Die Meistersinger, New York City, and the Metropolitan Opera: the Intersection of Art and Politics During Two World Wars

City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 6-2016 Die Meistersinger, New York City, and the Metropolitan Opera: The Intersection of Art and Politics During Two World Wars Gwen L. D'Amico Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1221 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] DIE MEISTERSINGER, NEW YORK CITY, AND THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: THE INTERSECTION OF ART AND POLITICS DURING TWO WORLD WARS by GWEN D’AMICO A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Musicology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2016 ii © 2016 Gwen D’Amico All Rights Reserved iii Die Meistersinger, New York City, and The Metropolitan Opera: The Intersection of Art and Politics During Two World Wars By Gwen D’Amico This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Music in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""__________________________________" Date Norman Carey " " " " " " " Chair of Examining Committee ______________________"""""""""" " " _____________________________________" Date Norman Carey " " " " " " " Executive Officer Supervisory Committee Allan Atlas, Advisor Bruce MacIntyre, First Reader Nicholas Vazsonyi THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv ABSTRACT Die Meistersinger, New York City, and The Metropolitan Opera: The Intersection of Art and Politics During Two World Wars By Gwen D’Amico Advisor: Professor Allan Atlas In 1945, after a five-year hiatus, the Metropolitan Opera returned Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg to its stage. It had been the only one of Wagner’s operas that had been banned during World War II, ostensibly because of its German nationalism and association with the Third Reich. But was it the German nationalism or Wagner’s own anti- Semitism that caused the unease? What resounded with the audiences? World War II stands at an historic cross roads in the reception of Die Meistersinger in America. This is where the present day “problem” with this work begins. The Metropolitan Opera’s decision created a space that allowed others to follow suit. In effect, the Met’s cancellation tacitly upheld and affirmed all that is perceived—both in the literature and by audiences—as negative in the opera. This study examines the interior politics of Die Meistersinger and the environment at the Metropolitan Opera in order to determine why the work was performed to acclaim in New York from 1886 until World War I, but subsequently banned during both wars. Cultural and political factors at work in New York in the 1940s will also be considered in order to understand the response of audiences to what some perceived as a very “German” opera within the larger context of American Wagnerism and, indeed, Wagnerism today. In the end, this study represents a “political history” of Die Meistersinger viewed through the prism of New York during two World Wars. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a boisterous “thank you” to the Metropolitan Opera Company, specifically Messrs. Robert Tuggle and John Pennino of the Metropolitan Opera Archive. My thanks also to the Music Research Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, the New-York Historical Society, the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Princeton University, the University of Guelph Library, and the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Georgia. This dissertation would not have been possible without generous grants from the Martin E. Segal Fellowship, the Baisley Powell Elebash Fund, and the Franziska Dorner Fund for Musical Research, all of which are affiliated with The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. I must acknowledge the contribution of the late Ora Frishberg Salamon, who was a driving force behind the inception of the dissertation. Her knowledge of Wagner and her perspective on World War II provided many insights and avenues into my research. I sincerely wish that she could have seen this project through to its completion. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor, Professor Allan Atlas. Without his tireless effort, boundless patience, relentless cheerleading, not to mention his timely humor, I would never have finished this dissertation. He walked into a project that was largely without direction and ably steered it to its completion. I would also like to thank Professor Bruce MacIntyre for his years of guidance and enthusiasm regarding the subject matter; and I wish also to express my gratitude to the two other members of my defense committee, Professors Norman Carey (The Graduate Center, vi City University of New York) and Nicholas Vazsonyi (University of South Carolina) for their invaluable insight into my research. I would not have come to the study of Wagner without the early exposure given to me by my family. Their long devotion to opera and particular love of Wagner set me on this path. Only parents such as mine would have dragged a recalcitrant nine-year old to the Metropolitan Opera to see the then-new Otto Schenk / Günther Schneider-Siemssen production of Tannhäuser. Finally, my deepest and most sincere appreciation is due my husband, Robert D’Amico, and our daughter, Elizabeth. Without their unceasing support and encouragement, I would never even have attempted such an undertaking. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables .................................................................................................................. ix Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Part I: A Brief History of Wagner and Die Meistersinger in the United States through World War I ............................................................. 17 Chapter 1: Wagner in America to World War I ..................................................... 18 Initial Criticism and Reviews ................................................................................... 18 Wagner’s Music And the New York Press .............................................................. 19 The Demographics of Fin-de-siècle New York City ............................................... 25 Anti-Semitism in Fin-de-siècle New York .............................................................. 31 The Metropolitan Opera: The House that Wagner Built ........................................ 35 The Golden Age of Wagner ..................................................................................... 43 Die Meistersinger and Early Wagnerism ................................................................. 49 Chapter 2: Die Meistersinger During World War I ................................................. 64 The First Cancellation of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg .................................... 65 The Triumphant Return of Wagner and Die Meistersinger ..................................... 84 Die Meistersinger at the Met after the War ............................................................. 87 The Precedent Established for the Next Conflict ..................................................... 89 Part II: Die Meistersinger and World War II, an Examination of the Politics of a Cancelled Opera ........................................................................ 92 Chapter 3: The Most German Opera ........................................................................ 93 The Tenor Changes in the 1930s ............................................................................. 94 German Nationalism and Appropriation of Die Meistersinger by the Third Reich as Seen in New York City and by the Metropolitan Opera ............ 102 viii Chapter 4: Two Sentiments: Anti-German, Anti-Semite ..................................... 121 The German Question ............................................................................................ 123 Anti-Semitism ........................................................................................................ 131 Politics and Art ...................................................................................................... 135 Chapter 5: Productions and Performers (1930 – 1939) ......................................... 140 Productions ............................................................................................................ 141 Performers During the War .................................................................................... 153 Chapter 6: Die Meistersinger and the War Years: Absence, Return, and Aftermath ........................................................................... 159 The Absence of Die Meistersinger ........................................................................ 160 The Return of Die Meistersinger ........................................................................... 169 The Aftermath ........................................................................................................ 173 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 177

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