Posted by
Mike on Friday, July 24, 2009 1:27:53 PM
http://westernperspective.blogspot.com/
The Los Angeles City Council earlier this week resolved a dispute
concerning the upcoming Wagnerian festival next spring celebrating
Wagner's "Ring" cycle. An objection was raised by Council Member Mike
Antonovich on the basis that Wilhelm Richard Wagner was in his day racist and anti-Semitic. In reality, Wagner was a Christian composer
who struggled for most of his life over the question of what it means
to be German. Any tinges of anti-Semitism probably stem from the
antisemitism of Martin Luther.
I personally find listening to Wagner's
Walkürenritt
more tortuous and tedious than water-boarding. His musical composition
tends to be heavy, dull and moribund, filled with
Sturm und Drang. It was used by Hitler after
Wagner's death because of its appeal to the Völkisch mentality. Today
its appeal is to a culturally debased group of neo-pagans. The real
question is who would pay money to listen to Meyerbeer or Mendelssohn
today?