Score and war

With Israel and Palestine in the news, we revisit Zubin Mehta's autobiography and excerpt from his writings on the conflict

With Israel and Palestine in the news, we revisit Zubin Mehta's autobiography and excerpt from his writings on the conflict

MUMBAI-BORN Zubin Mehta, one of the most famous music conductors in the world, goes where his music takes him. This is to all parts of the world including Israel, the country with which he shares a special and significant relationship. He is the music director for life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mehta talks about this in his autobiography, The Score of My Life: Zubin Mehta. Mehta writes in Chapter 6: Another Love Story: The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, that he was re-invited by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra two years after his first stint with them in 1961. In those days, Mehta says that he had a deeply apolitical attitude and did not really know too much about Israel's peculiar geopolitical situation. Yet, that changed quickly after his association with the Israel Philharmonic and he now actually describes

Tel Aviv as his spiritual home. Mehta also believes though that he is critical of the place when needed and from his earlier apolitical stance he now does take a stand politically whenever it seems crucial to do so.u00a0u00a0
Music and politics are intertwined as Zubin Mehta discovered, most importantly in Israel. Mehta, in his book, touches on the Israel-Arab war in the '60s, the Israel and Holocaust survivor memories, the Palestinian-Israeli equation and German-Jews in a new world. In the end, these are stories about time that heals some wounds and some wounds that never heal over time. His anecdotes find resonance today, as bombs and rockets continue their death dance in Gaza and Israel. This is the personal and the political, from Zubin Mehta, a global citizen who hopes the pen can change something just as the baton does, even if it is for only a short time.u00a0u00a0u00a0
Excerpts from The Score of My Life: Zubin Mehta, published by Roli Books.

Israel Encircled: 1967

In May 1967 there was a sharp escalation in the Middle East crisis. Egypt, Jordan and Syria concentrated a massive contingent of troops on their respective borders and blocked access to the port of Eilat, which was extremely important. Israel was practically encircled by Arab armies, who were allied with each other through various military pacts and felt threatened. The Six-Day War began on June 5 with a pre-emptive strike by the Israeli Air Force on the Egyptian airfields outside Cairo. The Egyptian airfields were practically destroyed before a single plane had taken off. The prevailing international opinion was completely in favour of Israel. They then went on to destroy the armies of its neighbours in a matter of six days.

To go or not to go that is the question: Israel goes to Berlin:

Another major event was the Israel Philharmonic's first visit to Berlin in 1971 during our major European tour. It was discussed with the members of the orchestra and among the three-member governing board whether a concert tour of Germany was possible at all. There were simply too many bad memories and objections, and too many sentiments came up in the course of the discussion. Some of the musicians had a really hard time dealing with the idea. They could not forget their personal experiences, nor suppress the memories of the suffering of their family members and friends. Could they really go to a country, which was responsible for the Holocaust? The discussion took a very emotional turn with strong arguments in favour and against. Eventually we decided to do it as a sign of understanding and reconciliation.

With the passage of years the relations between the Berlin Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic also normalized to such an extent that the former could visit Israel with Daniel Barenboim. As long as Karajan was the chief conductor in Berlin such a visit was unthinkable; because of his past affiliation with the Nazi party.

Back then both Barenboim and I were occasionally asked to give a guest performance in Israel with the orchestra. However, we could never accept this invitation. After Karajan's era there was no reason to oppose a musical exchange and the orchestra came to Israel. Daniel conducted all of Brahms's symphonies and at the final concert I led a performance by the two orchestras together. Before the break the Berliners and Israelis each accompanied an Israeli clarinetist (Sharon Kam) and a German violinist (Vivianne Hagner) respectively.

In the second half the two orchestras together performed Maurice Ravel's La Valse and Beethoven's 5th Symphony. This concert together was naturally supposed to be symbolic and the audience reacted with great enthusiasm as they had done the previous evenings for Daniel. It was intended as a sign of reconciliation and corresponded to my credo completely: we gave the audience a chance to forget their needs and their conflicts at least for a couple of hours.

Music brings them together: Arabs-Israelis in concert: October 2004

There are many promising projects worth supporting. If I cannot pursue them as fully as I want to, it is only because of the limited time at my disposal. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra founded by Edward Said, a Palestinian, and David Barenboim, an Israeli, is one such project that has become famous worldwide. It aims to enable and facilitate an Arab-Jewish dialogue, at least in the field of music. Besides, there are also other small projects, which are quietly growing and, to some extent, also thriving. I support a project called The Israeli Music Celebration/Tempus Fugit - a biennale for contemporary music during which members of the Israel Philharmonic and young Arab musicians and singers perform together. We need to do everything possible to overcome differences and promote mutual understanding. This is the only way to progress in spite of all the supposed political and historical obstacles.

In October 2004, I went to the music school in Ramallah, which is funded by the Barenboim-Said Foundation at the invitation of Dr Mustafa Barguti, a Palestinian doctor. I wanted to look at projects, which could be further developed with the help of the internationally renowned Dr Barguti. I also hoped to get an impression of the living conditions there. I was actually able to see first hand a lot the oppression that people there constantly live under.

During that visit I also concocted the children's orchestra connected to the above mentioned foundation. I wish that the musicians of the Israel Philharmonic could have accompanied me there. Perhaps it would have helped both sides in understanding each other better. Unfortunately Israelis are not allowed to travel to the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. It is rather impressive that the enthusiasm, interest and courage never slackens despite the rather deplorable living conditions. On the evening after this visit, it was difficult for me to detach myself from the images and impressions of the day while I was conducting a gala for the American friends and patrons of the Israel Philharmonic in Tel Aviv.

All men will be brothers: July 2000

There is probably no other country where the differences are so sharply contoured and adhered to so rigidly as in Israel. I do not mean only the political differences but also the social differences. I have to react to this phenomenon with the orchestra if we do not want to end up ignoring the realities and facilitating the enjoyment of art only for the small social elite. We gave a concert with Beethoven's 9th Symphony in July 2005 in a kibbutz near Nazareth in the north of Israel. Apart from the approximately 2000 Israelis from neighbouring kibbutzim we also sold tickets to around 400 Arabs. Obviously the acoustic conditions were miserable but it pleased me to see Arabs and Jews sitting together again. Unfortunately this does not happen very often in Israel. Whilst performing the last part of the symphony I could only pray that the Jews and Arabs present might take to heart the words of the German poet Friedrich Schiller - 'all men will be brothers'. I believe that feelings of hatred can be overcome at least for a short while with such concerts since music and hatred necessarily rule each other out. And if this is true then a lot will have been achieved.

Both sides of the coin: Walls and shelling; before 2009

Israel occupies a very important place in my life and I perceive my work there as an integral part of my professional life. I am always ready to devote myself to this work but at the same time I am prepared to be critical when needed.
I really believe that the authorities in Israel must learn to accept compromises and realize that the problems cannot be solved, in the long run, with walls and barriers. On the other hand, the shelling from Gaza of defenceless towns like Sderot cause such antipathy that the response from the Israeli side though understandable is often exaggerated.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels