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Götterdämmerung, it's that Wagner

November 16, 2010 14:07

No, not the thing on X-factor, but the German composer, beloved of Hitler but reviled by Israel. He now has a fan club in Israel.
The fan club's head, Yonatan Livni said:

“The goals are first of all is to have an honest discussion about the boycott. I’m against any type of a boycott. If we were to boycott every composer who was anti-Semitic then there would be very few composers we would be able to hear in Israel.”

Livni, an attorney, told The Media Line that their efforts were also aimed at having a public concert of Wagner’s music.

“It will never be enough time. But the question is do we have to wait until get a certificate from someone who says that the last survivor has passed away?” asked Livni, who himself is a child of Holocaust survivors.

“My father used to say that Wagner was a horrible, terrible man, but he wrote the most beautiful music. We don’t listen to Wagner’s political views. What we do is listen to his music,” he said.

I've never quite got this boycott. Richard Strauss was no less of an anti-semite than Wagner, but his works are often played in Israel, where many people drive Mercs, BMWs and VWs and have Bosch or AEG washing-machines.

November 16, 2010 14:07

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