Verdi, War, 2023

This Week in Classical Music: October 8, 2023. Verdi, War. Today is the 210^th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth, but we’re not in the mood to celebrate it: it seems inappropriate with the Menorah war raging in Israel and Gaza after the Hamas barbaric terrorist attack. There are many trite sayings about the power of music to heal, to make peace, but they all seem shallow in comparison to the news of civilians being killed in cold blood or the horror of the Israeli kids being abducted by Hamas into Gaza. If anything, throughout history music has been used to make war, from military bands leading troops into battle to Nazis using it in concentration camps. (And no, the Ride of the Valkyries wasn’t used in Vietnam by the US helicopter pilots, it was Francis Ford Coppola’s brilliant invention).

We thought of maybe using parts of Verdi’s Requiem or the famous chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, Va', pensiero (Fly, my thoughts), from his opera Nabucco, but that didn’t feel right either. So we’ll leave it at that.

Two great pianists were also born this week, Evgeny Kissin, who’ll turn 52 tomorrow, and Gary Graffman, who will celebrate his 95^th birthday on the 14^th of October. Both are Jewish; Kissin was born in Russia (then the Soviet Union), Graffman’s parents came from Russia. Hamas, if they could, would like to kill all Jews, no matter where they live. And they would definitely not spare musicians.