The problem with the future

Anyone landing at Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris today is confronted with the ruinous promises of the future made over the last 60 years. After an already polluting flight, you are ushered into a circular building whose façade and supporting structure are made of reinforced concrete – an ecological sin. The architects of the complex paid particular attention to the regulation of individual traffic, so that you can easily get into your private car and reach Paris via the motorway. A visit to the French capital does not begin on a green note.

The oil crisis of the 1970s made it clear that the promises of the technological avant-garde would be hard to keep. Fuel became so expensive that the first supersonic passenger plane, the Concorde, never paid for itself. Today, we have to assume that the world will look very different in 100 years’ time. It’s not just glaciers and islands that will disappear. Large parts of the world are in danger of becoming uninhabitable. The utopias of widespread mechanisation at the beginning of the 20th century seem to have come to an end: technological progress at the expense of resource exploitation is polluting the biosphere with waste. The promise of cheap and ubiquitous energy in the future has also been realised without the non-disposable waste of nuclear power. The desire for the future has been so great for decades and centuries that it has endangered its own future. A little distance from the idea that progress can be achieved for free would be good – without reacting in a reactionary way.

Günther Anders, the philosopher and author, coined the term »apocalypse blindness«, which is currently gaining new relevance. He was referring to the inability to see the catastrophe as a catastrophe. This blindness with open eyes stems from an underestimation of reality and is reinforced by a lack of imagination.

On the other hand, one of the peculiarities of soothsayers, futurologists and prophets is that every prophecy says more about the state of the present than about the future. The human urge to find out something about the future anyway – whether through bird-watching, tarot cards or the ways of business – is astonishing, since it rarely opens up concrete options for action. On the contrary, prediction turns the future into an unmanageable, deterministic matter. This breeds fear and ultimately resignation.

Another historical truth is that the graveyard of predicted apocalypses, end of the world and end-time catastrophes is large. The Black Death in the 14th century, the Ottomans in Constantinople or, more recently, hyperinflation, the Cuban missile crisis, Chernobyl, the hole in the ozone layer or dying forests – the end of the world has been predicted each time. Surprisingly, humanity still exists – only, and this is the important point, an awareness of the catastrophes has arisen that divides the world into a before and an after.

Seven Last Words
Sun 10.9.2023, 19:30, Alte Bonner Fahnenfabrik
ensemble reflektor

Such a before/after also stands at the beginning of Christianity, at Easter. Joseph Haydn made the death of Christ the subject of his sonata cycle »The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross«. At Beethovenfest 2023, ensemble reflektor will perform this piece in a new version: seven newly composed »last words« by seven female composers refer to the threshold moment of our present. Christian apocalypticism and the idea of salvation touch on our dilemma today: looking into the future at a turning point can lead to paralysis or activism. For Beethovenfest Bonn, artistic director Steven Walter has initiated a process in which the festival reflects on its possibilities for action.

The 2023 Beethovenfest Bonn will take place under the banner of »Life« and will focus on artistic positions that reflect on future-oriented transformations for a sustainable life. The current dilemma in the arts and music industry is huge: traditional distribution and marketing channels, tour planning, audience travel, resource consumption – all of these are being put to the test and are challenging the cultural sector.

Solutions along these lines can also mean added artistic value. The residencies were established as part of the 2022 festival: musicians stay in Bonn for longer than is usual in the festival business. The idea behind the residencies is to give more space to the different facets of the artists. Sustainable tour planning is combined with lasting musical encounters between audience and musicians. The residency principle will be expanded in 2023: The Beethovenfest’s new Fellowship Project will bring artists and ensembles to Bonn for several months to realise long-term projects.

Under the motto »symphony of change«, the Stegreif Orchestra will perform a concert on 8 September that is programmatically linked to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. These include »zero poverty«, »zero hunger«, »health and well-being«, »sustainable cities and communities« and »sustainable consumption and production«. The Stegreif Orchestra explores these themes musically, using newly composed music by Wilhelmine of Bayreuth, Hildegard of Bingen, Clara Schumann and Emilie Mayer, as well as their own improvisations, to create a symphony that looks for approaches to change in all of us. The Stegreif Orchestra works without a conductor, without notes and without chairs. The space created is given over to improvisation and movement.

Change.Symphony
Fri 8.9.2023, 19:30, Alte Bonner Fahnenfabrik
Stegreif Orchester

The Stegreif Orchestra gives an artistic response to the impulses that music can give. The most sustainable form of concert organisation would be the family home concert – but do we really want to hear live music only from our relatives? The Stegreif Orchestra, on the other hand, uses music’s own processes and techniques of arranging, rethinking and even improvising. Perhaps this is a model for the constant repositioning within society as a whole! Could it be that music is most able to point to sustainability when the constant process of negotiation between musical text and performance radiates from the stage into thinking about sustainability? Music could act as a mediator between the forgetting of history and the fear of the future – in terms of both content and form.

Opening concert
Fri 1.9.2023, 19:30, Bonn Opera
Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich | Jürg Halter | Anastasia Kobekina | Paavo Järvi

Antonín Dvořák: Cello Concerto & Symphony No. 9 »From the New World« as well as works by Arthur Honegger and Jürg Halter / Ian Anderson

Antonín Dvořák’s Ninth Symphony, which will be performed at the opening concert of the Beethovenfest on 1 September 2023, is an example of how different influences can be arranged to create something new. Dvořák studied Native American music and melodies. When composing, however, he was less interested in copying the originals. Instead, Dvořák wrote the piece we know as »From the New World« in their spirit – using the European compositional techniques of counterpoint, rhythm and harmony. The symphony was inspired by his enthusiasm for America’s future – an inspiration, in the best sense of the word, to look to the future.

The essay was written for the Beethovenfest 2023 programme book and was published there for the first time.