Richard Wagner’s birthday is this Wednesday. For Spo-fans unfamiliar with this composer, the more you know about him the less you like him. He was so self-centered he makes Donald Trump look good. He used people and he was horrid to everyone. On top of it all he was a racist and anti-Semitic. Hitler adored him. It is hard to believe (or stomach) this louse of a person managed to make some of the most marvelous music ever made. He was certainly not the only awful man who made good art he was arguably the one of the worst – or the worst. I think so anyway. So – how do I manage my love for his music? *
We do terrible things. It is easy to focus on our Shadow elements. We forget we are also capable of marvelous things, which are often expressed through Art in all its forms. This is particularly so for music. Sometimes I sit at the symphony, feeling sorrowful by all the ills of the world, but I listen to the divine music emanating from stage and I find solace. Art does that. Art comforts me in the axiom despite ourselves we can create beauty. Herr Wagner is not unique; he is merely the extreme example of all of us and what we have. What belongs to Art belongs to all men. We cringe at the artist yet rise by his or her creation.
In the end I just can’t hate him as he has enriched my life so much. He helps me remember not to focus on the Shadow but on the Light.
*I know many Jewish art patrons who won’t attend any operas or symphonies doing Wagner. In Israel Wagner is not played at all. In Bayreuth Germany at the Wagner Festival they play nothing but Wagner. As a Jungian I like the notion a place that is ‘all Wagner” is balanced with a place that is ‘no Wagner”.
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May 20, 2019 at 10:36 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
“We cringe at the artist yet rise by his or her creation.” That’s a wonderful way of expressing this ongoing dilemma concerning many artists.
May 20, 2019 at 1:25 PM
Urspo
Thank you
May 20, 2019 at 11:16 AM
anne marie in philly
“oh brunhilde, you’re so wovely.” “yes I know it, I can’t help it.”
May 20, 2019 at 1:25 PM
Urspo
LOL
May 20, 2019 at 11:20 AM
Moving with Mitchell
Unfortunately, knowing so much about him, I can’t listen to him without all that coming back. So, unless I don’t know it’s Wagner (which I’m sure is often) I don’t listen.
May 20, 2019 at 1:26 PM
Urspo
many feel this way !
May 20, 2019 at 2:26 PM
Calvin
Ja, Herr Wagner ist problematisch. I agree that I hate the sinner but love the sin. I find his music inspiring and uplifting but then there’s the man himself. See Stephen Fry’s video on being Jewish and Gay and loving Wagner. Great post as always.
May 20, 2019 at 3:24 PM
Urspo
This will be a fascinating look-see for this evening.
I remember my Jewish roommate, a musician hiding his love for the music more guardedly than his homosexuality. This was apparently far more abhorrent to his folks than his sexuality.
May 20, 2019 at 3:07 PM
Todd Gunther
I have similar feelings of love the work/hate the man for people like Walter Brennan (rumored to have danced a jig when told Martin Luther King, Jr had been shot) and Lou Costello, who embraced McCarthyism.
I think someone needs to cheer themselves up by rolling down a gently sloping, grassy hill. BoD be damned!
May 20, 2019 at 3:25 PM
Urspo
It is the panacea of all ills, especially combined with a nice hot cup of tea.
May 20, 2019 at 3:10 PM
David Godfrey
A grassy slope sounds like a good idea!
May 20, 2019 at 3:25 PM
Urspo
Alas I have none; a snort of Carn Mor will have to do.
May 20, 2019 at 5:21 PM
Ron
I’ve always liked Wagner’s music, regardless of whether or not Hitler liked Wagner
May 20, 2019 at 10:00 PM
Old Lurker
Happy birthday Richard! Sorry you were such a jerk!
You have been blogging a lot of difficult social issues lately. On the one hand we appreciate geniuses because they think differently and perceive the world in unusual ways. Then we get mad at them for thinking differently and perceiving the world in unusual ways. So intellectually I am on your side.
On the other hand there are definitely musical acts that I can’t listen to any more, even though I used to adore their music. There is an entire generation of people conflicted about Michael Jackson now, and I am sure there are people who are torn about R. Kelly too. But for some reason Woody Allen still gets to make movies?
May 21, 2019 at 7:22 AM
Urspo
These are all good points, particularly Mr. Jackson. Interesting that his fans are not so much “he was a bastard but boy he made good music” but to deny any dark side as slanderous lies.
May 20, 2019 at 11:00 PM
Raybeard
I’ve never been an ultra-enthusiast for W’s music but, although it’s sacrilege to say it for some, I’d far rather listen to his operas than to Verdi’s.or even (and here it comes!) ……to Mozart’s. So – I’ve said it, but I’m too old now to care about what others think, so there!.
May 21, 2019 at 7:24 AM
Urspo
I think it was Rosetti (or one of that crowd) who summarized Wagner’s music as 5 minutes apotheosis and two hours of tedium. Even his more devout acolytes admit he can be tedious. I think Act III of Die Walkure is one of the best pieces of music yet Act II is dull as a lecture on ball bearings.
May 21, 2019 at 8:17 AM
Raybeard
I found the FIRST act of ‘Die Walkure’ particularly impressive the very first time I heard it, and I still do.
May 21, 2019 at 11:21 AM
rjjs8878
My neighbors, who are retired from the opera business, have said the same things about Wagner. Jackson Pollock produced fantastic art but was a horrible man consumed by alcoholism and womanizing. Art comforts me too. It’s probably why I spend my Friday evenings in art galleries.
May 22, 2019 at 9:07 AM
wfregosi
Several years ago I was asked to give a major talk about some operatic subject. I chose Wagner, titling it “Richard Wagner: The Troubling Genius Who Changed Everything.”