Larry Sherwood wrote:

>Nick Perovich wrote:
>
>>It seems to me much more likely that the threat of a "false, foreign rule"
>>["in falscher, waelscher Majestaet"] that endangers the Germany of the
>>future, in Sachs' premonition, with its "foreign vanities" ["mit waelschem
>>Tand"] is to be seen as emanating from France rather than from the Jews.
>
>My question is do Wagner's non-musical writings contain any concerted
>animus toward the French? If so, could you direct me to them (in English
>translation)? And if not, why would you think his ugly depiction of the
>non-German was a veiled reference to the French? His writings do, of course
>reflect his vicious anti-Semitism, but I am unaware of anything comparable
>directed toward the people of France.

I hope I am not being dense by treating this question as intended
seriously.  Wagner's animus toward, say, Roman Catholicism and French
influences in art are pretty well documented.  Larry misreads me (and DIE
MEISTERSINGER) in speaking of a hostility "toward the people of France."
As seems clear to me in regard to the text under consideration, the
"danger" is not found in people but in cultural influences.  This seems
so transparent from the passage that it seems to me that there is some
willfulness involved in trying to read anti-semitism into this particular
text.  (Indeed, there seems to me to be a certain willfulness in reading
anti-semitism into Wagner's operas in general, though of course it is there
in his character and prose writings, and even more strongly present in
Cosima.)

As to the documentation of Wagner's attitude toward the danger of French
culture, let me quote from the correspondence, noting that these are just
a few passages that jumped out on the most cursory search.  The translation
is by Stewart Spencer (Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, 1987).

   "Children!  Children!  In what light did I then see that Paris of yours,
   that great den of assassins where those of us who are motivated by
   simple & straightforward ambitions are hounded to death, silently &
   unobserved" (July 14, 1843; 112).

Regarding the concern over French influence, the following passage strikes me
as really quite helpful in the exegesis of the MEISTERSINGER text:

   "It was in fact my intention, following the splendid success I had
   achieved in Dresden, to sever all links with Paris, in the splendid
   conviction that the time had come when a dramatic musician could
   influence Germany from with Germany itself.  I still think it is
   extremely important for the whole future of dramatic music in Germany
   that a phenomenon which issues from the heart of Germany should spread
   throughout the country . . . ." (June 5, 1845; 122).

   "But in any case, the reason for my reluctance to have my works
   performed before the Paris public runs much deeper: it is impossible
   even to translate them into French, whereas an attempt to render them
   into English, Spanish or even Italian may well succeed.  But any
   attempt to perform them in French simply looks as though it were *I*
   that was anxious to obtain the approval of this vainglorious nation,
   whereas it ought to serve them as a salutary confirmation that things
   of importance can go their own way without having to proceed along
   the Boulevard des Italiens.  I am now working on measures to prevent
   all performances of my works from taking place in Paris" (March 1,
   1882; 921).

And so on and so forth, both early and late.  People who want to relate
every objectionable statement of Wagner to his anti-semitism inadvertantly
make him a better person than he was; anti-semitism was perhaps the worst
of his personal failings, but it hardly exhausted them.

Anthony N. Perovich Jr.
Department of Philosophy
Hope College