Why would one accuse Composers Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt of being anti-Jews?

Question

Throughout his lifetime Richard Wagner developed warm, close and empathetic relationships with many Jews:

Samuel Lehrs
Samuel Lehrs was a Philologist. He was one of three of Wagner's close friends during the Composer's two year sojourn in Paris. At a time when Lehrs was really ill Wagner wrote him a letter stating "Be of good courage, my dear brother. Sooner or later we will be together again..." Later in his autobiography he would state that his relationship with Lehrs was "one of the most beautiful relationships of my life."

Karl Tausig
Karl Tausig was a sixteen-year-old Polish Jew who was the favourite piano student of Wagner's friend Franz Liszt. Tausig was a frequent visitor at Wagner's home where they would have meals together and they often took mountain hikes in the Swiss countryside. When Tausig died of Typhus, Wagner was devastated. He told his wife "since Tausig’s death I have no will for anything except business matters and the children’s lessons. I just cannot manage to write personal letters."

Jacques Halevy
Jacques Halevy was a Composer whom Wagner befriended in Paris. Wagner held a high opinion of his masterly talent and he also assessed that Halevy's work "justifies the participation of all Jews in our artistic concerns."

Heinrich Porges
Heinrich Porges was a Musician whom Wagner befriended in Paris. Wagner even asked Porges to come to Munich with him so that they could both perform for King Ludwig II of Bavaria.

Josef Rubenstein
Josef Rubenstein was a Piano Virtuoso who helped Wagner for his opera Parsifal.

Angelo Neumann
Angelo Neumann was an Impresario to whom Wagner gave exclusive rights to produce the Ring operas all over Europe.

Hermann Levi
Hermann Levi was the son of a Rabbi. He was selected by Wagner to conduct Parsifal, Wagner's final opera. Wagner insisted that he would have no one but Levi and resisted all objections based on religion or any other matter.

I think that the reason why today Richard Wagner is labelled as an anti-Jew is because he was Adolf Hitler's favourite Musician and it has been speculated that Wagner's anti-Jewish essay "Jewishness In Music" may have been influential on Hitler's anti-Jewishness. It has also been claimed that his music was frequently played in the various concentration camps.

Franz Liszt was also best friends with the Jewish Composer Felix Mendelssohn. His two favourite piano students were Jews, Karl Tausig and Istvan Thoman.

Why would you befriend somebody whom you disliked or hated?

Answer 1

If you have already read Jewishness in Music then you should know the answer to that question. In addition, several of his biographers indicate he did have anti-Semitic or racist views.

Answer 2

Who cares?



But, since you ask, you seem to already know of the existence of his book "Jewishness in Music."



That is probably the reason some people see him as anti-semitic. It is not who liked it, it is what he wrote in it.



Under a pseudonym in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Wagner published the essay "Das Judenthum in der Musik" in 1850 (originally translated as "Judaism in Music", by which name it is still known, but better rendered as "Jewishness in Music"). The essay attacked Jewish contemporaries (and rivals) Felix Mendelssohn and Giacomo Meyerbeer, and accused Jews of being a harmful and alien element in German culture. Wagner stated the German people were repelled by Jews' alien appearance and behaviour: "with all our speaking and writing in favour of the Jews' emancipation, we always felt instinctively repelled by any actual, operative contact with them." He argued that because Jews had no connection to the German spirit, Jewish musicians were only capable of producing shallow and artificial music. They therefore composed music to achieve popularity and, thereby, financial success, as opposed to creating genuine works of art.[175] Wagner republished the pamphlet under his own name in 1869, with an extended introduction, leading to several public protests at the first performances of Die Meistersinger. He repeated similar views in later articles, such as "What is German?" (1878, but based on a draft written in the 1860s).[176]



And having "friends who are x" does not mean that one is not racist against "x" group.



Saying "I can't be racist, I have a black friend" is a pretty lame defense.

Answer 3

In addition to affinity: in these years anti-semitism was accepted and a widespread attitude in all levels of society, especially middleclass and upwards