The blackmail of Susanna

From the Middle Ages to the present day, the story of “Susanna in the bath” has inspired painters to create a long series of works of art. Around 350 works by prominent artists can be found in the museums today. Less well known is the musical adaptation of this story: more than 60 Renaissance and early Baroque settings have survived to this day.

Music program

The King David Consort Hannover performs chansons and settings of texts relating to Susanna and the location of the event (Babylon). The concert part of the event includes works by Salamone Rossi il Ebreo, Didier Lupi, Orlando di Lasso, Jean Servin and Rodrigues Coelho. The choir is conducted by city cantor Martin Dietterle.

Salon talk

The Susanna story has not only occupied painters and composers, but also Christian theologians of both major denominations. Although the story comes from the Hebrew Apocrypha to the Book of Daniel, it is not part of the Jewish canon. This makes the interpretation from a Jewish perspective and the discussion of Jewish scholars and artists particularly exciting.

The concert will be followed by Dr. Petra Bahr, regional bishop for the Hanover district of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover, and Jael A. Benar, lecturer in art practice from Oldenburg. into a conversation about the interpretation and relevance of the “Blackmail of Susanna” for our present day. Artistic representations of the story are shown alongside the exhibition.

Background

The appendix to the book of the prophet Daniel contains the story of Susanna in the bath, the graceful and virtuous wife of the successful merchant Jehoiakim. Susanna enjoys spending time in the garden of her house. One day, they observe two influential old men – both judges – bathing there. Overcome by their greed, they try to blackmail the young woman. The threat: “If you refuse us, we will charge you with adultery, which means a death sentence!” Susanna steadfastly refuses. “I would rather die than sin against my God!” She is accused and ultimately sentenced to death, because both the outraged people and the court believe the respected judges. The young prophet Daniel intervenes and ensures that he can interrogate the two alleged witnesses separately. Their statements contradict each other, making it clear that they were both lying. The anger of the people now turns against the false witnesses, who are sentenced to death. Susanna is released.

Tickets for 20/15 (reduced 5) euros are available in the webshop, by e-mail to karten@villa-seligmann.de or by telephone on 0511 844887-200.

The event is part of the exhibition “Rubinstein as a guest of Seligmann”. The exhibition can be viewed before the event from 6 pm.

Dr. Petra Bahr is the regional bishop for the Hanover district of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover. After training as a journalist, she studied theology and philosophy in Münster, Bochum and Jerusalem and was a lecturer in for theology at the Research Center of the Protestant Study Community in Heidelberg. She was Cultural Commissioner of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany and headed the Policy and Advice Department of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation e.V. She has been a member of the German Ethics Council since 2020.

Jael A. Benar works as a lecturer for art practice in adult education, in girls’ and women’s work and in the school support sector. She is currently designing art education workshops using art therapy techniques in a museum context.

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