Jewish Conversations – Dr. Grigori Pantijelew invites you to a discussion
Description
Paris, 1835. Within a month, two operas premiered that would shape the music world: Bellini's "I Puritani" and Halévy's "La Juive." Both offered the tenor a signature role. But while Bellini's Arturo revels in purest Italian bel canto, Halévy's Éléazar presents us with a puzzle. We ask the music directly: Why does the Jew Éléazar, who hates Christians, sing in the elegant Italo-French musical language of his enemies? Why does his voice lack a distinct Jewish home?
In this, the 20th round, we hear the two arias in direct comparison and discuss: Is this “assimilated voice” an artistic compromise or the actual, deeper tragedy of this opera?
Grigori Pantijelew, born in Moscow in 1958, holds a doctorate in musicology, is a conductor, and a writer. He has lived in Bremen since 1994, where he is well-known as a musician and university lecturer. For decades, he has represented the Jewish community in various committees. The idea for the "Jewish Conversations" format arose from discussions within the "Forum for the Promotion and Visibility of Jewish Life in Bremen." As moderator, Pantijelew aims to engage all listeners with humor and seriousness, drawing them into the conversation.
The 21st installment of the "Jewish Conversations" takes place on October 7th. In the last installment, we explored why Halévy's Jew in "La Juive" (1835) sings in a "French-Italian" style. Now we ask further: What happened to his singing after he left the stage? We enter the other side of the coin. We jump forward 70 years to the salons and brothels of Marcel Proust's Paris. Here, Halévy's most sublime aria, the anguished cry of the father Éléazar, becomes a cruel joke—the nickname for a Jewish prostitute named Rachel. Proust, himself the son of a Jewish mother, stages this moment. Using this single, perfect, and cruel literary gesture, we want to begin a discussion: Is this an act of Jewish self-hatred? A brilliant analysis of socially acceptable antisemitism as a highly literary dissection of customs? Or both?
Cooperation: Jewish community in the state of Bremen.
Where and when
Wed, 09/09/2026 from 17:00Free event