nazi party used wagner ’ H u m a n i t i e s

Answer the following questions in 1-2 paragraphs.

1. On the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 2013, the BBC asked: “Can we listen to, watch or perform Wagner’s music with a clear conscience? Was Wagner’s music despicably perverted by the Nazis, or did their adulation merely expose its inherent perversions?

How can we make sense of Wagner’s legacy in the 21st century, given his innovations in opera and his wide-ranging influence on Western music on the one hand, and on the other, his anti-semitic views and the association between his music and Hitler? Do Wagner’s anti-semitic views, as we discussed in relation to Die Meistersingers, influence your understanding of his music? Does the association between Wagner’s music and Hitler influence your understanding of his music? Why or why not? (*There is no “right” answer to this question. You won’t be graded on your opinion! You will be graded on how well you articulate and support your opinion.*)

2.Discuss the role of innovation and tradition in Schoenberg’s Erwartung and Pierrot Lunaire. Cite specific examples, with time-stamps.

3.Compare Florence Price’s use of Juba rhythms in the third movement of her Symphony in E minor to Carlos Chavez’s use of indigenous melodies in his Sinfonia India. Consider the way in which these references are integrated into each composer’s music, as well as the composer’s own relationship to these materials and the social context in which each piece was composed and performed. Cite specific examples, with time-stamps.

APPLICATION: We have discussed the way in which Hitler and the Nazi Party used Wagner’s music as a form of propaganda. Find a contemporary example (after 1950) of a piece of music being used by a government as a form of propaganda, in order to further a political or ideological agenda. Include a link to the piece of music that you chose, with a brief explanation of how how the work was used by a government. Please cite your sources.