Alex Jacobowitz
9 Mar 2003 19:53:36 -0000
B"H Munich well, this is where things get particularly ugly. I´m sure that most of the people here already know that Wagner married Liszt´s daughter Cosima, who is reputed to have been an even bigger anti-Semite than Wagner.
There´s a story that Wagner presented a copy of his treatise on "Jewry in Music" to Liszt sometime in 1850. At the time, Wagner didn´t have the testicular fortitude to sign his own name to the anti-Semitic essay, but instead signed it K. Freidenker (Free Thinker). Liszt looked it over. "Did you write this?", Franz asked Richard over breakfast. In 1859, Liszt, reputedly Hungarian, published an essay, "Gypsy music in Hungary", which served as an embarrassment to all concerned, especially because it showed how poor Ferencz´s knowledge was of the music of his own country. But it got worse when Carolyne, who took over Liszt´s revisions, added her own take on things, especially the negative role of Jews. Now, Liszt´s relations with the Jews were always cordial, and he counted many Jews among his colleagues and friends. There´s nothing in Liszt´s correspondence or personal life that would support a charge of anti-Semitism, except the later revisions of "Gypsy music in Hungary". He published retractions, but it was too late, and Liszt, who had taken minor orders in the Catholic church, became known as an anti-Semite. To his great regret. There are currently a number of scholars who point out the close relationship of the two men, but make the distinction that Papa Liszt was almost as pro-Semitic as Ricardo was anti. (Let this be a warning to those of you who let others hack at your manuscripts!) Alex Jacobowitz __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ---------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------+ Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network http://shamash.org A service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and an online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/ * * FREE JEWISH LEARNING * * Shamash invites you to join MyJewishLearning.com, a comprehensive, objective, authoritative and interactive learning resource in all areas of Judaism. Free membership via http://www.myjewishlearning.com/shamash ---------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------=