Klarinet Archive - Posting 000096.txt from 1998/10

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Wagner
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 04:20:38 -0400

It's isn't fair to claim R. Strauss "sold out". Like most people, most of
the time, he simply wasn't an out-and-out hero.
Roger S.

On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, George Landis wrote:

> Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 13:25:54 -0500
> From: George Landis <George@-----.org>
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [kl] Wagner
>
>
> One cannot becomer overly high-minded about the passions and motiviations of those in previous decades or centuries. Should we bannish Mozart from our repertoire because he portrayed Monastotos in "The Magic Flute" as an evil black man and consistently reserved a lower place in the social and intellectual order for women? Should we never perform Richard Strauss because he "sold out" to the Nazis? There are MANY school districts who ban Mark Twain from their library shelves because he used the word nigger. Surely no thinking person believes THAT'S the right thing to do. And on and on....
>
> Wagner was a brilliant composer who made an incredible contribution to music and theater. We don't have to accept what he, or anyone else, thought about any given subject to enjoy the musical experience.
>
> I'll paraphrase Santayana: "Those who cannot enjoy the past are condemned to an eternity of Andrew Lloyd Webber."
>
> Regards
>
>
> _____-------_______
> 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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