The Raft of the Medusa becomes a Classic

After the failed premiere of the oratorio The Raft of the Medusa in December 1968 and devastating reviews, the work and its composer did not initially enjoy much success. The premiere was repeated in Vienna in 1971, and there was a staged attempt in Nuremberg in 1972. It was also performed in Copenhagen, Leipzig, London and Florence, but then not at all for 10 years. The composer was too much resented for his political activism; he had challenged the musical establishment in the old Federal Republic of Germany too much. On the maestro's 60th birthday, it was programmed for three performances in Turin, Vienna and Frankfurt, only to fall into oblivion once again. In the meantime, the composer had supplemented the original agitational ending, in which the Ho Chi Minh call (Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the Vietnamese in the wars of liberation against colonial rule and in the US war against Vietnam) was chanted instrumentally, with a short, conciliatory hymn, not least because the Vietnam War was long over. 

The work was heard more regularly in the 1990s; up-and-coming conductors such as Simon Rattle and Ingo Metzmacher took it up, as they did in the 2000s, when it was performed in Hamburg, Madrid and Berlin.

On the 50th anniversary of the oratorio, it now seems to be firmly established in concert schedules; over the last decade, it has been performed well over 20 times in Vienna, Freiburg and Hamburg, from the Salzburg Festival to the Eurasia Music Festival in Yekaterinburg, Russia. There have been staged productions in Amsterdam, at the RuhrTriennale in Bochum and in Berlin, the latter, staged by the Komische Oper in Hangar 1 of the former Tempelhof Airport, achieving cult status. 

On 6 and 7 February, there will be another opportunity to hear this moving and highly topical oratorio: the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform it at the Isarphilharmonie in Munich under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.