Santiago Mazzei
Teacher: Stella Maris Saubidet
Oyhamburu
Lengua y Expresión Escrita IV-ISFD 41
September, 2014
Barenboim and his Ideals: Democracy and the Wagner
Controversy
In the year 2001, Maestro Daniel Barenboim decided to
conduct one of his most favorite pieces in music in a concert that took place
in the state of Israel. He decided to do this being aware of the controversy
this event would raise not only in Israel, but in the whole world. The classical
piece he decided to play was the historically renowned “The Valkyrie”. But the detail that has to be
mentioned here is that this masterpiece of classical music belonged to Richard
Wagner. This German musician developed his art during the romantic period and
is known not only because of his music, but also because of his anti-Semitic
literary works and thoughts. As a matter of fact, this composer was Adolf
Hitler’s favorite artist and many Jews were executed in the gas chambers to the
sound of his music. Many voices have risen against the Argentinean composer’s
actions, but he knew how to confront these accusations. Although there is a
belief that Richard Wagner’s real legacy in music is one of racial ideology and
prejudice even in our modern days, Daniel Barenboim has managed to prove that
this matter can be seen from a different perspective and to gain support from many
people around the globe.
Despite
the fact that we imagine ourselves living in a post-Holocaust mélange of musical sounds, we still
inhabit “Wagner’s world” (Loeffler, 2014). At least this is the point of view
that James Loeffler, professor of history at the University of Virginia, adopts
towards this issue. Daniel Barenboim, among others, claimed that Wagner
appreciated some members of the Jewish German community. Loeffler claims that
this fact is not strong enough as to give an end to the debate of whether
Wagner’s music can be conceived as something separate from his anti-Semitic
ideology. There is a belief in the moral autonomy
of artistic productions that comes from the Enlightenment, and that is what
motivated most Hebrew geniuses to make music. This has been, for instance, the
case of the Mendelssohn family. This Jewish musical success drove Wagner to
write his essay Das Judenthum
in der Musik in 1850. This written work was about the way in which Jewish
traditional sonorities had changed the German musical scene. He claimed, for
example, that the “Jews are a pariah nation with no land or language of their own”
(Loeffler, 2014). He finished his work by saying
that the only possible solution to this situation would be the suppression of
Jews from the societies of Europe. In addition to his view, Romanticism carried
a nationalist tendency within itself that spread all over Europe, and music in
particular was the vehicle for political ideas at the time. Later on, two
opposing cultural sides could be differentiated. There were the “German-speaking
Jews seeking cultural acceptance as Germans [and the] ethnic Germans seeking
political independence as a unified nation” (Loeffler,
2014). According
to Michael Haas, Wagner’s literature has been the only significantly important
influence in Hitler’s ideology years later, but yet that is not the main point.
There is a tendency nowadays to ignore the Jewish musical legacy in many
educational institutions from Europe and other parts of the world. However, something
different happened in Israel, where Richard Wagner’s music has been banned for
half a century.
In 2001, Daniel Barenboim decided to perform a piece
from Wagner in Israel, claiming that his music can be listened as something
separate from its associations to the holocaust. The conductor of the Berlineer Staatsoper asked “if any
person has the right to deprive another who does not have these same
associations of hearing Wagner’s music” (Barenboim, 2001). Soon after the end
of WW II the Israel Philharmonic did not accept formerly Jewish musicians who
had gone through a conversion to another religion during the conflict. Since
nowadays 20% of the population of Israel is non-Jewish, conversion does not
have a negative connotation anymore. Moreover, “Israel has the obligation to treat
these inhabitants as equal citizens” (Barenboim, 2001). Incidentally, if we
focus our attention into Wagner’s purely musical contributions, we will find
that his ideas of tempi and acoustics
have changed the way in which classical music is played and written even in
modern times. Despite the fact that his personality was “…appalling… [and]
…despicable…” (Barenboim, 1998), neither Hitler nor the German composer has
created the anti-Semitic way of thinking. It is something that preceded them.
It is also important to remark that there are no traces of anti-Semitism in
Wagner’s operas: there are only interpretations that we can make about the
subject. In the same way, one should make a distinction between the musician’s
ideology and what the Nazis implemented it for. Barenboim understands music as
a trans-national manifestation of art: it does not belong to any language or
nationality.
Because his revolutionary ideas stand for the
eradication of racial and ideological differences through the universal
language of music, Barenboim has gained recognition all over the world. The
Protestant Academy of Tutzing gave him the Tolerance Prize in 2002. This was
due to his attempt and success of bringing people from Israel and Palestine
together through classical music. This success was achieved via the creation of
the Western-Eastern Divan Workshop in 1999, in which Barenboim included two
concertmasters: One of them was Lebanese, the other from Israel. This has to do
with his involvement in politics. Since music has become the breeding ground of
his political views; many feel interested in his particular vision of what can
be achieved through dialogue. Barenboim states that authentic dialogue, the one
that implies listening openly to what the other is saying, is the only hope we
have to peacefully live together. Five years later, the UN named him Messenger
of Peace, and “in February 2009, he was awarded the Moses Mendelssohn Medal for
his contribution to tolerance and international understanding” (Barenboim, 2011).
His efforts to promote peaceful relationships between nations have not only
made him a recognized figure in the scenario of international politics, but
also built a controversial image for him.
The fact that Richard Wagner was an anti-Semite
rings a bell for many people at the time of appreciating his music. It is
really hard to ignore the composer’s way of thinking just by turning our heads
the other way. However, there is a question that arises from this matter: Why
should people to whom this music does not imply reviving painful memories be
deprived from the possibility of appreciating it? Moreover, is it worth it to
continue identifying Wagner’s music with the Nazi holocaust in Europe? Daniel
Barenboim has managed to show us that banning or holding a grudge against a
composer’s music just because it is associated with a historical tragedy is
almost at the same level as burning books because they are contrary to a
certain totalitarian ideology. We have to be careful not to fight fire with fire,
because, as Barenboim pointed out, that has never worked and will never work
for us to attain peace between nations. Dialogue is the only hope we have;
everything else has just failed. In any case, we should try to stop Wagner’s
music from having any direct or indirect influence in contemporary
anti-Semitism. And best way to do it is by getting rid of the taboo and start
separating the musical genius from the repulsive xenophobic ideologist –even if
he was Hitler’s favourite composer and literate. In Barenboim’s words regarding
his past presentation in Israel, “this is a case where Israel can and should
define itself as a democracy” (Barenboim, 2001).
Works
Cited
BARENBOIM
D. & SAID E., Wagner and Ideology,
Daniel Barenboim, Retrieved
on September 30, 2014 from
http://www.danielbarenboim.com/journal/wagner-and-ideology.html
BARENBOIM
D., As a Democratic State, Israel Should
Allow Wagner to be Played, NPQ, Retrieved on September 30, 2014 from http://www.digitalnpq.org/global_services/global%20viewpoint/05-21-01.html
BARENBOIM
D., Daniel Barenboim – A Builder of
Musical Bridges, Daniel Barenboim, Retrieved on September 30, 2014 from
http://www.danielbarenboim.com/about/biography.html
LOEFFLER
J., Wagner's Anti-Semitism Still Matters,
New Republic, Retrieved on
September 30, 2014 from http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118331/forbidden-music-michael-haas-reviewed-james-loeffler
LUCCHINI
L., Daniel Barenboim: "El diálogo es
la única idea que nos puede salvar; todo lo demás falló", La Nación, Retrieved on September 30, 2014 from
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1525391-daniel-barenboim-el-dialogo-es-la-unica-idea-que-nos-puede-salvar-todo-lo-demas-fallo
