliefs on the situation, which I would like to emphasize they are my personal beliefs and that I will not take issue with anyone who wishes to disagree with me, since they, just like I, am entitled to a different opinion.) We do not live in a world that is so large that one can go someplace and not be affected by the problems at large. Instead, we must be willing to accept that fact that the entire world we live in is a place of trouble, and it has been that way for all of history.

With that, we will look at the second act next week.