Klarinet Archive - Posting 000091.txt from 2007/05

From: "MPWord -- Vann Turner" <vjoet@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: Wagner
Date: Sat, 12 May 2007 09:12:48 -0400

Dan, I was aware you hadn't belittled Wagner's music.

My reference was to the one who described the music as revolting, overstated
and vulgar:

"And indeed, for once I have to agree with Dan, the music, plots and lyrics
he wrote are revolting. Even if it was not actually anti-Semitic--whatever
that could mean in musical terms--it deals with extremely obscure Germanic
myths in rather unauthentic 19th cent. historistic renditions, penetrated by
unbearably overstated and vulgar music. The rhymes are actually quite
ridiculous. All this is exactly what I would expect from a man of his failed
intellectual background."

This line you wrote caught my attention: "But once told where and how to
look for (antisemitism in the operas), it comes at you like a dragon, and is
mistakable, this despite arguments to the contrary."

Hmmm?... Now I'm really curious whether Wagner's operas actually contain
antisemitism, or whether seeing it is just in the eye of the beholder, much
like the effect observed in Quantum Mechanics whereby the observer will see
what he is expecting to see. (Eg, Is light a particle or a wave? Design a
test to prove it is particle, and it'll come out a particle. Design a test
to prove it is a wave, and it'll come out a wave.)

This week I'm going to see if Amazon.com has the two books mentioned by
Tony:
Paul Lawrence Rose's "Wagner -Race and Revolution"
Brian Magee's "Wagner and Philosophy"
I'll see if the librettos are available in translation as well.

But even if I determine for myself antisemetism is there, that won't
diminish my love for the music. For I can accept a person being of his time
and culture, and holding the common views of that culture. But if Wagner
were a contemporary American, that would be a wholly different matter.

Best wishes,
Vann Joe
(amateur)

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