Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site tekecs.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!orca!tekecs!jeffw From: jeffw@tekecs.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) Newsgroups: net.music.classical Subject: Re: Music and nazism Message-ID: <5595@tekecs.UUCP> Date: Wed, 14-Aug-85 12:30:26 EDT Article-I.D.: tekecs.5595 Posted: Wed Aug 14 12:30:26 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 18-Aug-85 04:45:16 EDT References: <1516@bbncca.ARPA> <452@olivee.UUCP> <4935@allegra.UUCP> <1043@ulysses.UUCP> Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 26 >> I wasn't going to add to this at all - the responses to this have been >> quite good and to the point in addition to being informative (I even >> agreed with Rosen - egads :-). Music is to be judged on musical grounds, >> not political grounds. Performers and performances are to be judged >> also on musical grounds. Whether the composer/performer has a particular >> political position, is of a particular race, religion, etc., >> is immaterial, except to the extent that it affects the quality of the >> composition/performance. Even her/his personality is completely immaterial >> when judging the product. > > Yes and no; there's at least one real-world exception that comes to mind: > Wagner. First, he himself was a notorious anti-Semite. Second, his music > was adopted by the Nazis and was used as a symbol of the Third Reich. (He > himself was dead by that time.) That doesn't mean that his music is bad; > however, many people object to having it played because of the (non-musical) > images in evokes in them. And some people imagine they hear Wagner's unsavoury personality coming through his music. I wonder how many people who do have ever done any but superficial listening to his music. Personally, I don't buy it. And I've spent a lot of time playing it and listening to it (especially Tristan). I have to disagree; Wagner is not an exception to the criteria given. Even if he was an asshole. Jeff Winslow