James Levine (1943-2021)

[gurnemanz]

The great (greatest?) German lyric poet, Heinrich Heine, a Jew, of course, had a love-hate relationship with his own country and famously wrote from his Paris exile:
Denk ich an Deutschland in der Nacht,
Dann bin ich um den Schlaf gebracht (If I think of Germany during the night I can't sleep any more)

He loved Shakespeare and decided he should visit the poet's homeland. He was bitterly disappointed with the Victorian England which he encountered. He wrote that like those Christians who are reluctant to admit that Jesus Christ was a Jew he could not imagine that Shakespeare could have been English.

I sometimes think of Bernard Levin commenting that if he wasn't Jewish he would probably be an anti-Semite.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I’m in the fortunate position of not being a Goodall admirer but when I read his biography (‘Reggie’ by his good friend and close associate John Lucas) I was shocked at the deep, ingrained nature of his fascism and far-right opinions (‘People should stay in their own countries’, snarled Goodall, when being driven down an offensively multicultural London street).

There are mitigating factors with Wagner’s anti-Semitism (he didn’t hate Jews so much that he refused to give them important jobs at Bayreuth) and the fact that certain 19th century anti-Semites could hardly have foreseen the tragic consequences their attitudes were to have.

Sidebar: Chopin was a far worse anti-Semite than Wagner, apparently, but he never set forth his views on paper.

Having read all 2,000 pages of Newman’s biography of Wagner I am struggling to find any “mitigating factors” in his anti-semitism.Up until reading that book I was , like you , prepared to give RW a the benefit of the doubt . The trouble is so much of his career and thought processes were driven by dislike no let’s be honest hatred of the Jews. His treatment of Meyerbeer for example where Newman lays out pretty damning evidence . I have no doubt RW was profoundly anti-Semitic and his published works were part of the softening-up process which led stage by stage to anti Jewish laws and ultimately the Holocaust. I think Wagner could have well foreseen what the consequences would be - he would only have had to look back at past pogroms against Jews in his own country. I am not 100 per cent convinced that Mime, Alberich and Beckmesser are anti-Semitic caricatures but there is compelling evidence that they may be.
PS he is also by a country mile my favourite opera composer and DMVN my favourite opera ...

[Jasmine Bassett]

Having had the opportunity to be present during a series of recording sessions in London involving James Levine and his brother Tom I can wholeheartedly concur with Kenneth Woods' opening remark.

[ahinton]

here's an article I recommend people read: https://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2021/...kg_G_-ymy6rp2I

which begins: "James Levine was not a great man with a single tragic flaw. He was an almost completely horrible person, with a single, tragic talent."

I had read this and am pleased that you draw attention to it here. I also read a piece by another conductor at https://slippedisc.com/2021/03/silen...-james-levine/ . Now I yield to no one in my respect and admiration for DR as a conductor, but in the sole clause in an otherwise praiseful assessment where he actually refers en passant to JL's tainted history he writes of it as as "disturbing controversy which engulfed him in later years", almost as though it were somehow thrust upon him rather than something for which he was personally all too responsible; in seeking to redress an unredressable balance, the rest of what DR writes is cast in the most eulogistic terms, presumably in the hope that those who read his tribute will overlook JL's conduct just as so many appear to have done in the past, thereby ensuring that, for many years, he contrived to get away with it.

[ahinton]

I’m in the fortunate position of not being a Goodall admirer but when I read his biography (‘Reggie’ by his good friend and close associate John Lucas) I was shocked at the deep, ingrained nature of his fascism and far-right opinions (‘People should stay in their own countries’, snarled Goodall, when being driven down an offensively multicultural London street).

There are mitigating factors with Wagner’s anti-Semitism (he didn’t hate Jews so much that he refused to give them important jobs at Bayreuth) and the fact that certain 19th century anti-Semites could hardly have foreseen the tragic consequences their attitudes were to have.

Sidebar: Chopin was a far worse anti-Semite than Wagner, apparently, but he never set forth his views on paper.

Chopin was not a "far worse anti-Semite than Wagner", although there's no denying that his attitude towards Jews could at times be suspect at the very least, even though he tended to reserve his unsavoury remarks mainly toward Jewish music publishers. One of Chopin's greatest friends during his final decade or so was Alkan, a Jew whom he held in such respect that during his final days he begged him to take on his students upon his death. You are correct, however, in noting that Chopin never published his views although he might well have included them on occasion in correspondence.

[Ein Heldenleben]

If there is to be a discussion of Wagner's antisemitism I suggest that those participating should at least attempt to inform themselves about it.

Back on topic, here's an article I recommend people read: https://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2021/...kg_G_-ymy6rp2I

which begins: "James Levine was not a great man with a single tragic flaw. He was an almost completely horrible person, with a single, tragic talent."

I’ve read the article . The two anecdotes he cites are sadly pretty typical of some of the almost comically despotic behaviour that a few talented and powerful people in the arts and culture world exhibit (and not just in those worlds ). Kenneth refers a great deal to ‘child abuse’ . As with Epstein it should be borne in mind that the age of consent is higher in New York than in the UK so what is child abuse there would not necessarily be legally that here. That is just about the only ‘ mitigating’ factor ‘ . Having read some of Levine’s accusers testimony from other US newspaper sources (not blogs ) the allegations are grim indeed - a terrible abuse of power and trust.

[Dave2002]

If there is to be a discussion of Wagner's antisemitism I suggest that those participating should at least attempt to inform themselves about it.

It's not something I particularly want to get involved in, but there are articles like this:

https://www.theguardian.com/friday_review/story/0,3605,345459,00.html

https://www.dw.com/en/the-hateful-side-of-wagners-musical-genius/a-16850818

It is indisputed now that Wagner originally wrote a diatribe under an assumed name - apparently targetted to an extent at Mendelssohn - though there may been other objects of his invective, but he later updated it and put his own name on the revision.

[Richard Barrett]

there are articles like this

No sh*t, Sherlock - there's enough literature on the subject to fill a library!

[Dave2002]

No sh*t, Sherlock - there's enough literature on the subject to fill a library!

Should I now burn or bury any Wagner or recordings featuring James Levine - who was born into a Jewish family - but conducted Wagner when it suited him? That is the question. I guess there are CDs which have both characteristics - and indeed there are, as a simple web search will show.

The NY Times has this - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/o...vine-dead.html

[Ein Heldenleben]

No sh*t, Sherlock - there's enough literature on the subject to fill a library!

Yes and quite a lot written by RW himself - there are the defenders , the prosecutors , the equivocators . I’ve read a lot but barely scratched the surface...

[Ein Heldenleben]

Should I now burn or bury any Wagner or recordings featuring James Levine - who was born into a Jewish family - but conducted Wagner when it suited him? That is the question. I guess there are CDs which have both characteristics - and indeed there are, as a simple web search will show.

The NY Times has this - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/o...vine-dead.html

No of course not. I watched a Levine / Met Gotterdamerung the other day and enjoyed it. I read later that day more of Wagner’s treatment of the endlessly tolerant Hermann Levi . How difficult it is to reconcile the beauty of one creation and the ugliness of Wagner’s behaviour . It’s almost a microcosm of the world - the ugliness of prejudice and war and the beauty of art . I can’t reconcile them but I don’t think “burning” is the answer...

[duncan]

Back on topic, here's an article I recommend people read: https://kennethwoods.net/blog1/2021/...kg_G_-ymy6rp2I

which begins: "James Levine was not a great man with a single tragic flaw. He was an almost completely horrible person, with a single, tragic talent."

Thank you Richard. I’ve been shocked by the amount of soft-soaping in some of the obituaries. It is good someone is prepared to tell it like it was. Some of the (signed) comments are worth reading too. It’s shameful and baffling the Met. protected him for so long.

[Katzelmacher]

No of course not. I watched a Levine / Met Gotterdamerung the other day and enjoyed it. I read later that day more of Wagner’s treatment of the endlessly tolerant Hermann Levi . How difficult it is to reconcile the beauty of one creation and the ugliness of Wagner’s behaviour . It’s almost a microcosm of the world - the ugliness of prejudice and war and the beauty of art . I can’t reconcile them but I don’t think “burning” is the answer...

I’ve read Newman and I’ve read Cosima Wagner’s Diaries, in which many of RW’s bon mots are recorded. The Wagners’ behaviour ranged from the petty (Cosima refusing the doctor who was sent to attend on Richard because the doctor happened to be ‘an Israelite’) to the deeply disturbing (Wagner’s offhand remark that the best way to deal with the Jews would be to ‘stick them on a bonfire’). Yet Wagner did welcome the likes of Levi and Joukowsky into Haus Wahnfried the sacred temple of Wagnerism and Levi was indeed one of the pallbearers at Wagner’s funeral. It may be invidious to talk of ‘scales of anti-Semitism’ in subjects like this but it’s hard to imagine people like Houston Stuart Chamberlain (who married into the Wagner family) or Bernhard Forster (Nietzsche’s brother-in-law) doing things like that.


Wagner’s deranged antipathy toward Meyerbeer is fascinating. No-one has ever quite got to the bottom of it, but it seems the relationship was important in the formulation of Wagner’s anti-Semitism. As a stony broke newcomer to Paris, Wagner sought Meyerbeer out and Meyerbeer was happy to give him some money and introduce him to some important people. Maybe Wagner didn’t like being beholden to someone whom he didn’t admire/in fact rather despised as an artist? Some have asserted that Wagner’s resented Meyerbeer because ‘he didn’t do more for me.’ A more likely explanation is that Meyerbeer was a huge success in Paris, the epicentre Of opera, when Wagner was trying (and, largely, failing) to make his way there. This could also explain his lifelong antipathy to the French and his exuberantly obnoxious response to the siege of Paris.

[Katzelmacher]

On a lighter note (if it’s appropriate to call it that), I note from the obituaries that Levine made an honest beard of the woman he’d lived with for many years, just before he died.

[Dave2002]

On a lighter note (if it’s appropriate to call it that), I note from the obituaries that Levine made an honest beard of the woman he’d lived with for many years, just before he died.

I didn't realise he was so wide ranging in his "tastes" outside music. Perhaps better to not go any further with such discussion, but I don't think getting married really exonerates him.