"I like Wagner's music better than anybody's. It is so loud that one can talk the whole time" Oscar Wilde.
Well, it was very loud, and I was tempted to annoy, but I couldn't because I was too busy being overwhelmed. The highly-charged performance by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the RFH last night was my first live hearing of the German Romantic, Richard Wagner. It was only the Overture of Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), but I was side-blinded.
Based on legend, the Flying Dutchman is the tale of a ship captain doomed to sail the world's oceans forever unless he finds true love. Wagner's fifth opera dramatically paints with music raging seas, stormy nights and supernatural yearning.
I've been listening to the old man on vinyl and CD since I was a teen. Tristan und Isolde is my favourite "music drama" (Wagner's preferred term over "opera"), followed closely by Die Walkure. One of my dreams is to attend the annual Richard Wagner Festival at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus one summer. I find his music's dramatic tension and dissonant harmonics uplifting and disturbing.
I'm passionate about his music, but his anti-semitism and cultural appropriation by the Nazis is shocking: his views on Jews influenced Hitler's own, and Wagner's music was frequently played at mass Nazi rallies. Any proposed performance of Wagner's work in Israel today sparks controversy.
In common with many intellectuals at the time, Wagner promulgated numerous anti-semitic views over the course of his life, including the view that Jewish musicians could only produce shallow and artificial music that had nothing in common with "the genuine spirit of the Folk"; that Jews were "freaks of Nature" who blabbered in "creaking, squeaking, buzzing" voices; and that either Jews should be expelled from Germany, or Germans should abandon Jewish culture.
His essay "Das Judenthum in der Musik" (1850) concluded: "There is only one way of redeeming the Jews from the terrible curse that hangs over them - annihilation."
Though many believe he meant eradication of Judaism and conversion to Christianity rather than actual physical annihilation, the sentiment is chilling to the core and it is why my love for his music will always be tempered.
Related links:
+ Sightings of the Flying Dutchman
+ "Wagner was probably the big-head to end all big-heads." Funny account of Wagner's life.
Other links today:
+ Wanna play President Bush defending the Queen from gun-toting attackers? Or John Kerry fighting himself in the boxing ring? Well now you can.
+ The right to worship Satan recognised by the Royal Navy. God bless our navy.
+ Supermarket sweep. Is the rise of Tesco such a terrible thing? You decide.
+ MP3 downloads of some of the sessions John Peel had on his show over the years
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