Thursday, September 01, 2011

Kosman on Wagner, Noon Today on KALW

Or, more accurately, fellow sometime-blogger and Chron music critic Joshua Kosman is on a panel called "Wagner Through a Jewish Lens—The Enigma of Wagner’s Genius and Anti-Semitism." Listen to the broadcast on KALW's web site or over the air. I'm wondering if he was the moderator (and also wondering why he's not plugging this on his own blog).
With Deborah Lipstadt, Randy Cohen and Joshua Kosman
Broadcast date September 1, 2011
Record date May 26, 2011

Richard Wagner composed music of astounding beauty. He was also a virulent anti-Semite. Hitler so closely identified with Wagner that he played his operas at Nazi rallies and throughout the death camps.

Is Wagner’s music inherently anti-Semitic? And can it be separated from the man?
(My personal opinion: many, many great artists, composers, and writers were absolutely vile humans, whether of the anti-Semitic, racist, colonialist, or sexist variety. Lots of others were ordinarily rotten humans; bad parents, adulterous spouses, liars, or cheaters. You will go mad if you don't separate the art from the imperfect people who created it.)

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