Wagner, again

[Dan Kazez <KAZEZ...>]

Bernard Holland, writing in the New York Times (3/27/97), 
reconsiders the age old question:  do we dare perform or 
enjoy music of that Jew-hater Richard Wagner:

  "There is a powerful argument that ethics and music don't 
   mix, that a Haydn quartet, purely in the sounding of it, 
   can be as beautifully played by guards at Auschwitz as by 
   four penitent priests, that a serial killer can feel the 
   'Goldberg' Variations as deeply as a social worker.  
   Music, freed of any extramusical associations we may 
   attach to it, seems to float above the moral affairs of 
   men and visit each of us equally regardless of our sins.

  "But Wagner may be a different story.  What alarms us 
   above ourselves as we succumb to his powerful art is a 
   certain loss of control, an abandonment of artificial 
   boundaries, symmetries and dimensions that we as humans 
   have manufactured to protect us from the 'primordial 
   matter' that first formed us.  The Germans, aching to 
   fulfill ancient destinies, certain of that power of their 
   origins, must have felt something much the same as they 
   embraced their 'blessed Adolf.'"

Let's make the situation a tad blunter:  If Adolf Hitler had painted a 
beautiful painting, would you have any qualms about having it hung in 
your home or in your child's school?  (By the way:  Hitler, 
affectionately known as "Uncle Wolf" was a frequent and beloved guest at 
the home of the Wagner children, often tucking in the little Wagner 
progeny.)  

Dan
    +----------------------------------------------------------+
     Daniel Kazez, Associate Professor of Music
     Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio 45501 USA
     tel: 937-327-7354  fax: 937-327-6340  kazez (at) wittenberg(dot)edu
     http://www.voyageronline.net/~drcello/kazez.htm
     http://www.cello.org/cnc/jewish.htm
     http://www.oac.ohio.gov/artstour/solo/kazez.htm
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1995 - 96 \/ CONCERTS: Prague, Berlin, Rome, Florence \/ Paris, Salzburg, 
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1997 INTERNATIONAL CONCERTS: India, Britain (England, Scotland, Wales), Israel