Re: Kol Isha/Miriam's Song/Wagner

[Alex Lubet <lubet001...>]

I find the arguments of Marc Weiner, Paul Rose, and Gottfried Wagner very 
convincing as regards the depth of anti-Semitic stereotypes in many of the 
Wagner operas, as well as other manifestations of anti-Semitism I was 
previously unaware of, like not acknowledging his debt to Heine's Flying 
Dutchman and Tannahuser.  I went to The Flying Dutchman with Gottfried, who 
often needs to do things like this for professional reasons, but who 
prefers not to hear his great grandfather's music and understands full well 
why others can't bear to hear it.  He's spoken on the subject to large, 
supportive audiences in Israel, among other places.  If you ever want to go 
to a Wagner opera and simply enjoy (it was the first time I'd seen one in 
about 30 years), don't go with Gottfried Wagner.  I took him to a Cuban 
nightclub afterwards, which he and I found most cleansing.



At 08:14 AM 2/24/2003 -0800, you wrote:

>--- "Alex J. Lubet" <lubet001 (at) umn(dot)edu> wrote:
>
> > BTW, our conference on Wagner's anti-Semitism was
> > very successful, with the best part the
> > distinguished cast of Jewish studies scholars.
> > Anyone deeply interested in this subject should read
> > Richard Wagner and the Anti-Semitic Imagination, by
> > Marc Weiner.  His great-grandson, Gottfried Wagner,
> > our featured guest, wrote his dissertation on Kurt
> > Weill and was at one time the head of
> > the Kurt Weill Foundation, which would seem to
> > indicate that not all the Wagners were/are
> > anti-Semites.
> >
>
>
>ok time to throw my two zuzim into a non-KI related
>issue.
>i just finished reading "the tristan chord: the
>philosophy of wagner" by bryan magee
>
>he has a whole appendix on wagners antisemistism which
>i had a hard time getting through, not because it was
>dense (on the contrary, it is supremely readable),
>rather because as much as i am growing accustomed to
>the idea that i can listen to the music of someone who
>was a deeply commited antisemite. i mean if the
>central premise of the book is that you cannot listen
>to wagner without having a decent grasp on his
>philosophy, and that of schopenauer, because it
>informs the muisc in so many ways, then why should i
>reject the notion that his views on jews might have
>informed his writing as well? his points are valid
>that most arguments against wagner are unfounded; i.e.
>the supposed antisemitic characters in his operas and
>his adoption (way after his death) by hitler as
>nationalistic works, but he seemed to sidestep the
>above idea.
>
>any takers??
>
>
>avi
>
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Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
University of Minnesota
100 Ferguson Hall
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 (o)
612 699-1097 (h)
612 624-8001  ATTN:  Alex Lubet (FAX)

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