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Date: | Sun, 30 Jul 2000 13:44:37 +1000 |
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Robert Peters:
>And, of course, his antisemitism. Wagner surely was not the only composer
>with a lousy character and surely not the only rascist or antisemite among
>them.
Walter Meyer:
>I cannot imagine Wagner being the only nineteenth century
>composer who made anti-Semitic statements; others may have been more
>private. That anti-Semitism was not unique to Wagner in the musical world
>of that time might be evidenced in the prohibition of Adam's "Oh holy
>night" as a Christmas song because Adam was Jewish. Mahler had to convert
>to Christianity to obtain a conducting job in Vienna. On the other hand,
>the premiere of *Parsifal* was conducted by Hermann Levi.
These are two thoughtful and reasonable contributions to this subject with
which hardly anyone can take offence.
I cannot help feeling that another aspect has been insufficiently
addressed. It does not seem reasonable to me to judge the behaviour of
long-dead composers (indeed long-dead anybody) by the standards of to-day.
I was brought up in an Anglican christian household in which Jews and
Catholics were hardly distinguished at all from other "heathen". That I
don't feel this way to-day is probably due to accidental liberal influences
in later years. Others of my age have not been so fortunate and still
retain their "cradle" biases. Being wrong is not the same as being bad.
There may well be existing injustices in this world which will, to furure
ages, appear equally obscene as past racism, sexism and other currently
unpopular biases. There are many these days who will defend the fact
that some are rich while others are poor, as a necessary consequence of
capitalism. Future generations may regard capitalism in the same light
as many now regard communism.
And apart from all this, nothing appears more ludicrous to me than judging
music by the biases of its composer. Does anyone know of the attitude of
Monteverdi towards jews? Does anyone refuse to listen to the music of
Antonio Soler (wonderful stuff!) because he probably thought that women
were inferior beings?
Alan Dudley
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