Barenboim Conducts Wagner Performance in Israel

Voice of America, July 8, 2001

Conductor Daniel Barenboim has re-ignited a decades-old controversy in Israel by leading his orchestra in a performance of a composition by Richard Wagner, Adolf Hitler's favorite composer.

On Saturday in Jerusalem, Mr. Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle Symphony performed part of Wagner's opera "Die Walkyre" after their regularly scheduled performance.

Mr. Barenboim had agreed before Saturday's performance not to play music by Wagner. But when he and the musicians returned onstage for an encore, he asked who in the audience wanted to hear music by the German composer. Most of those on hand applauded and said they did.

The orchestra performed despite vocal protests by a minority of the spectators. The crowd included holocaust survivors.

The music of Richard Wagner influenced Nazi cultural policy. Attempts to perform his music at concert halls in Israel have often led to shouting matches and near-brawls.

Mr. Barenboim, a Jew born during World War II and an Israeli citizen, says Wagner's music must still be respected.

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