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Book Review: "Metapolitics" by Peter Viereck
Peter Viereck's Metapolitics was originally his Harvard PhD thesis, written between 1936 and 1941 and first published in 1941. Viereck (1916-2006) was a right-wing American historian and poet. In many...
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Book Review of "Forbidden Music: The Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis" by...
In the last post, I promised an exposé of a book that shows the thoroughly pernicious influence in musicological circles of Peter Viereck's right-wing rewriting of history as expounded in his...
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Liberty Leads the People...
Some [day a] new Napoleon might arise,To shame the world againBut who would soar the solar height,To set in such a starless night?Byron: Ode to Napoleon BonaparteIn 1848, a pro-democratic revolution...
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Nazi Opera Conspiracies: a Right-Wing Rewriting of History
After much thought, a phrase occurred to me, one that encapsulated the very essence of the growing literature pointing the figure at Richard Wagner to single-handedly carry the blame for causing World...
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'Em Bloody Krauts: The Lie of Hegel's "March of God" and Other Howlers
If you remember, in the last post we discussed the problems that academic historians have with an older generation of authors such as journalist William Shirer and right-wing historian Peter Viereck...
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Books on Wagner that Needs Translating into English
Today, I decided I compile a wishlist of books that desperately need to be translated into English. So for those of you involved in Wagner societies etc who might want to try to organise for something...
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Lying About Hitler: Why Historians Reject Nazi Opera Conspiracies—and Why We...
Every book has its target audience. The question is as to what the target of Nazi opera conspiracy books might be. It is likely to be an audience interested in opera, music and art history. It is...
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Nazi Opera Conspiracies: A Kinship with the Goldhagen Hypothesis and Occult...
Of all writings that help us to understand the historical background to Richard Wagner's views on the Jews, there are perhaps few more enlightening than Ordinary Germans and the Longest Hatred found in...
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Constantin Frantz: Offener Brief an Richard Wagner
Volltext aus dem Bayreuther Blätter, Juni 1878. Constantin Frantz (12. Sep 1817 – 2. Mai 1891) gehört ursprünglich um den Junghegelianer wie Max Stirner, David Strauß, Ludwig Feuerbach, Arnold Ruge...
View ArticleWhy "Think Classical"? Or Why Xenakis is the First and Only Classical Composer
I have been thinking for a while why I called my blog "Think Classical", especially since I don't actually believe in the notion of "classical" music. Even limited to the music of Haydn and Mozart, I...
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Richard Wagner Supports Constantin Frantz's Denunciation of Prussian...
Wahn! Wahn! Überall Wahn!Wohin ich forschend blick'in Stadt- und Weltchronik,den Grund mir aufzufinden,warum gar bis aufs Blutdie Leut' sich quälen und schindenin unnütz toller Wut! Madness! Madness!...
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Book Review of "Hitler's Philosophers" by Yvonne Sherratt: a Thatcherite View...
Hitler’s Philosophers by Yvonne SherrattPublished May 01, 2013 by Yale University PressSoftcover version:ISBN-10: 0300205473ISBN-13: 978-0300205473Hardcover version:ISBN-10: 0300151934ISBN-13:...
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“Wagner’s Acquittal” by Joachim Köhler: the Death of the Author
As many readers will already know, the latest news in Wagner studies is the publication in the July, 2014 edition of The Wagner Journal of an article entitled Wagner’s Acquittal written by none other...
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Why the Austro-German School of Composition is So Overrated
What is “Classical” Music?Here is what the Oxford English Dictionary has to say about the word “classical”:classical, a.(ˈklæsɪkəl) [f. L. classic-us ] 1. Of the first rank or authority; constituting a...
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The Latest Nazi Opera Conspiracy Book is Out
Here it is, folks. As predicted, no sooner as Joachim Köhler published his retraction of charges against Richard Wagner for causing WWII and the Holocaust, the next iteration of Nazi opera conspiracy...
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A Quick Update on Bernd Weikl's Book
In the last post, we welcomed the publication of the latest Nazi opera conspiracy book by Bernd Weikl calling for Wagner to be banned in Germany. It was Weikl’s great misfortune that the book’s...
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The Catastrophic Loss of an Educated Musical Literati
Stravinsky became a friend, and Carter was witness to a legendary musical encounter when he and Stravinsky were having dinner in a New York restaurant. A waiter asked if a fellow diner could have...
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Bernd Weikl's Book Turns Out to be a Hoax – but is it a Good One?
During WWII allied war propaganda came up with a number of theories about the alleged cultural origins of National Socialism in an effort to make Hitler and the Party look ridiculous. Amongst these...
View ArticleFirst Post for 2015
A belated Happy New Year to all readers. I hope everyone has had a good break!Firstly, I would like to thank the small but growing number of readers of a rather a niche blog dealing mostly with more...
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Why I Hate Mozart—and So Should You
Confession time. I have never really liked Mozart, and at many a moment have even counted myself a Mozart hater.I dislike all of the hype surrounding his name. The last time I was in Vienna I was...
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