“Run for revenge!” Brussels on Boxing Day
Source: dpa
In Belgium, an opera performance once led to a revolution. This failed to materialize when 15,000 protested for the opening of theaters and cinemas and some venues simply invited to performances despite the ban. However, the situation has only eased a little for Belgian culture.
Einst led an opera performance to the revolution. In the end a new state was born. It happened in 1830 at the Theater de La Monnaie in Brussels during a festival performance on the birthday of the Dutch monarch. When the rebellious Neapolitan fisherman Masaniello “Run for vengeance! The guns, the fire! That our vigilance put an end to our suffering! ”Sang, the audience rose and also answered with“ To arms ”. They didn’t wait for the volcanic eruption at the end of the piece, they preferred to unleash a political earthquake outside. This is how Belgium came into being.
This is of course still a highly fragile state as an eternal balancing act between Francophone and Flemish parts of the country. And in the corona pandemic, the culture was subject to particularly severe restrictions. Even in autumn, which is relaxed everywhere else in Europe, a visit to the Monnaie with separate entrances, treadmills, fresh masks for everyone, strict temperature measurements and controls was like going to the epidemic intensive care unit. In mid-December, the number of visitors was limited to 200 everywhere, and on December 22nd, all cultural activities were stopped from now on – even against the advice of scientific experts.
And what did the Belgians do? They took to the streets for the culture! Up to 15,000 protesters gathered at a central demonstration, even more unusual: A type of civil disobedience was rehearsed, but numerous theaters, cinemas and concert halls opened on the Christmas holidays anyway. And the authorities did not even think about pursuing and punishing this. Because that way you could wipe out the prescribers in a different language right away.
It doesn’t work with just 200 spectators
Before it could become a conflagration, one had an understanding. An urgent application submitted by several cultural institutions to the Belgian State Council on Tuesday to withdraw the measures in view of the falling number of infections was approved. The culture is allowed to reopen, but is still limited to 200 spectators per hall. For the small theaters and the cinemas a hardly to be enjoyed Pyrrhic victory, because this utilization is unprofitable for them. And so they also demand solidarity from state-supported institutions.
They want and will open again. But only when they can. Because New Year’s Eve is definitely spoiled for opera lovers. The country’s three music theaters in Brussels, Antwerp / Ghent and Liège are stagione stages, not repertoire houses where you can quickly improvise something with the staff. All of them sent their singers home and dismantled the backdrops. So no more “Norma” in Brussels, no more Rossini “Otello” in Liège. Only the Opera Vlaanderen can play their “Bohème”, which has already been sold in Antwerp, regularly in January in Ghent.
The danger of anarchy seems to have been averted. And in Germany? You don’t have to expect any protest “walks” from this sector at least. Everyone is happy that at least the lock didn’t have to be closed at the end of the year.
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