Everybody, it seems, is talking about new productions, new interpretations of operas, plays, or music: Must everything be updated? Does this destroy the works of the past or does it bring them to new audiences, audiences of today? — For me, the statement by Karl-Markus Gauß: “Cancel Culture is the end of any historical thinking. Humanism and progress always occur with historical consciousness” must be at the beginning of every engagement with the art of our past.
He made this statement on occasions such as the decision to place Voltaire’s statue in Paris in a lockable courtyard because he, the great advocate for freedom of speech, is now defamed as a racist, just as Kant is referred to as a “misogynist,” without considering their respective historical contexts. Of course, today we must make opera librettos, plays, and music from past centuries accessible to the audience if we want to keep them alive. However, if we go so far as to eliminate historical consciousness, we are taking a large step back from a democratic, equal, and fulfilling future.