Israeli orchestra to play Wagner in Germany

October 13, 2010|Associated Press

JERUSALEM — An Israeli orchestra will perform works by Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer, Richard Wagner, in a taboo-breaking concert in Germany next year, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

The Israel Chamber Orchestra will play works by Wagner at the Bayreuth festival in July, spokeswoman Meirav Magen Lelie said. It will be the first time an Israeli orchestra has played Wagner in Germany.

Since its founding in 1948, Israel has observed an informal ban on Wagner’s music because of its use in Nazi propaganda before and during World War II.

Some 6 million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in Europe during the war.

Many Israelis still refuse to buy German-made products, and performances of the 19th-century composer are kept off stages and airwaves out of respect for the country’s 220,000 Holocaust survivors.

“We would love to change the way his music is conceived,’’ Magen Lelie said. She said she understood the sensitivities of Holocaust survivors and others but the music should be appreciated for what it is. Music by composers banned by the Third Reich, including Gustav Mahler and Felix Mendelssohn, will be played there as well.

Moshe Sanbar, a prominent member of Israel’s main Holocaust survivor umbrella group, said it is too early for Israelis to play Wagner.

“Wagner is too much for us; the memories are still very painful,’’ Sanbar said.

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