Tony Duggan writes:

>Even Adolf Hitler himself admired Mahler as a conductor of Wagner.

I'm just using Tony's comment as a lead-in to my comments.  Reading
postings about Hitler/Wagner/Mahler has been disheartening to me.  What we
have here is a crazed mass-murderer of low musical talent, a musical genius
of despicable character, and a musical genius of such weak character that
he would alter his religious identity simply to advance his career.

What bothers me is not that Wagner and Mahler have outstanding musical
reputations; both deserve that status.  My concern is that comments are
made about other aspects of their lives in such a "just the facts" fashion.
That Mahler renounced Judaism for Roman Catholicism without any viable
justification is not just a fact to mention and then move on.  It is an act
to think about and try to get a handle on what compels some humans to lower
themselves to these levels.  Discussion and thought about these matters do
not reduce the significance of musical genius; they simply recognize that
music is not everything, and that emotional "blinders" need not be applied
in order to prop up one's favorite composer.

Don Satz
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