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Re: What is Jewish Music? -- "Holocaust art"
- From: Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>
- Subject: Re: What is Jewish Music? -- "Holocaust art"
- Date: Wed 06 Jun 2001 13.26 (GMT)
> counter-productive.>>
>
> As both a composer and a child of survivors, I have mixed feelings on the
> subject. In principle I agree with Bob. However, in practice, I am often
> quite offended by the music of those who don't have a direct connection with
> Holocaust. Often, we 2nd generationers have a proprietary feeling about the
> subject, so that should be factored in as well.
>
> As an example, a number of years ago, I went to see John Zorn's
> "Kristallnacht" at the Knitting Factory. I sometimes find post-modernist
> music entirely too glib in its disrespectful appropriation of traditional
> materials, so I was prepared not to like the piece. However, "Kristallnacht"
>
> was emotionally forceful and musically respectful to the subject matter. On
> the other hand, I have heard many other pieces in other styles which simply
> have little more to say than the Holocaust was a very bad thing. This I find
>
> extremely disrespectful.
>
> So I suppose the proof is in the pudding. If the musician can create a work
> which really has something to say on the subject, then I am happy to have it
> available. However, if the work is not successful in itself as a work of
> art, then I tend to dismiss it as jumping on the bandwagon of the
> commercialization of the Holocaust.
>
I agree with Jeff, except that the event to which I alluded (but prefer not to
identify) which I found profoundly disturbing (for its lack of integrity and
poor quality) was under the direction of a child of survivors. Being a member
of an aggrieved (or oppressed) group may endow one with a certain authority to
speak on certain issues, but it's no guarantee that one will be expressively
successful or, for that matter, use that authority with wisdom and taste.
Every Jew and every empathetic human being can and must be moved by the Shoah
(and plenty of other tragedies). I think what was saying (it was in the NY
Times years ago) was that he had reservations about most aesthetic expressions
associated with the Shoah, which run the risk of allowing an artist's (natural?)
instincts towards the beautiful, the ingenious, or even the entertaining to
compromise an expression of the horrific and evil which must never be forgotten,
that Holocaust art can never make it 'easy' on its audience.
>
> --part1_82.b9ea681.284f7778_boundary
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> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> <HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Alex Lubet wrote:
> <BR>
> <BR><<Elie Weisel has written on this subject. As I recall, he's
> pretty
> <BR>circumspect
> <BR>about much of the 'Holocaust art' done by non-survivors. As a
> non-survivor
> <BR>who
> <BR>addressed the unspeakable, I'm curious as to the experiences of others on
> the
> <BR>list.>>
> <BR>
> <BR>Bob Weiner wrote:
> <BR>
> <BR><<Far be it for me to equate my empathy for Holocaust survivors to
> being
> <BR>a survivor, but I do believe that as Jews we see ourselves as a people
> <BR>with a shared history and experience. I would encourage those who
> are
> <BR>not survivors themselves (or children of survivors) to attempt to
> <BR>understand and feel the Shoah as they do. And if music facilitates
> <BR>that process, I would encourage them to make and listen to such music.
> <BR>To say, you can never understand, so don't even try, is, I think,
> <BR>counter-productive.>>
> <BR>
> <BR>As both a composer and a child of survivors, I have mixed feelings on the
>
> <BR>subject. In principle I agree with Bob. However, in practice,
> I am often
> <BR>quite offended by the music of those who don't have a direct connection
> with
> <BR>Holocaust. Often, we 2nd generationers have a proprietary feeling
> about the
> <BR>subject, so that should be factored in as well.
> <BR>
> <BR>As an example, a number of years ago, I went to see John Zorn's
> <BR>"Kristallnacht" at the Knitting Factory. I sometimes find
> post-modernist
> <BR>music entirely too glib in its disrespectful appropriation of traditional
>
> <BR>materials, so I was prepared not to like the piece. However,
> "Kristallnacht"
> <BR>was emotionally forceful and musically respectful to the subject matter.
> On
> <BR>the other hand, I have heard many other pieces in other styles which
> simply
> <BR>have little more to say than the Holocaust was a very bad thing.
> This I find
> <BR>extremely disrespectful.
> <BR>
> <BR>So I suppose the proof is in the pudding. If the musician can
> create a work
> <BR>which really has something to say on the subject, then I am happy to have
> it
> <BR>available. However, if the work is not successful in itself as a
> work of
> <BR>art, then I tend to dismiss it as jumping on the bandwagon of the
> <BR>commercialization of the Holocaust.
> <BR>
> <BR>Jeffrey Schanzer</FONT></HTML>
>
> --part1_82.b9ea681.284f7778_boundary--
>
>
>
> .
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)
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