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Imagined Germany: Richard Wagner's National Utopia, Second Edition

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Imagined Germany: Richard Wagner's National Utopia, Second Edition Epilogue “My Kingdom is Not of This World” In the nineteenth century, the German Bildungsbürgertum consciously created cultural products for national political purposes. The nation’s cultural capital became a construction, the purpose of which was to motivate and legitimate the striving for a unified nation state. This supports Benedict Anderson’s idea that nations, in a sense, are always ‘imagined communities’. Contrary to Herder and the other romantics, a nation never exists as a natural or original establishment: the nation is always constituted by factors which are based on contracts or which are even imagined. Unifying features were sought in literary language, mythology, religion, and in the ethnic origin. The German romantics were oriented towards the past, which was seen as provoiding the ba- sis for the unification project. This was also, as has here been shown, realized by Wagner, who saw the whole of German history as a struggle for unification. A wish for a united Germany was, beyond doubt, an unconditional standpoint in Wagner’s national idea. His definition of Deutschtum and the idea of the utopian community around was dedicated to the quest for unifi- cation. The goal-orientated features of Wagner’s conceptual constructions are reinforced by the activities through which he strove for practical po- litical influence: he wished to contribute to the realization of his vision. The development of the unification of Germany apparently inspired him to Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 11:15:37PM via free access 196 Epilogue: “My Kingdom is Not of This World” act, as Germany at that time was still searching for her ultimate shape, and it was possible to influence the definition of the nation’s future direction. In this respect, it is easy to understand how Wagner’s national thinking be- came a unity fusing art and politics. The utopia underlying Wagner’s national vision could be described as a dispensation of obligations. The new rising Germany would develop into a cultural power comparable to Classical Antiquity, provided it ful- filled certain conditions. Germany would be modelled on a united monar- chy, in which the highest executive power would be given to the King; art would be given a central position in society, and the German genius would rise to be the spiritual leader of the nation: This genius would be Wagner, whose Gesamtkunstwerk would take its position as the channel to an under- standing of the world, and Deutschtum would be comprehended in its orig- inal significance as genuine, creative, and universal. If all these conditions were fulfilled, Germany would be a new Hellas. “The splendour of the Ger- man name” would dawn, all the lost values and glory of the past would be restored, and Germany would attain her true political and spiritual greatness. Wagner attempted to contribute to the realization of the new Germany through contacting political decision makers and by popularizing his vi- sion in written form so as to make it possible for all people to apprehend his ideas. Once he had realized that he would not be able significantly to contribute to his own political success, Wagner’s final project was to insti- tutionalize his own personality. The significance of his own art he derived from historical and theoretical grounds, and strove to obtain a permanent place in the history of music, creating a festival which was devoted to his own music, and training disciples to protect his legacy. As has been previ- ously stated, Wagner was extremely goal-orientated in artistic questions. For Ludwig II, Wagner planned a schedule to cover the rest of his life. As can be seen in this programme, even in 1864 he knew exactly what kind of operas he was intending to compose. On the whole, the artists of the romantic period have been described according to stereotyped patterns as guided by a creative force, as spon- taneous geniuses whose working was characterised by inspiration and in- stant impulses. This is not valid for Wagner. As an artist he was highly systematic; in fact, he represented the termination of romanticism. Instead of romantic dreaming (Sehnsucht), for the most part he laid stress on the fulfilment (Erlösung) to which his plans would lead.1 This fulfilment was in its nature both spiritual and political, and it would be realized through his artistic and political utopia. Wagner’s function in modelling national Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 11:15:37PM via free access Epilogue: “My Kingdom is Not of This World” 197 self-understanding was connected with the formation of this fulfilment: he strove to combine his own view of the world with the essence of Deutschtum, in a way which made it possible for all the German people to adopt his own concept of Germany’s past and future. Wagner’s project aimed at the rebirth of Germany, but his goals were also universal: The task of German culture was to bring prosperity to the whole of mankind, the result of which would also be its rebirth. A sim- ilar purpose for national culture was stressed by Dr. Bernhard Förster, who in Parsifal-Nachklänge. Allerhand Gedanken über deutsche Cultur, Wissenschaft, Kunst, Gesellschaft (1883) put forward a Wagnerian idea of the rebirth of Germany.2 Förster, who had been converted to Wagnerism in the late 1870s, was, however, convinced that this would not be possi- ble in contemporary Germany. After unification, Germany had followed completely wrong paths.3 True life had become impossible, and all true Germans should start to seek “a better and healthier moral atmos- phere”.4 In Parsifal-Nachklänge, Förster proposed the establishment of a colony called Neu-Germania, free from artificial civilization, lies, and 5 6 corruption. The goal was “the rebreeding of the German race” and “the extension and rebirth of mankind”7. As a result of his efforts, Förster, fi- nally founded his colony in the jungle of Paraguay, approximately 180 km north-east of Asuncion. The experiment failed: after an acute nervous collapse Förster committed suicide, on 3rd June 1889.8 Bernhard Förster continued Wagner’s dream of a New Germany, but he interpreted this artistic and political utopia on the basis of racial theory. Art was not needed in Förster’s utopia, because German culture had already discovered its moral purity.9 It was thus Förster who initiated the racial in- terpretation of Wagner’s thinking, which Ludwig Schemann and Houston Stewart Chamberlain later took up with enthusiasm. The fact that art was not needed in Förster’s utopia is consequently connected with Wagner’s national strategy. In Förster’s view, art was for Wagner an instrument through which the state of ideal German values could be reached; as art was an instrument, it was not necessary to regard it as a value in itself. Art was thus a means of reaching utopia, but in utopia art itself had no further significance. This interpretation was possible, for in Wagner’s own think- ing there is a certain incongruity between instrumental and inherent values. Unlike Förster, Wagner never spoke of “the rebreeding of the German race”. He was content with a union of art and politics which could lead to the rebirth of German culture. At the centre of Wagner’s quest for utopia was art, and thus also German genius. Among the Wagnerians, Förster was Hannu Salmi - 9781433173844 Downloaded from PubFactory at 09/24/2021 11:15:37PM via free access 198 Epilogue: “My Kingdom is Not of This World” an exception, as there was no place for a genius in his utopia. This is in- teresting, because in other respects Förster’s utopia seems to be a logi- cal consequence of Wagner’s vision. On the whole, the Wagnerians had adopted Hans Sachs’ appeal in the final scene of The Mastersingers: “Hon- 10 our your German masters, if you would avert disasters!” For the 11 Wagnerians, Wagner was “the last master of the world view” , “a prophet of Deutschtum”12. The Wagnerians were convinced of Wagner’s Deutschtum and his art as a national drama which should be given a firm position in the German community. Despite this, they did not seriously demand the realization of the Bildungsgesellschaft supported by Wagner. The realistic possibilities of the fulfilment of the utopia had vanished with the unification of the German state. As has been shown in this study, Wagner actively strove to con- nect his own art with Germany’s political welfare. He succeeded in this propagation to such an extent that many people believed that he had reached a position as the court musician of the united Germany. These outlines were followed by Karl Marx, who happened to pass through Bayreuth on his way from Nuremberg to Karlsbad in August 1876; Marx ridiculed Wagner, calling him a state musician, more an enter- tainer than an artist.13 He automatically associated Wagner’s goals with the German state, even though Wagner in reality received no support from the state. This opinion apparently reflects a more widely spread misunderstanding: Wagner had succeeded in spreading his ideas to such an extent that his strivings were associated with the goals of the German state. Wagner’s objective to combine his own art with nationalism had already been set forth in the third edition of the Meyer Encyclopedia in 1878: “Wagner characterizes his work as national …”14 This was also seen by Thomas Mann: “Wagner was a politician enough to connect his effort with Bismarck’s Reich.”15 At a realistic level, the marriage between politics and art was a failure. Without doubt, Wagner realized this before his death.
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