Madam, - Arminta Wallace's feature article on Wagner (Arts, September 6th) is marred by cliché and hyperbole. It is fatuous to suggest "that more has been written about Wagner than about anyone else in European history except Jesus Christ". Then we are told that "he appears to have been a first-class pain in the ass"!
That Wagner borrowed money is readily explained by the fact that for his entire early life he was very poor and could survive as a composer only by borrowing. In earlier times it was common for artists to depend on benefactors for a living. As a young man he was a left-wing political activist and was pursued by the Prussian authorities. Later in life, as his work came to be recognised, he abandoned his earlier radicalism. He did not become conservative and reactionary as some think. Rather he came to see his art as more important than politics.
Ms Wallace's article also fails to explain Wagner's vital role as a creator of European culture in the 19th century. At the time Germany was new in the business of nation-making. Its European neighbours such as France, Italy and England had long-established nationhoods characterised by (among often less worthy things) distinctive cultural traditions. Germany, by contrast, was only coming together as a nation. Compared with neighbouring France, it was seen as backward and philistine.
Wagner and those who influenced him - notably the philosophers Albert Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche - saw their role as the creation of a German high culture of philosophy, literature and serious music.
It is difficult nowadays to appreciate that at this time nationalism in Europe was a radical and progressive movement which at its best was associated with cultural renewal and creativity. Yet this view must be tempered by the consideration that nationalism (and not least German nationalism) could also be bigoted and chauvinistic. And in fairness it must be said that Wagner was certainly prone to these uglier manifestations of nationalism.
Nationalism later came to be discredited by militaristic excesses and major wars - notably in Germany. In this regard Wagner's contribution to the culture of his country bears interesting comparison with that of W.B. Yeats to the flowering of Anglo-Irish literature. Both were important in the creation of a national culture, yet both also embraced some of the unseemlier aspects of nationalism.
Wagner's anti-Semitism must also be seen in the context of its time. In the 19th and early 20th centuries anti-Semitism was a virulent bigotry which pervaded European society - not just Germany - at all levels, including the cultured and well-educated.
In early life Wagner also felt he had a particular reason for disliking the Jews. He considered that wealthy Jews largely controlled the opera in places such as Paris. As such he held them responsible for what he saw as the vulgar commercialisation of opera and its failure to uphold artistic standards.
Wagner's anti-Semitism, like that aspect of his German nationalism that was xenophobic, was inexcusable. Yet he was also a genius with both a unique gift for musical composition and a broader intellectual formation that informed his work.
His interest in philosophy inspired his music. Schopenhauer in particular imbued him with the belief that music could connect with the inner self and deeper emotions in a profound and unique way. For Wagner the challenge was to make this connection. As a result his contribution to music and culture has been immense. - Yours, etc,
FRANK FALLS, Committee Member, The Wagner Society of Ireland, Baldham, Germany.