At 09:29 PM 8/29/99 -0500, Harry Davis wrote:
>Was not Ira Hirschmann the chap who lead the attack against Wilhelm
>Furchtwa"ngler conducting in New York, improperly and stupidly so?

Yes, as I mentioned in my original post.

The moral worth of Furtwaengler, and its relevance to his conducting
talents have been extensively discussed before on these classical music
Internet lists.  I've come to the conclusion that there is no legitimate
resolution of this issue that would satisfy everybody.

While I don't wish to resume the debate upon this matter, I would like to
comment upon Harry Davis' two adverbs, taking them in reverse order.

I would not consider Hirschmann's conduct stupid.  Having, as he described
it in his book, heard a Hitler harangue while he was still seeking power
promising to kill all the Jews, his attitude towards Furtwaengler in 1936
(a few short years later), who had seemingly acquiesced in purging the
Berlin Philharmonic of Jewish performers, and had accepted honors and
distinctions from the new Nazi government, can hardly be called stupid.
Those with less emotional involvement in the matter might not share or have
shared Hirschmann's attitude, but it was neither stupid nor unreasonable
for Hirschmann to feel, in 1936, after many Nazi outrages but before the
more horrendous ones, that Furtwaengler, whose prominence made him almost
immune to Nazi reprisal (as some of his later conduct, of which Hirschmann
could not have been aware, demonstrated), could perhaps have spoken out
more, or at least dissociated himself more from the regime and like other
artists (including some Aryan ones) left Germany.  His talents, unlike the
literary ones of authors, like Thomas Mann, were not dependent upon language.

Nor do I see why Hirschmann's actions were improper.  He pursued his
campaign with the people who he believed had influence in the NY
Philharmonic's power to select the new conductor.  They were free to reject
his arguments, and indeed were inclined to do so for the most part, in the
beginning.  What finally convinced them, according to Hirschmann's book,
was the dramatic drop in subscription renewals.  According to what I recall
reading elsewhere, Furtwaengler himself may have on his own requested his
name to be withdrawn because he felt a continuing obligation to the Berlin
Philharmonic...and to Germany...in some order or other.

Walter Meyer