Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00127)

At 09:47 PM 4/9/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi, Alexis,
>
>We agree on Beethoven ... and on Mozart. When it comes to Wagner, I know
>you're right. One of my college courses was on Wagner, & I ended it with a
>30pp paper on "Meistersinger", which I researched almost as carefully as
>Wagner did. Did you know that he used some of the original Meister songs? I
>enjoy Wagner, but the enjoyment is tarnished by the fact that he was the
>Nazis' folk hero. I like Shostakovitch, but to me, he's not that
>outstanding. I prefer Aron Copland.
>
>Liesel
>
>
>Liesel:

I love Copeland's music, and the fact that he was a Gay man makes him very
special to me. But I think Shostakovitch is a far more universal composer.
More so even than Prokovieff who I really like. Only in one work "L'Ange De
Feu" did Prokovieff rise above Shostakovitch.

Now, just because the Nazi's liked something doesn't really tarnish it.
After all I know for a fact that Adolf Hitler's favourite composer was Franz
Lehar! Did you know Hitler officially declared that Lehar was an Aryan.
That's really funny, becuase you know as well as I do that Lehar was a
Hungarian Jew!

I did forget another truly transcendental composer who was actually a Nazi,
and that is Richard Strauss. But Rosenkavalier is one of the most wondrous
things ever composed, not to mention Ariadne auf Naxos and Elektra and
Salome. Music I think comes from "outside" and the great composer is simply
a vehicle for it'sproduction ergo they can be terrible people, and yet write
incredibly transcendental music. Otherwise, how do we explain it?

alexis