After a storm of protest, a Berlin opera house has decided to bring back two performances of a Mozart opera cancelled due to worries over security.
The Deutsche Oper said in a statement that it "had immediately begun appropriate preparations" to resume two of a planned run of four performances of Hans Neuenfels' production of Idomeneo, citing a new security analysis which indicated no "concrete danger" to the company or staff.
The production had been cancelled after a warning from the German security services, because of a new ending depicting the severed heads of Muhammad, Jesus, the Buddha and the Greco-Roman god Neptune.
The decision divided Germany's Muslim community, with some calling it a step backwards, and others welcoming it as a mark of respect. The German chancellor, however, described it as an act of "self-censorship", judging that care must be taken not to "retreat out of a fear of potentially violent radicals".
But what does it say about the state of European culture when a telephone call threatening violence can pull a production at a major opera house? Did the Deutsche Oper jump too soon? Was it a responsible decision? Or is it all just a storm in a tea-cup?
