Czech politicians have voiced their discomfort at the National Theater’s decision to cancel a performance of Tchaikovsky’s opera, “Cherevichki.”
Confronting the Czech Minister of Culture Martin Baxa, the ANO movement MP Ivana Mádlová questioned the extent to which Russian culture will be canceled in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Are we going to get rid of the books by Russian classics Dostoevsky, Pushkin, or Gogol? Will we destroy the pictures of Russian realists?” Mádlová asked the government minister on Thursday.
The cancellation of the opera piece in Czechia comes after a wave of anti-Russian sentiment gripped a number of Western countries, which has resulted in a Russian orchestra conductor being fired in Munich, a course on the famed Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky being canceled at an Italian university, and platforms like Facebook relaxing its rules to allow Russians to be threatened with death in a number of countries — just to name a few examples.
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The Czech MP said she was also interested in whether the 1964 Russian communist fantasy film “Jack Frost” (Morozko), which is enormously popular in Czechia, will also be banned.
The ANO politician began her argument by expressing her unequivocal agreement that Russian President Vladimir Putin is the aggressor in the conflict in Ukraine, and supported the Chamber of Deputies resolution that expresses this standpoint.
“However, minister, I never thought that we would punish Russian artists of the second half of the 19th century, who are so precious to the whole world and have nothing to do with Putin’s war aggression, for Putin’s actions, and apply the principle of collective guilt,” Mádlová explained.
“Is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the author of the world-famous ballets Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty, to pay for Putin’s war aggression today?” Mádlová asked the culture minister.
Culture minister would decide differently but supports the National Theater right to operate how it sees fit
According to Baxa, though, the decision of the National Theater is completely legitimate, and it is up to the National Theater which works will or will not be performed. He explained that it is not for the government to intervene in the affairs of a private institution.
“The National Theater has joined the call to support Ukraine. For this reason, among other things, it decided not to perform Petr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera Cherevichki, which it planned to perform next season,” Baxa explained.
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“It did so mainly because the opera is set in the time of Catherine the Great, and there are choral scenes in the libretto that celebrate the Empress. They highlight the invincibility of the Russian imperialist army and the all-embracing size of Tsarist Russia,” said Minister Baxa.
“The decision of the National Theater does not mean an a priori rejection of Russian art, much less Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. His ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker remain in the repertoire. In January 2023, the theater will present works by other important Russian authors,” the minister added.
“Personally, I would decide differently if I were in the position of the National Theatre literary manager. On the other hand, I understand that decision-making was not easy, and there are arguments supporting the decision. We can probably imagine what the audience’s reaction to the scenes of the great Russian empire could be due to the situation in Ukraine,” said Baxa.
However, Mádlová was not satisfied with his answer.
“Do you think that the Jack Frost (Morozko) movie, which is broadcast every year, will be on some blacklist? That it will be banned?” Mádlová continued to ask about the Russian fantasy film, which is a traditional part of the Christmas television program in Czechia.
“It’s an absurd question what I think of the Jack Frost movie. Of course, I have the answer to this question in my mind, but as Minister of Culture, I cannot answer this,” Baxa replied.
