LL-L "Mythology" 2004.10.26 (01) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 26.OCT.2004 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Global Moose Translations <globalmoose at t-online.de>
Subject: LL-L "Mythology" 2004.10.25 (05) [A]

Mark wrote:
> Is dit nou Wagner se musiek wat nie by julle byval vind, of is dit die -
> aa - Libretto?
> Wat my betref is Ragna Rök 'n hartroerende verhaal.

In my case, it's definitely the music, along with the "heroic" adaptation of
the stories. I like those stories, and therefore I don't appreciate what he
did to them. It's the same effect that makes me dislike most Hollywood
movies: in a pompous, exaggerated fashion, someone is trying to manipulate
my emotions. And that is something I cannot stand.

Of course, this effect, combined with the "Germanic hero worship", is what
led the Nazis to adopt Wagner for their own purposes. But I cannot blame him
for that; they adopted several writers as well who count among my favourites
(Hermann Löns and Karl May, to name just two). All these people were dead at
the time, of course; May (who, in the late 19th century, adamantly stated in
all of his many works that all people of all races and cultures are to be
considered of absolutely equal worth, and that the "white" race is in no way
superior to others - quite a revolutionary thought at that time) died in
1912, and Löns, like so many others, died in the ditches in WWI.

Moreover, I have a problem with opera on the whole: I cannot stand trained
sopranos. Listening to an aria sung by a soprano is sheer torture for me.

The ironic part is that my grandfather's parents were both opera singers,
specializing in Wagner, and even sang in "Der Ring" at the Metropolitan
opera house in New York! I have a very funny photograph somewhere, from the
late 19th century, with my great-grandfather as - no, alas, not one of the
young heroes, Siegfried or Lohengrin, but Mime the dwarf, with a long shaggy
beard and dressed in something that looks like a fur loincloth...

Gabriele Kahn

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From: R. F. Hahn <lowlands at lowlands-l.net>
Subject: Mythology

Gabriele,

I happen to share your general sentiments and dislikes in this case.
Perhaps "happen" is not the correct word here because I think this is a
widespread phenomenon among Germans of the first two post-war (II)
generations or so.  I think it is in part a psychological distancing
mechanism from our parents' and grandparents' generations and what we
attribute to them and their times (often unjustifiably).

Anything that the Nazis once exploited is suspect to most of us.
Unfortunately, in the process we often pour(ed) the child out with the bath
water.  Some of us have moved beyond that and have learned to differentiate,
as you mentioned in the case of Löns (though I have some problem with May's
works), while to others any interest in traditional, regional culture and
language is still suspect.

In the case of Wagner's opera, I share your feelings entirely, though I
almost like a few muscial pieces of his.  I don't blame the man (though I
hear he wasn't exactly broad-minded toward "different" people either, which,
however, puts him in the majority of his time), but I do have problems with
some of his hangers-on and (in-law) relatives, especially those that stuck
to their Nazi attitudes even after WW II (though I give them credit for
honesty and courage).  It doesn't exactly help that I find the Bayreuth
Wagner Festivals to be generally "creepy" and "snooty" affairs.  I have come
to the conclusion that I would not have liked (most of) Wagner's work and
Wagner "cult" in any event, for the same reasons you stated, even if they
did not come with all that baggage.

By the same token, I don't know what's special about "German hero worship."
It seems like hero worship anywhere else in the world, including perhaps
even more ancient ones (such as those of Central Asia, like the Mongolian
Gengiz Khan traditions, which is interwoven with older epics, and the Kyrgyz
Manas, the world's longest epic poem, or even the partly fabricated hero
figures of the Chinese Cultural Revolution).  There's nothing very special,
nothing country-specific about hero worship and its elaboration or even
political exploitation.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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