- Summary
- Examines the Israeli attitude towards Wagner in light of remembrance of the Holocaust and the shape of the new Israeli national identity. To many in Israel, Richard Wagner is a symbol of the concentration camps, or at least of a fierce sociopolitical controversy. Although the cancellation of a performance of the prelude to Wagner's Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1938 was simply an impetuous response to the events of Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany, over the years this incident became part of a wider pattern as the Wagner boycott was extended to other composers suspected of collaborating with the Nazis. Today all the musicians living in the Third Reich have been rehabilitated except for Wagner, who is perceived as an intellectual whose views helped Hitler form his own racist world concept. Although the Israeli boycott is rooted in this connection between Wagner and Hitler, an additional and central aspect of it is the determination of politicians and broad sectors of the Israeli public to preserve the boycott as a fundamental part of Holocaust commemoration. An elucidation of the delicate intersection of culture and national identity, politics and society that underlies this issue reveals a pattern of collective behavior in which Wagner is a means of expressing other sociopolitical ideas.
- Uniform Title
- Ṭabaʻat ha-mitosim. English
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Sheffi, Na'ama.
- Published
- Brighton [England] ; Portland [Or.] : Sussex Academic Press, 2001
- Locale
- Israel
- Contents
-
Glossary of Political Parties
1. End that Marked a Beginning
2. Legends, Tribes, and Anti-Semitism: Ideas and Issues in Wagner's Work
3. Racism, Music, and Power: The Nazification of Wagner
4. Music, Politics, and Morality: The Beginning of the Boycott in Palestine
5. Toward Germany, Away from Germans
6. 1960s: An End to Forgetting
The Establishment of Symbols
7. 1970s: Political Furor, Musical Calm
8. 1980s: Xenophobia and Overt Political Intervention
9. 1990s: The Last Round
10. Commemoration of Wagner in Israel
Problems and Puzzles.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-174) and index.
Glossary of Political Parties -- 1. End that Marked a Beginning -- 2. Legends, Tribes, and Anti-Semitism: Ideas and Issues in Wagner's Work -- 3. Racism, Music, and Power: The Nazification of Wagner -- 4. Music, Politics, and Morality: The Beginning of the Boycott in Palestine -- 5. Toward Germany, Away from Germans -- 6. 1960s: An End to Forgetting -- The Establishment of Symbols -- 7. 1970s: Political Furor, Musical Calm -- 8. 1980s: Xenophobia and Overt Political Intervention -- 9. 1990s: The Last Round -- 10. Commemoration of Wagner in Israel -- Problems and Puzzles.
תרגום של: טבעת המיתוסים: הישראלים ואגנר והנאציזם.
