Rick Mabry wrote:

>What a complex thing this is.  I suppose we tend to look to the great
>people of any era to stand up against the tyrants and oppressors.  You
>have to admire the ones who do and did take such risks.  But I think it
>is unfair to condemn those who do not, especially if they stayed and
>faced the harsh music.

While I don't know all of the circumstances...Tippett, a pacifist who
remained in England and was jailed...and Britten who spent the war years
in the US.

Then there was Samuel Barber...Koussevitzky and others convinced the
military that Barber was something special and Barber ended up spending
part of his service writing music.

And while we are at it, what about composers who were, by most accounts,
lousy human beings...Wagner comes to mind.

I would agree with the notion that it is difficult to judge in such
matters.

Karl