To put it mildly, there is no denying that Wagner simply did not like lots and lots of people. He felt that the German culture of his day, hewn over centuries, faced challenges from intruders and usurpers during his lifetime. In other words, he felt threatened. And, feeling his own world at risk, he responded with thoughts of attack, which were expressed as polemics against Jews and others.
Although Wagner’s invective was not solely limited to Jews, his animosity toward them has become the most famous example of his prejudice, likely because Jews were such a prominent force in music, the field in which Wagner himself excelled. Had Wagner been writing and composing today, it is possible that his ideas concerning Asians and others might be more fully examined.
What must surely arouse great curiosity and amazement, though, are Wagner’s close relations with Jewish composers and musicians, notably the conductor Hermann Levi, whom Wagner and his wife Cosima admired perhaps above all other conductors of their day, and who was personally selected by Wagner to conduct his opera Parsifal, one of the most mystically Christian of all musical works. In addition, it must not be forgotten that the pianist Joseph Rubinstein lived for a time with the Wagners, although it could be argued that he was a model of self-effacement.
Nonetheless, Wagner’s writings often exude odious opinions toward the Jewish people; Wagner was also adored by Hitler, which further diminished his reputation.
And yet, he wrote some of the most hauntingly beautiful music to have ever appeared on our planet. One has only to listen carefully to the “Liebestod” from Tristan and Isolde, or the Prelude to Parsifal, to realize this. And, ironically, these two works sweat out not only beauty, but a sense of extreme empathy and tenderness for those who suffer.
The British composer and mystic Cyril Scott maintained that artists are inspired by spiritual forces from without, not within, and therefore Wagner was only a vessel for higher expression, not its originator. It is worth pondering the derivation of the word “inspire”—to breathe into—and the fact that ancient epics began with an invocation to the Muse to inspire the writer from her loftier perspective.
Scott further pronounced that Wagner embodied through music the principle of Buddhist compassion. Believing that Wagner himself was perhaps unaware of the forces at work within him, Scott saw no inconsistency in this position. Rather than argue for or against Scott’s assertion, I would simply encourage interested readers to listen to Wagner’s music and decide for themselves.
It was a staunch policy of the Israel Philharmonic and other Israeli ensembles that the music of Wagner never be performed in Israel or by those ensembles abroad, in deference to Holocaust survivors who were forced to listen to his music as they entered the death camps. This tradition was broken in 1981 by Zubin Mehta, the Indian conductor who loved Israel so much that he refused to leave the country during the first Gulf War, when the nation was attacked by Saddam Hussein. Mehta was supported by Leonard Bernstein and Daniel Barenboim. Although not common, Wagner has since made further appearances in Israeli concert halls.
Wagner’s music has long formed an integral component of the repertoire of the St. Louis Symphony and almost every major orchestra in the world. It would be fair to say that no orchestra’s repertoire would be complete without Wagner. And yet, as has been discussed in earlier posts, few institutions have promoted understanding, diversity and tolerance as much as musical institutions. Gustav Mahler, who was Jewish by birth and whose death in 1911 was recently lavishly observed by the SLSO and around the world, established his career early on through his conducting of Wagner.
When the great conductor Herbert von Karajan directed his final concert in 1988, he included works on the program by both Wagner and Mahler. His choice for soloist on the program was the legendary African-American soprano Jessye Norman. More recently, on July 26, 2011, the Israel Chamber Orchestra performed a concert in Wagner’s hometown of Bayreuth. Although the program was devoted to works by Jewish composers, including “Hatikvah,” the national anthem of Israel, conductor Roberto Paternostro, who himself had lost family in the Holocaust, chose to conclude the program with one of the most Wagnerian of all Wagner’s works, the Siegfried Idyll, composed as a gift for his wife Cosima. In an ironic twist, Joseph Rubinstein had been instrumental in the work’s creation as Wagner’s assistant, and later arranged the work for piano. The audience responded to the entire program with enthusiastic accolades. It was yet another example of music's powerful ability to unite human beings, and dissolve barriers.
The St. Louis Symphony performs Wagner’s Prelude to Act 1 from Parisifal as part of “Tetzlaff Plays Sibelius,” this Saturday, January 21 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, January 22 at 3 p.m. Conducted by David Robertson, the centerpiece of the program is world-acclaimed violinist Christian Tetzlaff's performance of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto; the program closes with John Adams’ Harmonium. For tickets, or for more information, call 314-533-2500, or visit the Symphony’s website.
