By Yvonne Gebauer
Invited to stage Handel’s
oratorio, Claus Guth has chosen to seize the bull by the horns and question the
very notion of fatality that governs the work: “Must it really be this way?”
The myth of Jephtha deals
with the question of oaths and sacrifice. How do these themes speak to us
today?
In effect, before leaving
for battle against a neighbouring tribe, Jephtha promises God to sacrifice the
first living creature he encounters on his return. Having won the battle, the
first living thing he meets on his way back is his only daughter. Not wishing
to break his oath, he sacrifices her. At first sight, this story appears
archaic, dry and brutal, very disturbing also since, in all evidence, it stages
a human sacrifice. The reception of the work has been marked by this for
centuries and the story, which offers no explicit moral message, has been the
subject of much questioning. Is this an illustration of religious faith
misunderstood, or that of human hubris? Is Jephtha a criminal or a victim of
circumstances? It is significant that, even at this time, human sacrifice was
not common in Israel where, on the contrary, it was forbidden; it was a more
widespread practice among Israel’s enemies.
How do you interpret his
gesture?
We have chosen to narrate
part of the story's antecedents as of the overture, in order to show where
Jephtha was coming from and the burdens he had to carry during his life. What
do we know of the reasons that prompted Jephtha to make this vow? The Bible
tells us nothing on this subject … After undergoing so many setbacks, after all
those years spent isolated from the world, in utter solitude, he finds himself
in a state of euphoria, of excessive pride, of hubris. The fact that he has
been sought out, that he begins to feel that reparation might be possible,
excites a sort of megalomania in him. He believes himself to be in a position
to negotiate with God, offering to sacrifice a human life in exchange for his
help in securing a victory.
How have you compensated
for the Bible’s omissions?
We have drawn on the novel
Jefta und siene Tochter (Jephtha and his daughter) by Lion Feuchtwanger, a work
that delves into the historic sources whilst opening up an imaginative
dimension within the narrative. In it one learns something absolutely essential
to the story: Jephtha is illegitimate, a marginal, an underdog whose family
history reveals some important incidents. At the point at which the oratorio
begins, many things have already taken place: Galaad, his father and a
celebrated judge, had three sons (in Handel, there are two) only two of whom
are legitimate, Jephtha, the youngest, being the son of a prostitute. He is,
nevertheless, his father’s favourite; but when his father dies, Jephtha is
disinherited and denied succession to the position of judge. His family casts
him aside. He has to leave his homeland and seek refuge in the desert where he
remains for eighteen years.
Handel’s oratorio deviates
from the myth…
Yes. The end of the Bible
story is brutal and shocking and shows Iphis sacrificed by her father. When the
work was first performed, such an ending was unthinkable for an oratorio: so an
angel appears, saving Iphis’s life before the sacrifice can take place. This
raises questions for us about the reasons for this deliverance. The appearance
of the angel is without doubt the librettist’s most interesting modification of
the biblical narrative. We have taken this angel very seriously and completely
literally, but we also asked ourselves the following question: in what state of
delirium must one be to see a vision of an angel? What is the psychological
state of those about to witness the appearance of an angel or the performing of
a miracle?
https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/magazine/refusing-the-end
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