Posted by ahem... on July 04, 2002 at 01:27:59:
In Reply to: why play wagner? posted by gc on July 03, 2002 at 22:38:19:
From the "glaring error" department:
Uhh...that would be Arian, NOT Austrian. One is a nationality while the other is a "race." Just wanted to clear that point up with you.
----------------------------
By the way, Prokofiev maintained full membership in the Communist Party. And Herbert von Karajan was a known friend to the National Socialist Party (the Nazis).
Having full knowledge of these things, MANY people choose to view the art of these men in its own context, free of the bulk of the artist's values. Some do not, chosing to politicize everything.
Personally, I live for the all-too-seldom chances that I get to play big works by Prokofiev (and Wagner, and Strauss, etc.); and I have many von Karajan recordings in my library at home.
Does this make me a Communist or National Socialist?
No.
Is the product of these people so polluted by their ideology that it can no longer be appreciated without that ideology being attached to it?
For you: I don't know.
For me: it is not a problem.
People are allowed to have there own opinions and beliefs, even if WE hold them to be weird (or evil). If we, as art lovers, can see through the personal quirks of the artist and love their work for its own sake, then LET US DO SO. Let me enjoy Alexander Nevsky because it is good music; do not try to make me dislike it because "some Commie" wrote it as the soundtrack of a USSR propaganda film. Okay?
If you are so disturbed by the political leanings of a given composer then shut them out of your life as best you can. (But never tell your Music Director that you "will not be playing the Strauss due to his politcal leanings" unless you want to be unemployed...)
I already went through school and faced these very same choices. I felt that I should not play the Strauss "Stadt Wien" Fanfare because of what it had been written for. Years later, I am REALLY glad that I caved in and played it. It was a great experience and my opinions about Strauss' music have since changed. What a shame it would have been for me to have missed the chance to play that piece with 150 other brass musicians in the Meyerson in Dallas...
And, with time, your current opinions might change, too.
Good luck.
Wade