Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Yan, Hektor K. T.

Titel

The Jewish Question Revisited: Anti-Semitism and 'Race' in Wagner's "Parsifal"

Ist Teil von

• International review of the aesthetics and sociology of music, 2012-12, Vol.43 (2), p.343-363

Ort / Verlag

Zagreb: Department for Music and Musicology of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Croatian Musicological Society, Music Academy of the University of Zagreb

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This article takes an alternative look at the issues of anti-Semitism and 'race' in relation to Wagner's Parsifal. It responds to Marc A. Weiner's question by considering the scenario whereby it is possible for a contemporary reception of Parsifal to be infiltrated by anti-Semitic (or racist) ideas. Through a reexamination of the character Klingsor in relation to Wagner's pamphlet Judaism in Music, I argue that Wagner's dramatic and musical treatments of this character can be seen as an attempt to portray him as alien and essentially different. By implicitly accepting this racial ideology that regards the categorization of human beings into hierarchies as natural and normal, Wagner dramatises and endorses a process of exclusion in Parsifal. A discussion on the fundamental issues of categorization follows: it examines how the persuasiveness of racial categories affects the very concepts we employ when we come into contact with Parsifal. U ovom se članku nudi alternativni pogled na pitanja antisemitizma i 'rase' u odnosu na Wagnerov Parsifal. Njime se reagira na pitanje Marca A. Weinera o mogućem scenariju prema kojem bi bilo moguće da se u suvremenu recepciju Parsifala infiltriraju antisemitske (ili rasističke) ideje. Preispitivanjem karaktera Klingsora u odnosu na Wagnerov pamfletski spis Židovstvo u glazbi (Das Judenthum in der Musik, 1850, 1869) autor tvrdi da se Wagnerovo dramsko i glazbeno tretiranje toga karaktera može shvatiti kao pokušaj njegova portretiranja kao tuđeg i bitno drukčijeg. Implicitno prihvaćajući ovu rasističku ideologiju koja kategorizaciju ljudskih bića promatra kroz hijerarhiju prirodnog i normalnog, Wagner u dramskom postupku pristaje u Parsifalu na proces isključivanja. Slijedi rasprava o temeljnim pitanjima kategorizacije istražujući kako uvjerljivost rasnih kategorija utječe na same pojmove koje rabimo kad dolazimo u kontakt s Parsifalom.