Moses and Aaron

Fascinating cinematic realization of Schoenberg's problematic masterpiece
Arnold Schoenberg admitted that his stage direction was unrealizable and gave up any hope of seeing the opera staged. After all, where are we going to find an illusionist-tenor who can perform three biblical miracles on stage? How about staging Four Naked Virgins copulating with the Golden Calf? Even though I generally prefer opera staged instead of filmed, in this case the film version at least has a legitimate claim as a viable alternative. This alternative is here brilliantly realized by the legendary filmmaking duo Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet.

Anyone who knows anything about this duo's films will notice their signature characteristics here: frequent long and immobile shots, rigid and "geometric" camera movements, rigorous and intellectual style etc.. This is not a film for entertainment, nor was it intended to be. For example, even the orgy scene is shot from a certain emotional distance, composed with stylized movements and frames. This austere...

ONE CINEMATIC ANSWER TO SCHOEBERG'S QUESTION
I had an opportunity to view this film of Schoenberg's elusive and problematic opera on a theatre screen way back in the late 1970s. As an undergrad music student, I took it upon myself to attend the Art Institute of Chicagos series of opera on film, and this was one of the offerings. Unfamiliar with both the opera and its music, I recall this as being an alien experience, one that would require a second hearing/viewing. The recording used as the soundtrack was released on records/CDs (on Phillips) and I was able to better acquaint myself with Schoenberg's score. My memory of the film is less acute, but I remember the visual approach as minimalist, timeless in a Pasolini-type mode, and with very little movement, perhaps the better to call more attention to the complicated score rather than opulent visuals (the director could have gone "crazy" in depicting the golden calf orgy, but that is avoided). This is usually NOT the approach of opera on film (rather than a filmed staged...

Beware!
I hope that this DVD edition might solve a problem that haunts every single presentation of this movie: it is pitched almost a 4th above of the original opera pitch!
Even for listeners with no perfect pitch, the experience of G. Reich voice sounding like a tenor would be a frustrating one!

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