SOURCE: Drew, David. “Athwart the Paradise of the Idea.” Times Literary Supplement, no. 4992 (4 December 1998): 18–20.

In the following review, Drew traces the history of Christophe Colomb and discusses Greenaway's reinterpretation of the opera.

The new staging of Christophe Colomb by Saskia Boddeke and the British filmmaker Peter Greenaway is the first in Germany since Erich Kleiber conducted the world premiere at the same house sixty-seven years ago, and the first in any capital city since then. Despite the notable absence of the Staatsoper's musical director, Daniel Barenboim, the team lead by Georg Quander—the Intendant—has set an example of technical excellence and artistic daring that may or may not impress other financially embattled opera houses in Europe. In any event, it is timely. The issues it raises have diverse ramifications on both sides of the Atlantic, and far beyond the relatively narrow confines of the opera world.

Christophe...