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Friday 5 December 2008

On not liking Wagner

Well, I now feel a little bit less guilty about my failure to get to grips with the Bayreuth phenomenon. The normally omniverous Terry Teachout has a confession to make:

Spare me your angry letters, dear Perfect Wagnerites: one of the advantages of no longer being young is that you're expected to start making up your mind about certain things. Time was when I pretended to keep an open mind about Richard Wagner--but no more. He is not now and never has been my cup of tea, and I plan, insofar as possible, to go through the remainder of my life without ever attending another public performance of his music.

Nor do I see any reason to explain why. You've heard it all before, from others if not from me: countless distinguished critics and composers have been staunch anti-Wagnerians, publishing reams of articulate prose about his aesthetic demerits. Instead, I propose to talk about the lifestyle of a Wagner-hater, a subject which, to the best of my knowledge, has yet to be discussed in print.

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