Posted by Mac Fish on July 04, 2002 at 01:15:09:
In Reply to: why play wagner? posted by gc on July 03, 2002 at 22:38:19:
One principle we as humans can and desperately need to learn is the complete ability to coexist.
Being a victim of propaganda at any given point in time does not reflect your quality as a human being (or validity as a composer we should research or whose music we should perform). It has been argued that the use of propaganda in itself is bad. I agree only that propaganda is a very powerful persuasive tool as we saw in the case of world war II with the Nazis and the killing of Jewish people in concentration camps etc. In some cases propaganda has had very positive societal affects for example; the tyrants of Greece who applied the use of propaganda to stabilize an otherwise chaotic democratic civilization i.e. Corinthians of Archaic Greece.
But lets stay with the argument at hand. We can observe the want and need to belong in all cultures of people. This observation, on the negative side, has been the breeding ground of extremely dangerous and powerful creations of the mind; like the idea of the perfect race. The reason propaganda is so powerful is because it provides the ability for an entire society to agree on one common idea, and in the case of the Austrians it was the idea of a superior race. Obviously without membership to this supreme race you are subject to its authority. Thus you have extreme social stratification similar to the for mentioned Spartans of ancient Greece.
Unfortunately, Richard Wagner was first a victim, and eventually manifester of this type of negative- deeply rooted cultural and societal propaganda. As a complete person however, he was not defined by the societal limiting labels of Jew-hater or perfect-race seeker. He had very strong (personal) morals and the capacity to love, as demonstrated through his devotion to God and love of his country men. People will say that he was immoral because he was a womanizer etc. These characteristics do not define morality. (go look it up) Infact he was a very good man inside the bounds of his ‘world view’.
As an educated society we can observe this type of thinking. We do know that it does work when you have an elite group who all believe the same thing. The point is, is that Wagner was not a bad person for believing in this idea. Yes his ‘world view’ was a twisted one, but there are plenty of Americans who hate the Germans because of what they did to the Jews. This is effervescent with illogic. This reasoning is of no fault of there own is a product of societal pressure (propaganda) to feel bad for the Jews and hate the Germans for doing what they did to the Jews. My response is read the old testament of the bible and you will find, if held to this same line of reasoning, Jewish people are not so peaceful or innocent nor are they the only victims! You may retort that the bible is not valid; it is an account of ancient Jewish history.
It is useful for us to learn about this as citizens in case our government, or the like, decides to use tactics like propaganda on us. The story of the mastersinger has a very clever plot that is absolutely worth your time to look at. Though it is painful for us, try to look at the world from this other side, knowing what happened to the Jewish peoples during world war II. You will learn a lot about yourself if you read a little bit about all this stuff. It is necessary to get as clear a picture of what a person wanted to here when they composed a given piece. Sometimes; your worst enemy is your best teacher.
Admittedly, the comedic opera of ‘Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg’ is amongst the best of examples of true propaganda. So for the most sensitive of individuals, learn the story of the mastersingers out of its political context. It is imperative that you know the story behind ‘Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg’ previous to its performance because significant research will give insight into how the piece fits together with the rest of the orchestra. I will leave that up to you.
Wagner quote---
Then let us sail across the sea, and here and there found a young Germany, let us fructify it with the products of our toil and striving, and let us beget and bring up the noblest and most godlike children: but let us do better than the Spanish, who turned the New World into a papal slaughterhouse, and better than the English, who have turned it into a shop. Let us make it German and glorious; from its rising to its setting, the sun shall look down upon a beautiful, free Germany, and on the borders of the daughterlands, as upon those of their mother, no downtrodden, unfree people shall dwell, the rays of German freedom and German gentleness shall warm and transfigure the Cossack and the Frenchman, the Bushman and the Chinese.