Wagner, the Communist?
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New York University UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Wagner, the Communist? Author: Professor: Ian Fales Shanker Satyanath 1 Introduction Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was a composer, conductor, and theatre director known primarily for his work in opera, and he revolutionized the world of opera through his conception of the \Gesamtkunstwerk," or \total work of art," where he synthesized all aspects of the opera including the visual, dramatic, and musical arts. He advanced the musical language to affect all future classical music, to a point where no composer of this era or after could escape his influence. Most notably, he introduced extreme chromaticism, rapidly shifting tonal centers, and elaborate systems of leitmotifs to his operas and these compositional techniques became the backbone of modern art music (Weiner 1997). However, Richard Wagner was also a polemicist with controversial and explicit antisemitic views. His many writings, including his infamous essay \Das Judenthum in der Musik" (\Jewishness in Music"), expressed hostile views towards Jews that were al- ready on the rise in Germany leading up to World War 2 (Weiner 1997). While some of his closest friends, colleagues and supporters were Jewish, he held malicious views to- wards Jews as a nation throughout his career, and more intensely towards his last years. The point of contention for historians today is whether this antisemitism bled into his music, and how this affected audience perception of his operas. Many argue that specific antagonists, namely Mime from Die Ring, Sixtus Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger, and Klingsor in Parsifal, personify specific Jewish stereotypes, and while they are never iden- tified as explicitly Jewish, they match the writings of Wagner on how a Jew \behaves" (Weiner 1997). The opposing camps deny these allegations, citing the lack of material confirming if any of Wagner's contemporaries viewed his music dramas as antisemitic, and the fact that many of Wagner's colleagues were of Jewish origin. This debate was catalyzed following the tragedy of the Holocaust, and many historians postulate whether Wagner's influence in the years prior affected the success of the Nazi regime. Once Hitler consolidated power, he appropriated his operas as an embodiment of the German spirit, and multiple productions of Die Meistersinger were 1 sponsored by the Nazi regime. Wagner was forcibly associated with the Nazi regime, and this link continues to affect his image and influence how historians interpret his music (Dennis 2003). Studying Wagner through a lens that does not consider the Holocaust or World War 2 is necessary to deduce how audiences would interpret his operas in that era, but this is exceptionally difficult. The goal of this paper is to quantify the effect of Wagner's music on the politics of the last Weimar Republic in an effort to create a nonpartisan interpretation of his legacy. Specifically, the paper tries to find evidence that exposure to Wagner's operas, especially his most antisemitic and nationalist compositions, primed audiences to support the Nazi regime or other nationalist political parties. With the vast literature on the antisemitism present in Die Ring, Parsifal, and Die Meistersinger as well as other strong nationalist themes in Parsifal and Die Meistersinger, I believed these operas provided the mechanism for \treatment," which is exposure to the antisemitic, and nationalist ideologies embedded into his operas. Con- trolling for key demographic variables as well as preexisting antisemitism, I test the exposure to Wagner's operas before 1928 against the vote share of varying political par- ties/presidential candidates during elections spanning from 1928 to 1933. While the re- sults did not match my original hypothesis, they yield interesting results that contribute further to the debate, as well as provide implications for further research. 2 Literature Review The two facets of Wagner's ideology most pertinent to this paper are his anti- semitism and his nationalism. They are both represented heavily in his operas and are themes central to the platform of the Nazi party, and the presentation of these themes to audiences is the mechanism through which opera-goers received \treatment". 2 2.1 Antisemitism The literature of quantitative studies on Wagner's antisemitism is near nonex- istent, but the qualitative debate surrounding Wagner's ideology within his music is ongoing. His antisemitism is undeniable, as he made many public statements regarding Jews throughout his career, but historians continue to question the presence of this anti- semitism within his music dramas. One bloc asserts that certain characters of certain op- eras represent the most obvious Jewish stereotypes of the time and that Wagner designed these characters with the understanding that audiences would be sensitive and aware of these underlying implications. The other bloc denies these theories on the premise that little documentation exists of Wagner's contemporaries acknowledging these antisemitic tropes, and that World War 2, along with Hitler's idolization and weaponization of Wag- ner, made future critics more sensitive to potential antisemitism in his compositions that was otherwise unquestioned. I believe that Wagner's audiences were keenly aware of the Jewish stereotypes of the day, and Wagner's messages were clear in his operas. Through the characters of Beckmesser, Mime, and Klingsor, Wagner creates a harmful image of the Jew based off a character he had previously described in his writings, and the plot of each character's respective opera successfully ostracizes, others, and/or humiliates these characters. I next explain the context of Wagner's antisemitism and the role of each of these characters in his operas. Wagner's most infamous and explicit antisemitism is seen in his essay \Das Judenthem in der Musik" ("Jewishness in Music"), an essay in which he attacks the way Jews produce and interact with music. He claimed Jews speak European languages improperly or as an alien; they lack the ability to express true passion and, because music is assumed as an extension of language, compositions by Jews are unable to translate true emotion, only imitative works. He attacks specifically the composers Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn, for he felt their styles, limited by their Jewishness, were inhibiting the potential of German music (Wagner and Fischer 2010). 3 A central facet to translating Wagner's ideology to his audience is the awareness of the audience to Wagner's Jewish tropes. Pre-1945 concertgoers immediately under- stood the \common stock of antisemitic stereotypes" in his works, and only after the Second World War did \such ideological implications" become \increasingly denied or repressed, as the cultural vocabulary of the world in which he is read and performed has changed" (Millington 1991). As a result, a commonly understood facet of Wagner's work became a topic of debate. Shifting societal expectations have allowed a \widespread dis- avowal of precisely the racist and exclusionary dimension of his essays and music dramas" that were so obvious to his prewar audiences (Weiner 1997). For the sake of the experi- ment, we will assume audiences easily follow the Jewish tropes that Wagner presents. The most notable example of antisemitism in Wagner's operas is cited from his famous work Die Meistersingers von Nuremburg. In this opera, set in 16th century Nuremburg, the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs and his guild of mastersingers pursue their craft and/or music following a strict foundation of rules and traditions. A goldsmith's daughter, Eva, and a knight, Walther von Stolzing are in love, but Eva can only marry the winner of an upcoming song contest, as per tradition. Sachs decides to tutor Walther on the art of songwriting in order to help him win the contest, while the town clerk Sixtus Beckmesser threatens to steal Eva's hand in marriage with his own song. This challenger Beckmesser is the antagonist of the plot, and his odd mannerisms are accompanied by moments of public humiliation brought on by the aryan and nationalist Walther von Stolzing. It is this character and his storyline that are said to represent both harsh Jewish stereotypes and Wagner's personal antisemitism. Wagner's version of the Jew of his operas is described in detail in \Jewishness in Music," where he defines the Jew as one who shuffles and blinks, schemes and argues, and cannot be trusted. Wagner's Jew is incapable of creating true art or being part of an authentic artistic endeavor, and \the exceptions are so rare and special... they only confirm the general rule." The Jew speaks the language of the country in which they reside, but they \speak it always as an alien," and this then causes music created by 4 Jews to lack \all capability of therein expressing himself idiomatically, independently, and conformably to his nature" (Weiner 1997). As a result, the successful Jewish artist is a thief and plagiarist. This harsh and specific stereotype of a Jewish person is brought to life in the character of Beckmesser. Barry Millington explains how Beckmesser \slinks up the alley behind the night watchmen in Act II," \limps and stumbles about the stage in Act III," and \blinks with embarrassment when Eva turns away from his ingratiating bow at the song contest." He steals the song that he thought belonged to Sachs and attempted to claim it as his own, personifying the thieving and unoriginal Jew. Beckmesser “fulfills the classic role of the scapegoat," representing many of the negative themes throughout the plot (Millington 1991). On the most individual level, Beckmesser is a clear representation of how Wagner believes Jews to be. However, Beckmesser must also be considered in a broader societal context. Die Meistersinger was written during a period of strong German nationalism. In the 1860s, the German economy was surging with industrial growth and social cohesion, encouraging a powerful wave of national feeling, but Wagner, along with a large middle- class bloc, was concerned over the sacrifice of traditional German values.