Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/08/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I agree, an excellent article on a very complex theme. The influence of the Wagner family, not just Wagner himself (or his music), is very probably infinitely more complex. The Mitford sisters, (with connections to Oswald Mosley, Diana Mitford was engaged to him - my father threw stones at Mosley at a political rally in Leeds before the war) and other prominent British, American and European fascists were frequent guests of the family and the Festspiele in Bayreuth. Winfred Wagner was born in England and met Hitler in 1923, supported him during his imprisonment after the Munich putsch and afterwards, and although obviously besotted with AH, is said to have deplored the persecution of the Jews in a letter in the late 1930s which she wrote to prevent the parents of Katia, the Jewish wife of Thomas Mann, being arrested by the Gestapo (all well and good, but if Katia had been less prominent, I doubt very much whether Winifred would have taken the trouble to intervene.) Winifred was also instrumental in an attempt to secure funding for the Nazi Party from Henry Ford, an attempt that failed despite Ford's declared anti-Semitism. Despite this, AH later awarded Ford one of the highest honours of the German Reich (he also honoured the then head of IBM). Ford never returned the medal after WWII was over.** The Wagner villa, Wahnfried (literally peace from insanity or delusion) in Bayreuth became a gathering place and centre of gravity for almost every shade of brown politics. The Festspiele were also THE place to be seen for anyone with ambitions of rising through the Nazi hierarchy, as it is today for aspiring politicians, big-business and so-called prominence. When you read about the quarrels between the members of the new generation of Wagners, it is quite clear that although their political couleur may have changed in 60 or 70 years, the despotic ways of the family have, however, changed but little. Douglas ** http://rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of_the_europ.htm Ken Carney wrote: > Peter, > > That is an excellent article. As you say, it is complicated. I have also > wondered about the appeal of the music vs. the beliefs of the composer. If > I > didn't know about the latter, I probably would not have guessed, except > maybe analyzing Rheingold too much. Thanks for the link, it was very > interesting. > > Ken > p.s. Wagner is the only music to which my parrot responds. She hums along > and drives everyone crazy, especially the funeral music, but I don't cover > her cage - she is entitled to some art also. > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: lug-bounces+kcarney1=cox.net at leica-users.org [mailto:lug- >> bounces+kcarney1=cox.net at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Peter Klein >> Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 2:36 PM >> To: lug at leica-users.org >> Subject: [Leica] Peter's article on Wagner is up >> >> LUG: My article on Wagner's anti-Semitism and how it affects appreciation >> of his music has been published. >> http://www.jtnews.net/index.php?/news/item/6375/C48/ >> >> Note that the paper's Web software strips out italics and paragraph >> indents, so titles don't stand out properly. There was very little >> editing this time, except for changing the technical term >> "through-composed" to "composed" in the penultimate paragraph. All in >> all, I'm quite pleased with this one. >> >> --Peter >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > >