Wagner eh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqk4bcnBqls
shareI love Wagner - some of the most powerful music ever composed.
shareIs it nazi? https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130509-is-wagners-nazi-stigma-fair
shareNo it isn't. Just because he was Hitler's favorite composer shouldn't mean anything. Hitler also liked the movie Gone With the Wind, so should that be banned?
Seriously, some people see that movie as racist because it doesn't outright condemn slavery.
Nevermind that looking back, the movie was progressive when it was made in 1939.
Speaking of the Nazi's - whenever I listen to Gotterdammerung I can't help but think about the Berlin Philharmonic's last performance when this was played before Berlin fell to the Allies. They did think they were gods, but I wonder if everyone in that audience was evil or were there some decent people people who had been swept away by Hitler's promise of a utopian future?
shareI really doubt that the musicians were thinking anything but "I've held onto my home and my job this long, what the hell am I going to do after this? Poverty, death, or a refugee camp if I'm lucky?".
shareThere were reports that the Hitler Youth passed cyanide out to the audience after the performance and considering the number of suicides as Germany fell, I can imagine it did happen.
shareHoney, if someone was passing out cyanide capsules as my city was about to fall to an enemy invasion, I'd take one.
I mean I'd take one and put it in my pocket, just in case it came in handy someday! I wouldn't swallow it then and there! But even if I knew my government was in the wrong and needed to fall, well, war is utter hell for civilians caught in it and so is the aftermath.
OMG, I thought I was the only one left! Have you seen a live Ring Cycle?
Although BTW I have to admit that Wagner's most lasting and impactful cultural contribution was the "leitmotif", which is the basis of film scoring.
No, unfortunately I have not. Have you?
shareI've seen three ring cycles live over the years! I live two hours away from San Francisco, which has an excellent opera company, and they've done a few ring cycles over the decades. They did an absolutely kick-ass production about five years ago and repeated it last summer with different singers, it was superb!
Do see a production live someday if you ever have the chance, or at least watch complete performances on youtube. I mean the music is fantastic when recorded, but seeing it acted out in a top production brings all the parts that seem slow or tedious on a record into vivid life.