Dear J. Rifkin,
What an interesting topic. I must admit, that I am a little biased.
Whenever I think of an artistic movement, especially one as the
Romanticism and Post-Romanticism, I cannot separate it from the
social, political and religious developments of the period. No man,
wrote John Donne once, is an island. We are all children of our times,
whether we'd like it or not - and that gets everywhere - our choices
in music, our ideology and beliefs, and even our culinary choices.
Just to enlighten you on a contending argument to mine, "Those
advocating the rational approach say one must separate art from
politics and that emotion should not stand in the way of art."
(Source: Lili Eylon, "The Controversy Over Richard Wagner"
<http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Wagner.html>, did you
know that Wagner's music is still very much banned in Israel?). Okay,
enough philosophy. A classic start of the discussion might be Adorno's
"In Search of Wanger", which analyses his music as linked to his
ideology. Here are several sources that might assist you:
Aberbach, Alan 1988. _The Ideas of Richard Wagner : An Examination and
Analysis of his Major Aesthetic, Political, Economic, Social, and
Religious Thoughts_
Lanham and London: University Press of America.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0819168556/ltc-political/002-3340790-1680851
Adorno, Theodor. 1981 _In Search of Wagner_ London: Verso
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0860917967/ltc-political/002-3340790-1680851
Harris, Karsten 1968 The Meaning of Modern Art: A Philosophical
Interpretation (Evanston, Ill.) - not related to Wagner, but related
to the issue of separating ideology and art.
Morgen, David 1996. "The Enchantment of Art: Abstraction and Empathy
from German Romanticism to Expressionism " _Journal of the History of
Ideas_ 57.2 (1996) 317-341 - not particularly about Wagner (who is
nevertheless referred to in the article), but about the link/debate
you're looking for, between ideological and artistic development.
Available online at <http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/journal_of_the_history_of_ideas/57.2morgan.html>
and through the "MUSE" daatbase.
George Mosse, 1964. _The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual
Origins of the Third Reich_ - on how art and ideology, including in
particular Wagner's, are closely linked.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0865274266/ltc-political/002-3340790-1680851
Rose, Paul Lawrence. 1992 _Wagner, Race and Revolution_, Yale
University Press. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0300067453/ltc-political/002-3340790-1680851
Gottfried Wagner. _Twilight of the Wagners_ St. Martin Press &
Picador. - an autobiography from the horse's grandson's mouth - how
the ideology is 'infused' in the music of the grandfather, and how the
whole family was sympathetic to the Nazis.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312264046/ltc-political/002-3340790-1680851
Weiner, Marc. 1995. Richard Wagner and the Anti-Semitic Imagination,
Nebraska University Press.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0803297920/ltc-political/002-3340790-1680851
Other sources
==============
Solomon, Larry, "Wagner and Hitler"
<http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:wYOw70DTpj0C:www.community.pima.edu/users/larry/waghit.htm+wagner+separate+ideology+art&hl=en&ie=UTF-8>
- This is a referrenced article, that seems to have been written by a
college student. Solomon aims to "prove" Wagner's antisemitism and
links to the NSDAP ideology. Please note, that it is Google's "cache"
(because the original URL is no longer available), and I recommend
that if this article is of interest to you, you'll save it elsewhere.
Lili Eylon, "The Controversy Over Richard Wagner"
<http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Wagner.html> - as
mentioned before in this article and by Pinkfreud-ga (the commentator
bellow).
Author unknown, "The Ban on Parsifal"
http://home.c2i.net/monsalvat/banned.htm - this is only one example
from this Wagenr apologetic site, a very interesting one indeed, which
is not academic, but demonstrates many points. See site's homepage at
http://home.c2i.net/monsalvat/index.htm; The site also lists Wagner
books with comments on their content at
http://home.c2i.net/monsalvat/booksfaq.htm
I hope that answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarifications on the answer. |
