It has been said that Arnold Schönberg is a composer whose works are more written about than performed. Another form of this left-handed compliment: Schönberg is a composer's composer. Be it as it may, he cast a long shadow on 20th century music and his influence is still felt.

This opera, his only, was released in 1932 but never completed. It was first staged in 1957, after the composer's death in 1951 (there was a concert performance in 1954). The story is the struggle between Moses and Aron. Moses is a fanatic who believes he is in possession of The Law but despairs of communicating it to the people, while Aron doesn't care much for the details of The Law but has the gift of making his version understandable to, and loved by the masses. This story, like many others in the Bible is archetypal; Moses symbolizes revolutionaries in all disciplines whose new and untrodden paths are misunderstood/rejected by the public. Among the interpretations of the opera, this is the most amusing: Moses stands for Schönberg, despairing of having the public appreciate his twelve-tone system of composition, while Aron represents Schönberg's disciple Alban Berg, who used twelve-tone only when it suited him and composed two masterpieces, Wozzeck and Lulu that are in the regular repertory of many opera houses and frequently staged, unlike Moses und Aron.

Moses and Aron puts Schönberg's mastery of the orchestra and the human voice at the service of the story. For instance, Aron's singing nears bel canto, while Moses dellvers his lines in Sprechstimme, a cross between speaking and singing and sounds abrupt and nearly inarticulate at times. However, refined techniques do not add up to an inspired opera. This movie was the first attempt to put the work on screen. Direction by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet is static, with fixed camera angles (as in most of their work) but this goes well with the opera, which is itself static except for a few crowd scenes.

Since 1975, there have been other stagings and recordings of the opera. Some are in DVD, some in the streaming services, some in You Tube.. A final touch: apparently Schönberg changed the usual Aaron to Aron so that the title had 12 letters. 12 tones or avoidance of 13?

Schoenberg's music is never going to be everybody's cup of tea. Least of all mine, I appreciate Schoenberg and Expressionism in general much more than I did when I was doing music GCSEs four years ago, but I'll be honest in saying that I don't think he is ever going to be one of my favourites. Moses Und Aaron is a very problematic opera with a lot of the staging giving you the sense that it is next to impossible to realise on stage, like with the three biblical miracles and the Golden Calf scenes. However, while it takes time to warm to, the score is very powerful stuff. I think this film version is above decent, surprisingly effective even in parts. True a lot of the acting is stolid to the point it could be seen as immobile and the ending(like with the opera) feels very anti-climatic and inconclusive. However, the austere setting fits very well with the equally austere scoring, though the Golden Calf/Orgy scenes are somewhat exciting. The camera work is fascinating from the long shots to the very geometric camera movements. The orchestral playing is marvellously evocative, and the conducting keeps things moving while never rushing or dragging. The chorus are also not bad, though at times sounding under-rehearsed. The two leads are superb, Gunther Reich is a very commanding Moses and Louis Devos a contrastingly eloquent Aaron. Overall, this is not going to be an opera or film that everybody is going to like, but considering how problematic the opera is I think the film does its job better than expected. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox

"Moses und Aron" or "Moses and Aaron" is a West German 105-minute movie from 1975, so this one is already over 40 years old. The duo who made this were spouses Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, who made many movies together, usually stuff that is only for a very small part of the audience and everybody else will see nothing appealing, interesting or memorable in these. This description probably also fits this one we have here. It is basically for opera lovers only as the tale of the two biblical characters in the title is depicted in here from start to finish. The location is perhaps the simplest thing about it all as the subject and also the spoken language are the exact opposite. The cast does not really include any names that people will recognize, but this is also no exception when it comes to Huillèt and Straub. Also makes sense in this very case as it is probably more likely that you find musicians in the cast here and no actors or at least those with a stronger music background compared to acting. So like I already said this one is probably worth seeing only for those who really adore not just musicals, but opera (and thus can deal with the constant overacting) and also have a bit of an affinity with God or the Bible. But for those it will be perhaps the greatest film ever made. Not for me though. I belong to the 99% that don't fit this description. Gotta give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.