WAGNER AND ANTI-SEMITISM

WAGNER AND ANTI-SEMITISM
Born in the same year as Giuseppe Verdi, was a master of equal gift, but totally different personal qualitites. His name was Richard Wagner (1813-1883). Wager’s Ride of the Valkyries from the opera Die Walküre is well known. It may well be one of the most familiar instrumental works from any opera. It was used by Hollywood in the motion picture Apocalypse Now, in which a troop of helicopters fly over a battlefield to pick up wounded and dying soldiers. The scene in the opera is very similar, as Wotan (king of the gods, ((Zeus in Greek, Jupiter in Roman)) sends his daughters, the Walküres, in their breastplates, horned helmets, and spears to retrieve the dead heroes and fly them to Walhalla (heaven) on their flying horses. Wagner’s plots for many of his operas are very heroic and deal with the nobility of man and gods. The cycle from which Die Walküre comes, contains four operas, which in total are called the Ring of the Nibelungen. This is perhaps the greatest opus of operatic work created by man. It involves something over 16 hours of opera which took Wagner decades to complete. It requires remarkable technical aspects and huge orchestration. It was a work that Wagner approached the United States Government with the hope that they would purchase the work from him for a cost of 1 million dollars, hold exclusive performing rights and build a festival opera house for him in Washington D.C.. The proposal was turned down by the U.S. Government, and it was Ludwig II of Bavaria who ultimately met the conditions for Wagner. Ludwig II was so enamored of the works of Wagner that he gave him carte blanche relating to his expenses. He honored Wagner to such an extent that he built a castle near Garmisch-Partenkirke, Germany called the Neuschwanstien Castle. It has in it, each room dedicated to one of Wagner’s operas. Ludwig II enabled Wagner to fulfill his highest aspirations and dreams. He supplied him with a lifetime salary of significance as well as a Festspielhaus (festival opera house), as well as the finest singers, musicians, an technicians. Few composers in history have enjoyed such affluence and opportunity during their lifetimes. Wagner had revolutionary ideas about composition and demonstrated an almost contemptuous view of the audience. He did not appreciate their input into the proceeds of the performance. He wrote in one continuous sweep in such a way as to prohibit the “intrusion” of applause, as he viewed it. He wanted continuous action and musical flow, and insured it by the way with which there is no clear cadences (endings). The relationship between Ludwig II and Wagner was quite ideal. The only subject upon which Wagner and Ludwig disagreed was Judaism. Ludwig recognized that the greatest creative minds of history have been Jews. He knew that if Wagner wanted the best musicians, singers, conductors, designers, builders for his operas, it would be essential to employ Jews. Wagner on the other hand hated Jews and had a maniacal belief that they were a substandard race. One of Wagner’s noble operas, Lohengrin, which has the famous Bridal Chorus is a work which praises the nobility of man and in particular, those of the Aryan race. It is one of the great ironies of world history that a man who could create Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, Der Fiegender Holländer, and many other noble works of art, could also write one of the most anti-Semitic treatises of history as well. Wagner held strongly to the idea that the Aryan race was superior in every respect and could become contaminated by exchange with Jews. He wrote that the Jews were tainted in their blood and carried genetic “poison” which would ultimately destroy the purity of any race which intermingled with them. At the same time, he held profound respect and love for Jesus of Nazareth and the apostles. Perhaps he selectively forgot that Jesus was of the same lineage! Wagner’s last work, Parsifal, is a work based on the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. In the entire operatic repertory there are few, if any works that deal with such a devout and noble subject. It bears the essence of Wagner’s God-fearing nature, and promotes man’s loftiest aspirations. He strove for lofty ideals and had great expectations relating to singers. Only the most extraordinary singers are up to the task of singing Wagner, as witnessed in the Erzählung Ho-Jo-To-Ho from Die Wälkure. Wagner was obsessed with his anti-Semitic beliefs and postulated them continually. It is no wonder that Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) held Wagner in great esteem. He quoted often the writings of Wagner, and had his music performed continually throughout the murderous reign of the Third Reich. How one of such intellect and charisma could have orchestrated perhaps the most diabolic assault on humanity in history, staggers the imagination. Of course, Hitler did not rally a nation about him, but rather a group of highly dedicated companions who aided him in enacting a pogrom (overt attempt to exterminate a race), or herculean proportion in the space of only a few years. It was not only the Jews that Hitler viewed as malignant in a world attempting to create a master race, but those with disabilities and homosexuals as well. A scheme, which if in effect today would deprive the world of the brilliance of one of the great physicists of history, Dr. Stephen Hawking, who endures profound disabilities. It was his ultimate desire to destroy them all, thereby promoting the ideal of a perfect, master race. Seldom in human history has such a diabolical design been given sway, and most frightening of all, is that it came close to being carried to completion. How much of this monstrous nightmare can be leveled upon Wagner for blame? Hitler had Wagner’s music performed throughout his reign of terror of the Third Reich. I do not mean to cause you to avoid Wagner’s music as a result of his connection to this unfortunate era of history. Wagner claimed divine inspiration in his music. It is up to us to determine that for ourselves. I, for one, find Wagner’s music to be some of the most lofty and impressive compositions of history, in spite of his personal challenges and opinions.