Re: Wagner anyone?

[Fred Jacobowitz <fredj...>]

To all on this list,
        This exact topic came up in 1995 in the Juilliard journal (the 
house newspaper at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, of which I am 
and Alumnus). I wrote a rather pointed article in response to a rather 
stupid one questioning our reverence towards the works of the composer 
Richard Strauss (who actually LIVED through the Nazi era, as opposed to 
Wagner who died in 1897, just about when Hitler was being born). The 
following is an exerpt from that article which I feel addresses this topic:

        "As for the concept of beauty of creation vs. the morality of the 
creator, I prefer to see the fact that Strauss could have produced such 
beautiful works as a vindication of  that which is good in mankind. All 
people have good and bad sides, and to reject the good because of the bad 
is shallow and immature. If we were to do that then we'd have to stop 
performing the works of Schubert (a rabid antisemite), Schumann (ditto), 
Liszt, Wagner, and virtually every non-Jewish composer in Europe up until 
the mid 1900's! Talk about throwing out the baby with the bath water. By 
this same reasoning, we can condemn virtually every society's principal 
cultural icons. Maybe we should stop performing the works of Prokoffiev, 
who was an ardent communist! (assuming, of course, that we classify 
Communism as evil). And, of course, we'd need to ban all of von Karjan's 
work because he was an active Nazi and opportunistically used the flight 
of people like Bruno Walter to further his own career by filling their 
newly-open positions.
        There is copious commentary about this dichotomy of the human 
psyche in every generation and society, including the bible. Sadly, Ms. 
Pollock doesn't seem to have pondered these, and the editor seems to have 
accepted this rather small view of Man. As artists, I don't believe we 
have the right to be so small-minded. We speak for the best in humanity, 
for the beauty and nobility of the human spirit. This means acknowledging 
the whole of our culture. We don't have to be proud of our flaws, but we 
cannot ignore our glories because of those same flaws."

Fred Jacobowitz
Machaya Klezmer Band and 
Clarinet/Sax teacher at Peabody Preparatory

On Wed, 14 Feb 1996, Dan Kazez wrote:

> 
> 14 February 1996
> 
> I'm curious...  Do you listen to Wagner?  Is it possible to disassociate
> a composer's music from his personal beliefs and prejudices?  (And if 
> you DO listen to Wagner, here is a hypothetical follow-up...  What
> about Hitler?  If he had written a second symphony, what you have
> any qualms listening to Hitler at home--perhaps humming the lovely
> melodies of "Hitler's Second" as you drive to work?  [Yes, I know, 
> Wagner wasn't quite "a Hitler."  But you get the point.])
> 
> Dan Kazez
> 
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