Angela Merkel and her husband arrive at the premier of Tristan und Isolde. dpa photo [source]
It's hard enough to imagine a Democratic candidate for president attending a performance of Tristan und Isolde. Can you imagine Bush doing that?
Merkel is chair of the conservative party in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union. At least they're honest with the titles of political parties.
tim
guiliani's a big opera fan. liking opera sadly doesnt make one enlightened culturally or otherwise. but it can't hurt.
barry
He only goes to Italian opera, and then seems to approve only of "traditional" stagings. I can't imagine him attending Wagner, particularly a new, controversial production. Of course, there is little danger of that at the Met, whose regime and audience think Robert Wilson's warmed-over Wieland Wagner stagings are avante garde.
Also, I'm sure Giualiani is unaware that a classic like "La Traviata" was scandolous at the time for its sympathetic portrayal of a courtesan. I'm sure if Giuliani had been alive then he would have been one of the people protesting it.
JL
He only goes to Italian opera, and then seems to approve only of "traditional" stagings.
Then again, a conservative German politician being a Wagner fan isn't the most delightful scene, either.
barry
JL, I find that a pretty knee-jerk attitude towards Germans and culture. Daniel Barenboim is a big fan of Wagner, and is capable of separating the man from the music. I don't see why others wouldn't be capable of the same thought process.
JL
JL, I find that a pretty knee-jerk attitude towards Germans and culture.
You praise a German conservative for going to Bayreuth and disdain an Italian-American conservative for going to Italian opera at the Met? If I must be plain, my point was to agree with tim. But I am surprised that irony is lost on you.
barry
I wasn't really praising Merkel. I used her as the example because I had a photo, but much of the German political establishment attends such events. I meant that even conservatives think high culture is something important in many other democracies.
I have trouble thinking of Rudolph "I don't want to see crap like Chris Ofili when I attend a museum with my mistress" Giuliani as some kind of general lover of culture.
I will agree that even rather unpleasant people often enjoy opera and high culture. I'm just bothered by the tendency many people have to say it implies a specific political stance to like Wagner, so that's why I reacted that way.
As a slight aside, if you ever get a chance to hear Leon Botstein (president of Bard and conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra) talk about politics, music, and history -- don't miss it.
Sal
Knowing Rudy and his love of opera personally, I am pretty sure that Giualiani is AWARE that a classic like "La Traviata" was scandolous at the time for its sympathetic portrayal of a courtesan. And in it's time, opera was mainstream entertainment of it's day. All those killings and spectacles were the "action" movie of yesteryear. And Germans love their opera just like we love our movies. It's in their "culture". Just b/c it's done one place and not the other doesn't make one place better or worse than the other. Just different.
jfl
As a Wagner-loving CSU-member German, I still found JL's comment rather funny...