Posted by Marcus Hoffman on July 16, 19102 at 10:29:48:

In Reply to: Re: I heard sounds... posted by John Rasmussen on July 15, 19102 at 17:56:30:

: Wagner's anti-Semitism is well doented, although he could admire individual Jews such as conductor Hermann Levi, who led the first Parsifal. Actually, he became hateful toward any people who weren't Germanic, especially the French.

: This raises a terrible philosophical question: What do we do with his music? I do not doubt that he's burning in hell today, for this and other causes. But his music is so powerful and beautiful I cannot trash it, especially as it influenced two of my favorite composers, Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler.

: The middle way is to accept both his anti-Semitism and his music. It would be a poorer world without Wagner's orchestral beauties. And it would be a gentler world without his powerful advocacy of Jew-hatred.

: (I wish life were simpler, and all composers as noble as Bach and Mendelssohn, but that's not to be.)

: BTW, I must comment on a statement in a previous response: Wagner's anti-Semitism was no less pionate than Hitler's; Wagner just wasn't leading a powerful nation and couldn't kill millions with an order.

John, although Wagner's anti-Semitism
was certainly intense, it is more than slightly presumptuous to suggest he would have acted the way Hitler did ,had he had the same influence.Wasn't his last opera Parsifal all about compion?

Follow Ups:

• Compion and Parsifal John Rasmussen 10:27:52 7/23/102 (2)
  • Re: Compion and Parsifal Raga 12:57:56 4/19/103 (0)
  • Re: Compion and Parsifal Raga 12:56:04 4/19/103 (0)

Post a Followup