Re: Pfitzner The Man:

I hold no brief for Pfitzner and his less than attractive personality
traits, but I think you will find when researching the documents from
the period that Pfitzner's biggest "crime" may well be his "need" to
have his music performed and the frustration the the tide of music had
turned against him as the 1920s ended.  I am curious where Mr.  Ross
located his information regarding the visit of AH with Pfitzner.  Charges
of antisemitism do not seem to wash with his close friendships and
professional relationships with many jews of the period from Mahler,
the conductor Oskar Fried, and Bruno Walter (who conducted the premiere
of "Palestrina" - one of the greatest 20th century operas along with
Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler" - and conducted Pfitzner's music up to,
through and after the war.  (There are some tantalizing tidbits of two
performances of "Palestrina" in Vienna in 1938 w/Walter as part of the
Koch Schwann VSOO series.) He was a man who suffered greatly from lack
of support of his music and suffered great personal tragedies: the loss
of all three of his children, in war and by suicide, wife and his home
(in the bombing of Muenchen).  At the end of the war he was interned,
and after his denazification, he was in a pensioner's home.  It was
through the intersession of Furtwangler and Walter that funds were raised
to bring Pfitzner home to Wien.  Pfitzner perished on the journey.  He
is interred in the Zentralfriedhof in Wien.  His grave is pictured at
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10308

Regards,
Alan Carrier
Austin Texas

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