Wagner

It's pretty common to hear or read about Wagner as a 'pernicious' influence, even from those who have an unabashed enthusiam for the music. The view is so often encountered that it almost has a currency of its own. The implication seems to be that if you enjoy the music of Verdi, for example, you may do so without moral taint, but if it's Wagner that delights you, there is a danger of moral contamination. There's no doubt that Hitler was greatly affected by Wagner, but does that make Wagner or the person who was already disposed to evil before hearing the music the villain? Of course, for those who claim that Wagner incorporated his anti-semiticism into the music dramas, the evil is present in both Wagner's creations and in the people disposed to act on them. Frankly, I strongly believe they are wrong, chiefly because I am highly sceptical about the presence of anti-semiticism in the dramas (and music). There is a much better comparison to be made here, namely with Jesus and Christianity. Over many centuries, numerous branches of the Christain faith have perpetrated one act of cruelty and violence after another. Even now we have an American President waging war and claiming that heavenly voices told him to do so. Either we believe that Jesus was inherently evil or we excuse the Crusades, Inquisition, the Pope in World War Two, Bush, etc., etc., etc., etc., on the grounds that Jesus has been radically misrepresented and misinterpreted. The central themes in Wagner are love and redemption, which are not, in my most humble opinion, the root of all evil.