Klarinet Archive - Posting 000039.txt from 1998/10

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Wagner
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 15:40:37 -0400

Roger Shilcock says,
>>I think we are in great danger of merging personal views with political
ideology. There are clearly racist elements in the "Ring", but can someone
please point out how are they specifically anti-Semitic?>>

David Hattner says,
>>...while Wagner's music was taken up and used by Hitler and the 3rd Reich
(as were Beethoven's and Bruckner's, by the way), most of those who took part
in the actual exterminations probably never saw a Wagner opera in their
lifetime. And if they had, the symbolism implicit in the music and text would
have escaped their notice anyway, unless it was specifically brought out by
the director.>>

Part of the reputation of Wagner's operas does come from the way they used to
be staged. I doubt very much that they could be performed anywhere today with
the dwarf Alberich or the lecher Frederick of Telramund portrayed as a gross
caricature of a Jew, costumed with yarmulke and long side-curls in case anyone
missed the point, but such performances were popular in the Germany of
Hitler's youth, although I don't think the original stage directions
specifically called for these characters to be played as Jews. Under the
subheading of "Hitler and Wagner" in his biography _The Psychopathic God:
Adolf Hitler_ (New York, Basic Books, 1977, p.113 ff.), Robert G. L. Waite
discusses how _Parsifal_ in particular can be read as an anti-semetic screed,
and dissects Wagner's racial and political ideas in terms of how Hitler
interpreted them.

In most respects, Hitler played fair with Wagner's beliefs. Wagner expressed
his most vitriolic anti-Semitic views in an essay, "Judaism in Music," which
he published in a music journal in 1850 under the pen name of "K. Freigedank."
He liked this essay so much that he polished it up and published it again, as
a pamphlet, in 1869. It's available today in _Works_, the collected writings
of Wagner. He repeated these views often in his journal, _Bayreuther
Blatter_. Both of these inspired Hitler, who often quoted from them. Anyone
who reads this material and Wagner's letters (also available collected) will
have no doubt whatsoever that Wagner really was an anti-Semite. Here is a
small sample of Wagner's opinion, quoted from p. 124 of Waite: "'We have to
explain to ourselves the _involuntary repellancy_ possessed for us by the
nature and personality of the Jews . . . . instinctively we wish to have
nothing in common with a man who looks like that . . . an unpleasant freak of
nature.'" Waite quotes and dissects more of Wagner's anti-Semetic dogma at
length. Some of Wagner's words are so extreme that Hitler may not have been
wrong in reading them as a call for the extermination of the Jews. (BTW,
Waite says that while Hitler valued German music above all other music, he
disliked Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart.)

David Hattner says,
>>The fact that Wagner's music was revolutionary and also that it was
necessary for most if not all of what came afterward (particularly R. Strauss,
Schoenberg and his followers, Mahler, Bruckner and the Impressionists) is hard
to dismiss, no matter his beliefs. Great genius often comes in unattractive
packaging, but its greatness is not thereby diminished, nor is its impact on
what follows. It would be easier to erase Brahms, Tchaikovsky Dvorak,
Bruckner, Mahler and R. Strauss from music history than Wagner, so great was
his musical contribution.>>

For me, the most significant lesson here is not that genius can come in an
unattractive package (although that's true, too), but that evil may not always
hiss at us from the conveniently monstrous form of forked tongue, red eyes,
fangs, bat-wings, horns, a tail and a pitchfork, or address us with the
sadistic and self-satisfied sneer of a Saddam Hussein, or the strident screams
of a Hitler. Evil can sound gorgeous. It can sound just like Wagner. For
this reason, I'm glad to see people seriously discussing whether or not to
play his music. Reasonable people can differ. Wagner wrote some chamber
music for clarinet, but I've never played any of it and don't plan to, because
for me the discomfort level is just too high. My husband, who is Jewish and
plays the violin, listens to Wagnerian opera with a mixture of pleasure and
unease. We've never had an argument about him and we share the opinon that
his beliefs about the Jews are despicable. We've simply made different
personal decisions on what to do about that.

Ed Lacy comments,
>>I think that attitudes about Wagner are undergoing a significant change
presently. It will be very interesting to see how he will come to be regarded
during the next 20 years or so.>>

Let's hope Wagner *is* still regarded (as the subject of analysis, discussion
and disagreement) 20 years from now, not simply censored out of the repertory
at one extreme or played without consideration of his beliefs at the other
extreme.

Lelia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
--George Santayana
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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