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DG release: "Karl Böhm: The Operas" - ethical question...

28K views 64 replies 19 participants last post by  Andrew Kenneth 
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#1 ·
On January 19, 2018 Deutsche Grammophon will release "Karl Böhm: The Operas
Complete DG Recordings".

"70 CDs presenting Karl Böhm's complete vocal recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, including studio productions as well as timeless live recordings from Vienna, Salzburg and Bayreuth.
Additional spoken word recordings (in German) with Böhm detailing his relationships with Richard Strauss, Mozart and the Vienna Philharmonic: including one full disc of recordings new to CD (English synopsis for CD 70, "A Life Retold" available online)
PACKAGING: A lift-off box featuring new liner notes by Richard Osborne
The 1944 Ariadne auf Naxos (CDs 45-46) available digitally for the first time"

Considering the following information taken from his Wikipedia biography in a section entitled "Nazi Sympathies" -

" On 28 December 2015 the Salzburg Festival announced that it will affix a plaque on its Karl Böhm refreshment lobby (Karl-Böhm-Saal) acknowledging the conductor's complicity with Nazi Germany, which will say that "Böhm was a beneficiary of the Third Reich and used its system to advance his career. His ascent was facilitated by the expulsion of Jewish and politically out-of-favor colleagues".

Austrian Radio (ORF) quoted Festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler as calling Böhm as "a great artist but fatally flawed politically". According to historian Michael H. Kater, Böhm belongs in that group of artists of whom "we also find conflicting elements of resistance, accommodation, and service to the regime, so that in the end they cannot be definitively painted as either Nazis or non-Nazis."

While Böhm appears never to have joined the Nazi party, he praised it publicly as early as 1930, and cooperated with it in many ways as a professional. According to music journalist Norman Lebrecht, in November 1923 Böhm stopped a rehearsal in the Munich opera house in order to watch Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch.

In 1930, he is said to have become angry when his wife was accused by Nazi brownshirts of being Jewish during the premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's opera Von heute auf morgen and to have stated that he would "tell Hitler about this".

Kater, in his 1997 Oxford University Press book The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich, says that while Böhm was music director in Dresden (1934-43), he "poured forth rhetoric glorifying the Nazi regime and its cultural aims". Kater also documents how Böhm told Nazi authorities in 1935 that he could be "of propagandist service to Nazis interests by giving concerts" in Vienna, where he had "many followers... especially in the National Socialist camp," and how later that year Böhm praised "the deep artistic comprehension of the Führer"; he also "repeatedly" conducted music from Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at opening ceremonies for the Nazi Party's annual Nuremberg Rally.

Kater also says that Böhm's two "main career moves" in the Nazi era "tended to taint his post-1945 reputation." Kater argues that the 1934 move to the Dresden Opera to replace Fritz Busch after the latter's "politically motivated" dismissal by Nazi authorities showed Böhm's "extreme careerist opportunism at the expense of personal morality" and was facilitated directly by Hitler, who obtained for Böhm an early release from his previous contract;

Kater also says Böhm's 1943 move to Vienna was something "Hitler wanted" by July 1942 - which is contrary to Böhm's claim that Hitler consistently opposed the move; Kater adds that shortly after Böhm's January 1943 installation in Vienna, Hitler awarded him the Martial Order of Merit.

Lebrecht notes that after the 1938 Austrian referendum controlled by the Nazis to justify Germany's annexation of Austria, or Anschluss, the conductor told its orchestra that "anyone who does not approve this act of our Führer with a hundred-per-cent YES does not deserve to bear the honourable name of a German!"

In 1939, Böhm contributed to the Newspapers of the Comradeship of German Artists special congratulatory edition on the occasion of Hitler's 50th birthday, writing, "The path of today's music in the sphere of symphonic works... has been marked and paved by the ideology [Weltanschauung] of National Socialism..."

Lebrecht also states that in the wake of the Anschluss, Böhm gave the Hitler salute during a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, ironically violating Nazi rules about places where the greeting was appropriate.

Still, Kater notes "shades of gray," citing Böhm's "aesthetically faultless and sometimes politically daring" choice of repertory, and his collaborations with some anti-Nazi directors and designers, which "could have been interpreted by enemies of the Nazi regime as a brave attempt to preserve the principle of artistic freedom, He also mentions Böhm's claim that he sent his son Karlheinz to Switzerland in (to quote Kater) "anticipation of his own eventual flight from the Third Reich."

Anyone else feel somewhat queasy about purchasing this particular release?
 
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#2 ·
I am not as knowledgeable about Böhm's biography as I have become about other German musicians of the period. I did know the story of the Beer Hall Putsch, and have seen the clips of him conducting at Nazi Party rallies. I think it's fair to say he was an enthusiastic supporter of Hitler.
The parts about KB that you didn't mention were regarding his post war legacy. Part of that was that he developed a serious friendship with Leonard Bernstein.
As we have discussed elsewhere with Karajan, some of this was opportunistic, a chance to further his career. He was probably a German Nationalist. The Nazis had plenty of them, but not all of them were eliminationist Anti Semites, or necessarily bought into the Nazi Racial ideology.
Bohm's friendship with LB might suggest that he was a German Nationalist but not a Racialist. Or it could be that Böhm rethought his positions after the Nazi's went down in flames. Or perhaps the Bernstein thing was an outlier. I really don't know.
I have purchased Böhm recordings in the past, so I guess I wouldn't object to the set in question because of KB past. I wouldn't buy it because I ain't got no more room on the shelves
 
#3 ·
If I stopped buying stuff because the person producing it was objectionable then I would be buying a lot less.:lol:
 
#19 ·
Considering the fact that my love for classical music began with an objectionable person like Wagner, I would not be buying any at all in this case.
 
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#8 ·
No. If Bohm were alive, I probably would. But he isn't....
Whether dead or alive, what he was is who he was... apparently for you that's inconsequential and as I mentioned previously I'm firmly on the side of "to each his own" and thus I would never think to criticize your decision to purchase the set but for me it is just consequential enough that I'm not able to get past what he was and who he was and so for me the decision to take a pass is effortless...
 
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#9 · (Edited)
Hello Pugg, hope all it well..

When I created this thread it was meant to appear in the "Opera" forum but when I clicked on "Post" it didn't initially appear. A day later one of the moderators sent me a PM advising me that the thread had been moved to the "Politics and Religion in Classical Music" sub-forum because the Nazi angle made it more suitable for placement here rather than there.

Side note... I tried to write - Hello Pugg, *** gaat het but when I saved the post the *** is removed and replaced by 3 asterisks. I can't even imagine what that is all about... as you are aware the first letter is "h", the second is "o", and the third is "e". Can't even guess what is objectionable but from now on I'll confine my greetings to English...
 
#14 · (Edited)
We are in tricky ethical territory here aren't we. Are our ethics being called into question because of the fact that many people are still alive who lived through this period in European history and for them the horrors are all too vivid in their memory. At which point then do we consign events to history and move on. In Scotland there is a religious divide over an event that took place over three centuries ago and it is still a bitter divide for many. Where and when does it end? I think I mentioned in another thread that if I stopped buying music by artists whose morals and ethics I disapproved of then I I fear would rarely buy anything. As far as my wife's concerned this would be no bad thing! Perhaps it is better to concentrate purely on the music and not on those who either compose or interpret it.
 
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#20 · (Edited)
The plaque put up in Salzburg is just an example of the PC hypocrisy around today. Why not also have a plaque up for the VPO, most of whom who willingly collaborated with the Nazis? Or what about the musicians in Russia who willingly collaborated with Stalin and his vile regime? Why not have a plaque up to celebrate Maria Yudina who told Stalin where he could put his money? (Brave lass!)
Certainly Goodall appears to have been an enthusiastic Nazi so why not have a note on all his recordings? The possibilities are endless.
Just to say that I think that it is up to one's own conscience just what you listen to. Bohm does not come out in good light but nor do many German conductors who stayed in Germany during the war.
Bruno Walter, in a letter to Furtwängler dated January 1949, wrote: "Please bear in mind that your art was used over the years as an extremely effective means of foreign propaganda for the regime of the devil: that you, thanks to your fame and great talent, performed valuable service for this regime and that in Germany itself the presence and activities of an artist of your rank helped to provide cultural and moral credit to those terrible criminals or at least gave considerable help to them…in contrast to that, of what significance was your helpful behaviour in individual cases of Jewish distress?" It could well apply to many other musicians of the period, but of course it didn't stop Walter conducting the objectionable VPO in Mahler!) after the war! Or conducting the even more objectionable anti-Semite Wagner's music. Appears that these cases can be quite complicated morally!
 
#22 · (Edited)
She recorded a Mozart piano concerto at the orders of Stalin. Everyone who took part (apart from Yudina) was terrified. Afterwards Yudina was surprised to receive a letter containing 20,000 rubles, sent at the order of Stalin. She acknowledged the gift by letter. "I thank you for your aid," she wrote. "I will pray for you day and night and ask the Lord to forgive your great sins before the people and the country. The Lord is merciful and He'll forgive you. I gave the money to the church that I attend."
Stalin reportedly read the letter as his inner circle - who had already prepared her arrest warrant - awaited the give-away twitch of the eyebrow which could mean only one thing. But remarkably Stalin put the letter aside and said nothing.
Nine years later, as the leader lay on his deathbed, it's reported that Yudina's recording of the Mozart concerto was playing on a record player nearby.

For the whole story

http://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/latest/maria-yudina-stalin/

What a woman! The story is included (inaccurately) in the film 'The Death of Stalin'
 
#23 ·
No way would I buy that box set, anyway, despite the Nazi stuff.

There are probably finer interpretations of most of the operas in that collection.

But luckily there is a point where we can separate the music from the ideology, for some music at least. Upon a blind listen, I obviously wouldn't be able to sniff out any particularly Nazi-ish arias or overtures. The idea is ridiculous. There is only the music, and surely Bohm was a good enough conductor and lover of music not to let Nazism infect the interpretive process.

I would have some uneasiness about his Wagner stuff, where I believe the Nazism truly can infect the music under the baton of Bohm, who even wilfully put himself forward to conduct Wagner overtures at Nazi rallies. That, for me, goes a little too far. But I won't let it stop me from enjoying his superlative Mozart and Strauss.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Of course, having made a plaque for dear old Bohm, what about Elisabeth Schwarzkopf? She was deeply involved with the Nazis yet we made her a Dame! Hans Knappertsbusch threw his support behind the party, but he was considered by Hitler to be little more than a ''military bandleader'' and so never was a great success. Anton Webern made no secret of his enthusiasm for Hitler (''this unique man!!!''), but that belief did not inspire affection for music. The list of German / Austrian musicians implicated is endless. The Bohm plaque appears little more than a damage limitation exercise in the light of such things.
 
#26 ·
Agreed, many German and Austrian musicians had at least some links with the regime - Schwarzkopf, Krauss, Knappertsbusch, Gieseking, Rother... Even von Karajan was a party member. In some cases this may have been the result of genuine belief, in others simple opportunism and in a few because it might have been dangerous to do otherwise. I prefer to concentrate on the music rather than the politics around it. Wasn't Shostakovich a deputy in the Supreme Soviet and recipient multiple times of the Order of Lenin and the Stalin Prize? It doesn't mean that he was a communist.
 
#27 ·
Agreed, many German and Austrian musicians had at least some links with the regime - Schwarzkopf, Krauss, Knappertsbusch, Gieseking, Rother... Even von Karajan was a party member. In some cases this may have been the result of genuine belief, in others simple opportunism and in a few because it might have been dangerous to do otherwise. I prefer to concentrate on the music rather than the politics around it. Wasn't Shostakovich a deputy in the Supreme Soviet and recipient multiple times of the Order of Lenin and the Stalin Prize? It doesn't mean that he was a communist.
Shostakovich was a member of the communist party. Whether he joined under pressure is a matter of controversy. However, that does not mean, of course, that he approved of the gulags.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Personally, I'm relieved that there's no dilemma for me concerning Karl Böhm's recordings. As fortunately, I consider Böhm to have been a second rate conductor--especially in his late "DG" years, where his tempi often slowed down (even dragged) to the detriment of the music (as with his final Beethoven 9th for DG, which was very overrated by the British rags, IMO). Secondly, he conducted Mozart as if it were Brahms, and stylistically, the 18th century Mozart shouldn't sound like late romantic music. Surely, any in depth consideration & study of Mozart's scores in the context of 18th century practices & expectations will show that Böhm's decidedly Brahmsian approach to Mozart was all wrong. I would likewise claim that there are many other better Schubert conductors as well.

Granted, some listeners think highly of his Beethoven (& I admit that some of the earlier recordings are quite good). However, I would challenge anyone to name a symphony by Beethoven that you think Böhm conducted well, and I'd bet I could name at least 3-4 conductors that were more insightful in that symphony & hopefully be able to explain why (with sound reason). Nor can I think of a single Wagner recording by him where I couldn't suggest a better conducted performance in its place (by the likes of Furtwangler, Knappertsbusch, Kempe, Sawallisch, Jochum, Kubelik, C. Kleiber, Reiner, etc.--and yes, I wanted to add Goodall to the list for his Tristan, but will refrain from doing so). The same is true for Böhm's Brahms.

So, personally, I'd have to say that Strauss and Bruckner are the only composers that Böhm arguably conducted better than most, and for Strauss that is largely due to his association with the composer's prized orchestra, the Staatskapelle Dresden, which gave many premieres of Strauss works (especially the operas). Most fortunately, however, the very fine Strauss conductor, Rudolf Kempe was in Dresden too, and in more recent times, Herbert Blomstedt. For me, both conductors were and are better Strauss conductors than Böhm. Not to mention that the Staatskapelle Dresden was better recorded for Kempe and Blomstedt (& especially the latter by Denon).

But was Böhm really such a great Strauss conductor? I don't think so. Here's one example of why not: just have a listen to how Böhm rushes soprano Lisa Della Casa in the final song of Strauss's Four Last Songs, "Im Abendrot", bringing the song in at an unusually brisk 6:00 minutes! If you listen closely, you can actually hear that Della Casa's instincts were to slow down in this song (& elsewhere), and she's trying to do so (most appropriately!), but Böhm will have none of it, and actually succeeds at speeding her up. That's just lousy conducting. And it's a pity too, since Della Casa was a great singer, and surely had the voice & artistry to sing these beautiful songs as well as anyone.

As for Böhm's Bruckner, I find his highly regarded Decca 4th with the Vienna Philharmonic to be over rated. Granted, it's very well played, but it just doesn't move me like several other Bruckner 4ths. Even Karajan on EMI is more moving to me in the 4th than Böhm (& I'm not a Karajan fan). Besides, why should I listen to Böhm's Bruckner when there is such a wonderful variety of approaches to these symphonies offered by so many other great and very fine Bruckner specialists--such as Wilhelm Furtwängler (who saved the lives of so many Jews in WW2 that Himmler put his name on the concentration camp lists twice), Eugen Jochum (who refused to join the Nazi party), Hans Knappertsbusch (whose career was badly hurt due to his stand against Nazism), Sergui Celibidache (who took over the Berlin Philharmonic after WW2, and whose magnificent live Bruckner recordings on Sony Japan are essential listening for Bruckner lovers!), and Carla Maria Giulini (in Vienna on DG & Testament); as well as Blomstedt (in Leipzig & Dresden), Haitink (in Vienna & Amsterdam), Masur (in Leipzig), etc.. No, I definitely don't need Böhm for Bruckner.

So, I can't personally see any strong reasons to buy Böhm's recordings (although I admit I have already heard many of them)--that is, unless you're a fan of the pianist, Maurizio Pollini, or Lisa Della Casa (or any other soloist that worked with Böhm), or in order to hear the glorious Staatskapelle Dresden play Strauss (or anything else): especially Böhm's recordings of Strauss operas in Dresden, some of which he might have even been premiered (I'd have to check on that).

In regards to (Sir) Reginald Goodall (who yes, those silly, dotty people knighted), admittedly, I wouldn't want to be without Linda Ester Gray's Isolde, or Jon Vickers' Parsifal, etc.. So I am definitely more conflicted there.
 
#33 · (Edited)
As for Böhm's Bruckner, I find his highly regarded Decca 4th with the Vienna Philharmonic to be over rated. Granted, it's very well played, but it just doesn't move me like several other Bruckner 4ths. Even Karajan on EMI is more moving to me in the 4th than Böhm (& I'm not a Karajan fan). Besides, why should I listen to Böhm's Bruckner when there is such a wonderful variety of approaches to these symphonies offered by so many other great and very fine Bruckner specialists--such as Wilhelm Furtwängler (who saved the lives of so many Jews in WW2 that Himmler put his name on the concentration camp lists twice), Eugen Jochum (who refused to join the Nazi party), Hans Knappertsbusch (whose career was badly hurt due to his stand against Nazism), Sergui Celibidache (who took over the Berlin Philharmonic after WW2, and whose magnificent live Bruckner recordings on Sony Japan are essential listening for Bruckner lovers!), and Carla Maria Giulini (in Vienna on DG & Testament); as well as Blomstedt (in Leipzig & Dresden), Haitink (in Vienna & Amsterdam), Masur (in Leipzig), etc.. No, I definitely don't need Böhm for Bruckner.

In regards to (Sir) Reginald Goodall (who yes, those silly, dotty people knighted), admittedly, I wouldn't want to be without Linda Ester Gray's Isolde, or Jon Vickers' Parsifal, etc.. So I am definitely more conflicted there.
Did Kna stand against the Nazis? According to Frederick Spotts:

'Although Kna was fervently nationalistic and conservative, Hitler considered Knappertsbusch inept both as an opera manager and as an operatic conductor and, in 1936, prohibited him from conducting anywhere in Germany. After several years as conductor at the Vienna Opera and the Salzburg Festival, he and Nazi party authorities were reconciled. Hitler dismissed him as a "military bandleader" but permitted him to conduct several times at the Nuremberg party rallies and at the celebration of his birthday. Knappertsbusch also conducted in occupied countries, once in Cracow at the invitation of the notorious Hans Frank, Governor of the rump state of Poland.'

As for Goodall, how on earth anyone could give an English man who (in some way) supported the Nazis a knighthood is quite beyond me!
 
#34 ·
Personally, I'm relieved that there's no dilemma for me concerning Karl Böhm's recordings. As fortunately, I consider Böhm to have been a second rate conductor--especially in his late "DG" years,
While I certainly agree with you about Böhm as a conductor, I'm having trouble understanding why anyone would have an ethical dilemma buying recordings of someone who, however detestable as a human being, is long dead.
 
#39 · (Edited)
Well, that's it, I don't have to think about any ethical dilemma, since I consider Böhm a second rate conductor. Admittedly, I do own recordings by other dead musicians that held "detestable" views, both politically and morally. Sir Goodall, for instance. Also, Cortot (who I don't listen to anymore). And, I've also heard some awful stories about other living (and recently dead) musicians & conductors that I own recordings by (though I bought them before I learned about those stories). I do find it a dilemma, & am conflicted (whether they're dead or not), and don't listen to or buy their recordings anymore. I just don't feel inclined to do so, not when there are so many other viable alternatives out there.

Besides, personally, I tend to find a greater sense of humanity and intelligence in the conducting & interpretations of those that I admire not only as musicians, but also as human beings. Such as Eugen Jochum, for instance. Salvatore Accardo comes to mind as well. I think the nicer they are, the better they are--as musicians, and that a deeper sense of humanity is higher intelligence, and can be heard via the integrity & depth of their musical insights; which is something that exists beyond technique or mere facility. I don't hear that kind of musical insight in Böhm's Bruckner 4th, for instance, no matter how skillfully & impressively it may be conducted and played from a technical standpoint.

As for Knappertsbusch, I've not read the Spotts book, but the Wikipedia page on Knappertsbusch paints a different picture--as apparently the Nazis wanted Knappertsbusch back in Germany because there were so few first class conductors left in the country:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Knappertsbusch
 
#35 · (Edited)
Karl Bohm has been dead for 37 years and is well beyond our powers of reward or punishment. Some of his descendants may benefit from our purchasing his recordings, and they may (or may not) be good people – we can’t know. In that, they are no different from descendants of any other long-dead conductor.

So why the heartburn about buying Bohm recordings?
 
#65 · (Edited)
Karl Bohm has been dead for 37 years and is well beyond our powers of reward or punishment. Some of his descendants may benefit from our purchasing his recordings, and they may (or may not) be good people - we can't know. (...)
Karl Böhm had one son : Karlheinz Böhm.

Karlheinz Böhm was a famous actor.
His most famous role was probably that of the emperor in the Sissi trilogy, alongside Romy Schneider's empress.
He also starred in Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom" and in a number of Fassbaender films.
Later in life he did some german voice-acting (he voiced the bad guy for the german dub of Pixar's "Up".)

Karlheinz Böhm was also a humanitarian. He did charitable work in Ethiopia (1981 onwards) . Because of this he was awarded honorary citizenship of Ethiopia in 2003.
In 1991 he also married an ethiopian woman, Almaz Böhm. (The couple had two children ;Aida & Nicolas)

Full story (with pictures of wife & children) =>
http://opera605.rssing.com/browser.php?indx=13992378&item=266

Here's an ethiopian docu (35 mins.) which celebrates Karlheinz Böhm.
(In it the unveiling of a big Karlheinz Böhm statue in Ethiopia can be seen)


Short docu (9 mins.) showing Karlheinz in Ethiopia


Here we see Almaz Böhm talking about the Karlheinz Böhm "Menschen fur Menschen" charity. (2 mins)


Almaz has also just written a book about the life of her late husband.
(march 2018 interview - 2 mins.)
 
#40 · (Edited)
I tend to gave the view that a close examination of the lives of conductors and musicians who lived in Germany in the Third Reich will throw up some skeletons in most of their cupboards, whether or not they were actual members of the Nazi Party. You can certainly make out a case that some, like members of the Wagner family, were very closely involved with the Nazis. Indeed I don't think the Wagner brothers role during WW2 bears very close examination. Hence Wieland's attempt to distance himself as far from his 'Uncle Wolfe' as possible after the war.
As to the conductors I am far more interested in what they said than the fact they conducted under the Nazis. They were German or Austrian and therefore was serving their country just like the musicians who are playing in the orchestra were and the soldiers who were fighting on the field. Hopefully justice was done to the beasts who were in charge of the extermination camps even if it took the Israelis to sniff some of them out.
It is impossible to know just how many members of the Vienna Philharmonic or Berlin Philharmonic at the time were pro-Nazi or anti-Jewish, so unless they took part in Nazi atrocities, or made statements approving of them, then I think a live and let live attitude is the best else we just make scapegoats like it appears Saltzburg has done with Bohm. Of course they orobably shouldn't have named the hall after him in the first place.
After that it is a matter of personal choice whether we listen to Bohm's recordings or the recordings of Karajan, Furtwangler, Knapoersbusch and others who were present and active in Germany at the time. We know that some Jewish musicians refused to work with them but some like Menuhin sought of way of reconciliation. Each to his own conscience I believe.
Goodall comes into a different category I believe. Passionate about all things German, in the 1930s Goodall openly sympathised with the Nazi regime, which he perceived as a defender of Germanic cultural traditions. Goodall also actively supported Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, and he eventually joined the party just five days after Britain's declaration of war on Germany. He maintained his outspoken pro-Nazi views during World War II (while our young men were dying so that Hitler didn't bring his disgusting regime here) the uninhibited expression of which once led him to be briefly questioned by the police. Goodall was known to refer to the Holocaust as a "BBC Jewish plot" and refused to visit Belsen with other musicians after the war saying it was all made up. And as said in a post above, the idiots knighted him! I certainly wouldn't have one of this man's recordings in my house but as they are nearly all of a well known anti-Semite who I don't listen to, then I don't miss them at all.
 
#41 · (Edited)
"We know that some Jewish musicians refused to work with them but some like Menuhin sought of way of reconciliation."

Menuhin both worked and recorded with Furtwängler after the war because he had heard the truth about Furtwängler from Jewish musicians whose lives the conductor had saved. So it wasn't so much an attempt at reconciliation with a German conductor that held Nazi sympathies, but rather a direct response to those misguided American musicians, such as Isaac Stern, who were responsible for seeing that the presumed "Nazi" Furtwängler never conducted in the states (& they succeeded). Menuhin knew better.
 
#42 · (Edited)
That presents a simplistic picture of both Furtwangler and Menuhin. Menuhin was a pretty naive idealist who wanted to believe everyone was good. Admirable but perhaps impractical. As his second wife said: 'The problem is that Yehudi hasn't got a wall to back against. He was not taught to believe in evil, so he doesn't. Which is nice for him, but not so easy for the rest who have to keep the evil away from him. It's not easy living with someone who never suspects, who never believes that people may be asking for favours with ulterior motives. Anybody can push him, and he just disappears into the distance. From the beginning, his parents taught him to follow a distant light. So he doesn't want shadows or motes to get in the way.'
You might note Menuhin also played with Karajan after the war.
Furtwangler's relationship with the Nazis was very complicated and controversial. It was probably not as bad as his detractors made out or as good as his advocates like to think. For a reasonable summary see:

http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/polit...reich/reichskulturkammer/furtwangler-wilhelm/

As to judging Jews such as Stern, when do you think that 6 million of their race had been murdered by the Nazi regime, then I can certainly understand them not wanting to work with those who had conducted for the Nazis. As I said, each person to their conscience. To us living a couple of generations later the choice is easier.
Of course, once we start with putting up plaques and disclaimers, where do we end? Do we put a disclaimer on all recordings of Carmina Burana because of its composer's accommodation to the Nazi regime and his blatant lying to the tribunal about his wartime activities?
 
#57 · (Edited)
I found this article interesting, dealing with Cortot, who appears to have collaborated during WW2.

https://forward.com/culture/193898/were-they-heroes-or-were-they-collaborators/

Casals would not work with him after WW2

I was trying to look at Wilhelm Kempff's war record as he continued his career in Germany and emerged largely unscathed from blame afterwards. The only reference is Norman Lebrecht callng him a 'terrible old Nazi' and Lebrecht's judgment is not one I'd trust. Anyone got any details about Kempff.
 
#61 ·
I don't have much information on Kempff and was unaware of his iffy past until I bought Vol 1 of his entry in 'Great Pianists of the 20th Century'. The booklet states 'Kempff was an early enthusiast for the "new Germany" of 1933, and his post-war denazification process took a while'. I read somewhere else he received a two-year performance ban. This part of his career seems to have been airbrushed out of most biographical sketches.
 
#62 · (Edited)
Cortot didn't "appear" to collaborate, it is known that Cortot collaborated during the French occupation. He also gave concert tours of Nazi Germany. After the war, in 1947, at a concert in Paris, Cortot was booed off the stage, with cries, "Do you dedicate this to your friend, Hitler!":

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/1027/couldnt-resist

As for Walter Gieseking, his view of the Nazi party changed when he visited Switzerland in 1943/44 with his family and read uncensored newspapers. At that time, he asked his family to defect, but his wife prevailed upon him to return to Germany. While Gieseking was by various accounts a supporter of the Nazis between 1939 and 1943, believing that they were "saving Germany", as he told Artur Rubinstein, after the war it was discovered that Gieseking had never actually joined the Nazi party (unlike Herbert von Karajan, who joined it twice).

As for Wilhelm Furtwängler, I don't have an issue with his decision to remain in Germany during WW2, and to continue as head of the Berlin Philharmonic. Since I've never seen any hard evidence that Furtwängler collaborated with the Nazis, I can only assume that his decision to do so must have taken courage, as it couldn't have been an easy one to make. We also shouldn't forget that Furtwängler had extensive family in Germany, with many "natural" children, and they must have factored into his decision.

Yet what seems to have been missed on this thread is that Furtwängler did stand up to the Nazis, repeatedly. By remaining in Germany, Furtwängler was able to do a lot of good that he wouldn't have been able to do had he spent the war years relaxing in Lucerne. Not only did he save the lives of many Jewish musicians, but also non-Jews & non-musicians alike. Himmler knew what Furtwängler was secretly up to and put him on the concentration camp lists twice! Surely, that speaks volumes? Here was a man taking enormous personal risks in order to save the lives of others, some of whom he didn't even personally know (as Furtwängler's efforts only started out with musicians in his Berlin Philharmonic). Isn't that the opposite of cooperation?

Yes, of course there are photographs and a film reel of Furtwängler conducting concerts with visible Nazi flags in the background and high level Nazis in the audience. How could there not be? He was head of the Berlin Philharmonic. Similarly, how could Furtwängler refuse an invitation to conduct for Hitler's birthday? Surely, that was an unavoidable evening? Especially when you consider that to do so would have likely brought about consequences, and at the very least, further weakened Furtwängler's already increasingly vulnerable, uneasy relationship with the Nazi party, thereby placing him under even more suspicion: which would have only further compromised and hindered his efforts against the Nazis to save lives. The public photographs don't make Furtwängler guilty. Nor are they a portrait of the private man--at least not when the other evidence is presented and taken into account.

The next time you listen to a post-war recording by violinist Szymon Goldberg--such as his Schubert or Mozart with pianist Radu Lupu--remember that that recording wouldn't exist if Furtwängler hadn't saved Goldberg's life. And Goldberg was just one of many.

It should also be pointed out that the organized campaign against Furtwängler after the war primarily came from America. European Jewry don't appear to have had the same issue with Furtwängler. Were they simply being naive? Or, were they in a better position to know and judge the truth about Furtwängler? Based upon what I've read, I'd say it's the latter. Certainly Menuhin knew German Jews after the war, and was acting on information that came directly from their mouths--about how Furtwängler had saved their lives. Moreover, what Menuhin was told at that time was only a portion of the truth that would eventually come out. So, Yehudi Menuhin may have been an idealist, but I wouldn't call him naive.

Here's what his father, Moshe Menuhin, wrote on the subject:

"Wilhelm Furtwängler was a victum of envious and jealous rivals who had to resort to publicity, to smear, to calumny, in order to keep him out of America so it could remain their private balliwick. He was the victim of the small fry and puny souls among concert artists, who, in order to get a bit of national publicity, joined the bandwagon of the professional idealists, the professional Jews and the hired hands who irresponsibly assaulted an innocent and humane and broad-minded man… "

One of the unnamed "small fry and puny souls among concert artists" looking for "national publicity"--according to Menuhin Sr.'s scathing accusation--was undoubtedly violinist Isaac Stern, who was one of the leaders of the American campaign against Furtwängler. Evidently, both Menuhin Sr. and Menuhin Jr. believed that Stern & co. had acted too rashly and quickly before having all the facts first about Furtwängler--to say the least.

Of interest--here are Furtwängler's own words in a letter he wrote after being denied a conducting engagement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra:

"I was at first very distraught at the outcome of the Chicago Affair, for I was under the impression that the Chicago Symphony would have stood by my engagment. I was convinced that if they had let me come to America to conduct just one beat that all the difficulties would be overcome. It has turned out otherwise, and perhaps it is all just as well. The fact is, the rest of the world remains open to me even if I am shunned in America. I do not know if the matter in America will ever be straightened out.

June 24, 1949"

Here also is a good and detailed book on the subject-- "The Devil's Master":

https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Music...1513808118&sr=1-6&keywords=the+devil's+master

And, an interesting article in The American Scholar Quarterly on Furtwangler:

https://theamericanscholar.org/music-and-war/#
 
#63 ·
One of the unnamed "small fry and puny souls among concert artists" looking for "national publicity"--according to Menuhin Sr.'s scathing accusation--was undoubtedly violinist Isaac Stern, who was one of the leaders of the American campaign against Furtwängler. Evidently, both Menuhin Sr. and Menuhin Jr. believed that Stern & co. had acted too rashly and quickly before having all the facts first about Furtwängler--to say the least.

Of interest--here are Furtwängler's own words in a letter he wrote after being denied a conducting engagement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra:

"I was at first very distraught at the outcome of the Chicago Affair, for I was under the impression that the Chicago Symphony would have stood by my engagment. I was convinced that if they had let me come to America to conduct just one beat that all the difficulties would be overcome. It has turned out otherwise, and perhaps it is all just as well. The fact is, the rest of the world remains open to me even if I am shunned in America. I do not know if the matter in America will ever be straightened out.

June 24, 1949"

Here also is a good and detailed book on the subject-- "The Devil's Master":

https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Music...1513808118&sr=1-6&keywords=the+devil's+master

And, an interesting article in The American Scholar Quarterly on Furtwangler:

https://theamericanscholar.org/music-and-war/#
I would hardly call Stern 'small fry' as he was a leading musician in America. I think with the passage of time is as easy for us to judge those who opposed Furtwangler as it was for them to judge the man. When you have just had a war in which 6 million Jews have been exterminated by a regime, then it was quite understandable that people did not want who they saw as the leading cultural representative of that regime to conduct in America. Right or wrong I don't judge. Understandable? Yes!
 
#64 ·
I haven't read all the posts on this thread but it doesn't hurt to note what a vicious anti-Semite Wagner was.
I have no doubt that a lot of the greats had racist/sexist etc. leanings. it's sad that people can be utterly great in some areas and really awful, or just plain dumb and unthinking, in others. There are many 'great men' who lived off their wives' labor, and took some of their ideas and passed them off as their own.
The problem is that we'd like these greatly talented creative geniuses to have the moral character to match.
And often they don't.
sigh
 
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