Germany still loves its Wagners
NewsThe composer’s great-granddaughter Nike Wagner has been awarded the Cross of Merit, 1st Class, of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her decades of work in the management and organization of music festivals and in cultural studies.
The citation says: ‘Prof. Nike Wagner has made an international name for herself by directing major music festivals and has been an important voice in cultural studies for many decades. In her publications, she has dealt intensively with the light and shadow of the Richard Wagner myth and – herself coming from the Wagner art dynasty – has drawn attention to the interdependence of art and politics in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most recently, she has succeeded in innovatively redefining the Beethoven Festival in Bonn with her very own signature. As a cultural organizer and cultural scientist, she herself has become an important cultural authority in the Federal Republic.’
I am more worried by the Germans still liking their Putin. And Nike is by far the most deserving of the whole lot.
sure, we do love Wagner – as so many music lovers world wide. and Nike is great, as well.
“Most recently, she has succeeded in innovatively redefining the Beethoven Festival in Bonn with her very own signature.”
Oh come on, Bonn has made a right mess of the Beethoven myth despite Nike and COVID-19.
Still no proper concert venue!
The most worrying is that the town of the great classical composer ‘appropriated’ postwar modernism when including ‘new music’ as if it were a natural continuation of a tradition.
Kinder, schafft neues!
One of those 19C memes (like Rimbaud’s ‘Il faut être absolument moderne’) which stimulated the birth of ideologies of ‘progress’, as if there exists something like progress in the arts, resulting in Xenakis, Cage, the campaigning of Boulez, etc. etc. – like the conceptual art in the visual arts.
Nike Wagner’s book on the post-Richard family is great (‘The Wagners’). It also clearly demonstrates that the idea of an ‘art dynasty’ is profoundly insane, and in Wagner’s case an invention of his progeny. RW himself did not leave a will and he had no idea what should be done with the Bayreuth Festival after his death, it was a source of worry and undecidedness. Everything that should worry any intelligent reader of that book is the invention and creation of Wagner’s widow and the rest.
Finally, your comment makes sense!
What’s not to love?