Harry Davis details his coolness toward Wagner: >In earlier years I had read a few of the more scabrous Wagner essays, and >those foolish and sometimes vile pieces were the foundation for a rejection >of Wagner decades ago, not just because of his "jew hating" writings, but >also because other statements seemed silly, poorly reasoned. ... I'm not a great fan of Wagner's essays, excepting what he has to say about drama. To me, he is *the* great dramatist of the 19th century, and I'm not forgetting Ibsen. To me, Wagner's value lies in his stage works. >... As for the Ring, it's a wandering and inconsistent juvenile fantasy, >laden (as are other Wagner works) with heavy personal baggage related to >incest and betrayal. In my opinion, a bit narrow. To me, the Ring is the great 19th-century drama and capable of supporting many interpretations. For one involved interpretation, see Shaw's Perfect Wagnerite. I actually think the use of incest - dangerous material, I grant you - brilliant, since it is not used for titillation or pornography and it makes vivid the world of the sagas. "Juvenile" is the last adjective I'd apply to the Ring. A juvenile work, it seems to me, would end either in triumphant heroism or unalloyed bathos, and the Ring ends ambiguously. The Ring is full of adult choices. I think of Wotan especially - the god who acts knowing he can't really change the outcome. What's so juvenile about that? >The librettos and plots, just as is the case with the other works, is >overwhelmed by gorgeous music, - emotional, sexy, violent, powerful. >In 20th Century terms Wagner might be pictured re-writing violent. >sex-oriented comicbooks into verse form and setting the result to music. Comics have learned from Wagner, though they've yet to equal him. >... I reinforced the assessment that he was a complete and irredeemable >ass, an egotistical nut, a psychological mess, a vile and destructive >personality. It isn't the case of Wagner having spawned Hitler and he >didn't cause the holocaust, which comments seem to be common. Wagner was >one of the larger and more flaming jerks on the globe. For me that's quite >enough to drop him. That's your prerogative. I agree he's an unlovely personality, but that same figure gave us the incredible humanity of Meistersinger - essentially a Roman/Renaissance comedy of marriage raised, as Shakespeare did in The Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream, to a whole 'nother level. Since I'm not going to have dinner with Wagner anytime soon, I refuse to deny myself the considerable pleasures of the operas. Cutting off my nose to spite etc. >A personal perspective: Mark Reizen rendered a moving performance >of Wotan's farewell to Bru"nnhilde. I feel sad that this marvelous >singer/actor, said to be a jew, as far as we can tell a thoughtful and >decent man, by the nature of his assignment had to turn off his critical >apparatus and accept the part. ... What makes you think he turned off his critical apparatus? Reizen may genuinely love the music. Some Jews actually like Wagner's works. I myself have never seen explicit anti-Semitism in any of his operas. If Wagner thought of Mime as a Jew, I don't, since I don't recognize myself in Mime. Steve Schwartz