An eternal drama

Idomeneo, King of Crete, (Daniel Behle) and his people receiving the applause  after the 
performance of Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" The National Opera, Amsterdam, 15 February 2025

After the Greeks had conquered Troy and had destroyed the city, they could finally return home, after ten years of fighting. However, the gods that had supported the Trojans were still against the Greeks, and for many the journey home became an arduous undertaking. We all know that it took Odysseus ten years to reach his dear wife Persephone in Ithaca. Also Idomeneo, King of Crete, didn’t have a safe passage. Almost got home, Poseidon, the god of the sea, made him get into a severe storm. Idomeneo’s ship foundered and he could save his life only by promising Poseidon to sacrifice him the first person he would meet, if he would safely reach Creta. This first person was his son Idamante.
This is the background of Mozart’s opera Idomeneo, King of Crete, which I have seen two weeks ago in Amsterdam. It is the moment when the opera begins and the story develops. The essence of the drama is the conflict between the love of the father for his son on the one hand and his obligations to the gods, and in general to the forces of the cosmic order, on the other hand. As always in a Greek drama, it is impossible to escape fate and the forces of the cosmic order and certainly not the anger of a god who had been promised a sacrifice he didn’t get. In the original libretto Mozart’s opera was based on, in vain Idomeneo tries to escape his fate to offer his son and he kills him in a fit of madness. Mozart decided to give the opera a happy end: Other gods intervene, and Idomeneo abdicates the throne and is succeeded by Idamante. However, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, the director of the present performance in Amsterdam, decided to go back to the original version of the story in which Idomeneo kills Idamante. As a consequence Idomeneo stays the ruler of Crete. Just this change by Cherkaoui makes this opera relevant to what happens in the world today, more than ever.
In order to understand why Cherkaoui decided to return to the original story of the drama, let’s listen to what he says about it. (the figures refer to the sources below) “I’d love to believe in that happy end,” so Cherkaoui “but the real world shows that it’s often not the case. These days, the young are fighting for their future and combating all kinds of oppression, but they are facing a cynical minority who don’t want to relinquish their privileges.” (1) Cherkaoui “sees an almighty king who refuses to give up his throne, even if he runs the risk of having to sacrifice his own son. He recognized our own times of crisis, in which political leaders are increasingly empowered and in which the future of the next generations is threatened by the political decisions of their predecessors.” (2) The gods and the monster in the opera “teach us that there are invisible, unwritten laws and that we expose ourselves – and the generations that come after us – to the risk of disaster, if we break them. The attacks and bombings we see in the world today are no less monstrous. The ancient Greek myths follow the principle of action and reaction, and teach us that what we do always has consequences.” (2) In the opera, Idamante, who represents the younger generation, falls in love with the Trojan princess Ilia, who stays as a prisoner in Crete. But it is a forbidden love. In this way, the past of the Trojan War with its massacres “are pressing on the present in the form of unprocessed trauma. The younger characters are trapped in a history that is not theirs.” (2) Therefore it is not realistic to give the opera a happy end, as Mozart did. By giving the end a dramatic turn, Cherkaoui wants to express his concerns about “the news, where we face revenge, egocentrism, armed conflict and bombings. Idomeneo warns against autocratic power without compassion for the people.” (2)
Indeed, when we see what is happening around us today, it is not difficult to recognize the drama depicted in the opera Idomeneo. Old leaders in the major powers of the world, don’t give up their power, but use it to perform their own actions of revenge. They betray the people who elected them, and block the new generations, that should replace them. The old leaders keep themselves busy with the traumas of the past (the war in Ukraine is a case in point) instead of the problems of the future (by neglecting or denying environmental problems, for instance). They try to strengthen their positions by spreading lies. In doing so they go against the cosmic order that forces us to take care of the problems that are ahead of us and not of those that are behind us. There is a saying that the revolution eats its own children. Here we see something like that, in the sense that the leaders destroy the people who have chosen them.
Interpreted in the way Cherkaoui has done, Idomeneo holds up a mirror to us. It’s a pessimistic interpretation but also a realistic interpretation in view of what is happening in the present world. Nevertheless, I don’t want to completely reject the possibility of Mozart’s interpretation of the drama, for the future is still open.

Sources
(1) Simon Hatab, “In gesprek met Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui”, in Idomeneo. re di Creta. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Nationale Opera & Ballet, Amsterdam; pp. 13-15. https://www.operaballet.nl/en/online-programme/idomeneo
(2) Jasmijn van Wijnen, “Interview. Choreograaf en regisseur Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui over Idomeneo”, in Odeon. Magazine van De Nationale Opera, jaargang 31, nr. 136; pp. 9-10.