Re: Kol Isha/Miriam's Song/Wagner

[avi finegold <afinegold...>]

--- Alex Lubet <lubet001 (at) umn(dot)edu> wrote:
> At 10:11 AM 2/24/2003 -0800, you wrote:
> 
> > > >
> > > >Of course.  There are evil geniuses and some of
> > > them are artists.
> >
> >yes but does that make them ok or not to listen to.
> >many people i know will no longer listen to the
> music
> >of R. Kelly because of recent discoveries of his
> >enjoyment of underage girls. i cant think of anyone
> >who would go out and say...."well i know the lyrics
> >arent right but im really into the sound of some of
> >those white supremacist punk groups". the question
> is
> >basically at what point do we say ok, this has
> crossed
> >the line and while you cannot deny the fact that it
> is
> >art it is not art that should be respected or
> enjoyed.
> 
> 
> I don't disagree  at all, but this is very complex
> and a question that 
> extends beyond music to, for example, medical
> research.  Lots of people who 
> like the sound of rap listen despite the lyrics. 
> bell hooks has an article 
> entitled "Mad at Miles", in which she grapples with
> loving his music vs. 
> his misogynistic violence.
>


im on the miles davis list also and invoking bell
hooks can be the equvalent of saying saul berman here
so shes not without her detractors as well.....

 
> I know some folks draw the line at whether the evil
> is apparent in the art, 
> others at whether the evil is/was an activity (in
> Wagner's case) or just an 
> attitude (Chopin was also an anti-Semite).
> 


some would say that it is impossible to separate the
art from the artist..where does that leave you then?
does that mean that chopin should be taken with a
grain of salt as well? should roman polanski have
chosen other music for "the pianist"? i tend to live
somewhere between the two, i dont think that every
aspect of the artist is directly correlated to the
art, but the life of the artist helps to illuminate
greatly the art in question. so it might be easier to
digest chopin because its not so apparent how his ife
intersected with his music, while with wagner (or
R.Kelly, since much of his music is of a sexual nature
to begin with) its becomes more difficult as some
stuff is more plain to see.

avi


> Thanks again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > >
> > > BTW, there were plenty of other great artists
> who
> > > were anti-Semites, though
> > > few as ideological/politically active as Wagner.
> > > One more reason to
> > > wrestle with the question of why there needs to
> be
> > > evil in the world.
> > >
> > > Thanks for responding.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >__________________________________________________
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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)
> 
> ---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
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