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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