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Date: | Mon, 17 Jul 2000 22:31:02 -0700 |
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Dr Satoshi Akima writes:
>Any claim that Wagner's spiteful anti-Semitism also found it's way into
>Wagner's music dramas OUGHT to be an attack on Wagner. Because if these
>accusations were indeed true then Wagner's music dramas would deserve
>universal condemnation.
Oh, Wagner was just writing what he thinks rather than speaking
"correctly." Not very refreshing in this case!
Seriously, since he's dead and can no longer be enlightened, can't Wagner
be excused for simply not knowing any better? I'm sure many people listen
guilt-free to Guillaume de Machaut. Yet my hero Barbara, (Tuchman not
Streisand), points out in her book, "A Distant Mirror," that the composer
as poet helped continue to spread a bizarre rumor that the Black Plague
wasn't a plague at all, but rather Jews poisoning everyone's wells.
"...rivers and fountains
that were clear and clean
they poisoned in many places..."
Machaut chose to overlook the fact that Jews were dying in equal numbers
to everyone else.
Perhaps Wagner's artistic and literary output could be used as a living
reminder that intelligence and ability in a person doesn't automatically
disengage his wiring for xenophobia and ethnocentricity. As Carl Sagan
points out in his book, "Shadows of our Forgotten Ancestors," the only
way we can avoid the awful things we're capable of, is to be *aware* of
the awful things we're capable of.
John Smyth
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