Posted by Scott on July 04, 2002 at 07:49:59:
In Reply to: why play wagner? posted by gc on July 03, 2002 at 22:38:19:
There are cetian things that one must consider about Wagner. I don't have much time to type but I will try to tell you a little about him. He was born in Saxony during the spring of 1813 when Napoleon was overuning the area in an attempt to reassurt controll over Europe. All through his life he hated the French for the suffering his parants went through during the wars. This is obvious in Die Miestersinger when Hans Sachs go on a irrelevant anti-French stint. His late play A Capitulation is the most obvious anti-French work, it joyfully discribes the fall of Paris after Napoleon.
His legal father Carl Friedrich Wagner, died shortly after his death. And although Wagner never admitted it Carl Friedrich Wagner never wanted anything to do with the child until just before his death, he was probebly the son of Ludwig Geyer, who was an close friend of the Wagner family. All through his life Wagner was aware of this, he even told some close friends this, includibng Nietzsche. Infact Geyer is a common German-Jewish name, and Wagner was torn, because he respected his most likely father(Geyer) but resented that he might be disended from Jews. When he wrote his autobiogrtaphy he chose a vulture seal for the cover. This is quite touching because that is the seal of the Geyer name, it is a often considered a Jewish seal. He did this even though in the biography he said the Carl Friedrich Wagner was his father.
I think I am not saying what I want to be saying, however Robert W. Gutman has a great biography on Wagner and his muisc called "Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music." Also if you ever get a chance to read any of his letters I think you will find many that speak agianst anti-seminitism (is that a word). Obviosly Wagner was a very complex and troubled man, I think by just saying that he was bad you lose sight of why he was, or wasn't. There are many letters of his that may surprise you. I think by just saying he is evil or bad you are doing yourself a disservice, and you are beging to do exactly what you preach agianst. Also because Wagner influence so many composers, either directly or indirectly that an augument could he made as to why should we listen to any music after him, it all was influenced by evil :)
Sorry to make this so long, and excuse all the typo's, I didn't have time to re-read this post. I need to go,and for everyone in America:
Haben Sie ein glückliches Juli 4.