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From the February 2001 newsletterOn the September 17, 2000 - Panel discussion ...
Dr Greg Chesher has written to the Newsletter Editor about an item in the December 2000 Newsletter which concluded with the following summary of comments made by members participating in the discussion.
[ See also: Function Review: Have your Say! Panel on Götterdämmerung performance by the SSO (special guest: Mr Bill Gillespie) ]
"As background for those who had not attended Gottfried Wagner's talk or were not aware of his views from other sources, the excerpts from the Van der Let films focussed on Herr Wagner's views on the Wagner family's and Germany's failure to confront and resolve its antisemitic history. The audience generally considered Herr Wagner's views to be very one-sided and not to contribute greatly to a better understanding of that complex artist, Wagner. Both Mr Gillespie and Mr Nicholson agreed that the films showed how an artist can be used for different political and social purposes, regardless of the artist's views."Dr Cheshire comments: I must confess that I did not attend the function so I could be taking the matter out of context. On the other hand, I did read this afresh, as it were, like so many readers who did not attend. I found the last paragraph to be a little disturbing. As I read this I see an unfortunate dismissal of Gottfried Wagner's sincere views on the family to "confront and resolve its anti-Semitic history". His point of view concerning the music of Richard Wagner is another issue. As this paragraph stands, I find the dismissal of his views to infer an equivalent dismissal of the concern about the anti-Semitism of the Wagner family in Bayreuth I trust the Wagner Society in NSW in not insensitive to these views.
The Wagner Society welcomes discussion and debate about the significance of Wagner, his writing, and his music.
Editor.
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