Alex Shih
November 5, 2012
Professor Davidson
Music 89S: Composers of Influence
A Wagnerian Hitler
People are often the greatest influence in someone’s life. However, someone does not
have to be living to be an influence. In the case of Adolf Hitler, he was influenced by someone
from the past, specifically Wilhelm Richard Wagner. Known musically for his powerful operas,
Wagner also had another, darker, side to him. He was an extremely vocal and opinionated
individual. He wrote on topics ranging from music to religion to politics. These religious essays
are what made Richard Wagner such a controversial figure. Wagner’s writings and operas played
a significant role in the development of Adolf Hitler’s ideas about the Jewish race and the
German future, with some of these writings contributing to the basic beliefs of the Nazis.
Adolf Hitler was born into the sole care of his mother because his father was often away
working. When his younger siblings were born, he was able to have complete freedom while is
mother was busy taking care of his siblings. As a result, much to his father’s dismay, Hitler did
not apply himself in school, hoping that his father would give up and allow him to follow his
own dreams. He did not want to just settle for a civil servant job like the one his father had.1
Eventually, his mother let him drop out of school.2 Hitler was still unsure of what he wanted to
do in the future. However, he did have an interest in the arts.
During his childhood, Hitler took singing lessons and sang in the church choir. He
wanted to attend a classical high school and eventually become an artist. When he moved to
Vienna in 1907, however, he ran into a few problems with this plan. Hitler wanted to become a
1
2
Hamann,
Brigitte.
Hitler’s
Vienna.
New
York:
Tauris
Parke
Paperbacks,
2010.
p.
11
Shrier,
William.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1960. pp. 10-11
painter, but was unfortunately rejected by the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. He had to return
to Linz after his mother got sick.3 When his mother died, he did not receive a large inheritance so
he applied for the orphan’s allowance. However, one of the stipulations of this allowance was an
enrollment in school, which Hitler refused to do. As a result, he fled back to Vienna, but reality
was not kind.4 Instead of living an artistic life, he lived in poverty, like a vagabond. His time in
Vienna was not easy; he even lived in a homeless shelter for a period of time.5 This part of
Hitler’s life is most important for his exposure to Vienna, a cultural hub filled with people of all
religions. At this time, Hitler did not know what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. It would
not be until much later in his life that he would realize what his true calling was. Some of his
future principles and ideas were beginning to develop during this time.
Hitler is perhaps known most for the Holocaust and his prejudices against the Jewish race.
These anti-Semitic views were not a sudden development though. His surroundings and readings
heavily influenced his opinion. At the time, being an anti-Semite was not uncommon, especially
for a young man living in Vienna, where the mayor himself, Karl Lueger, was anti-Semitic.
Lueger ran on a platform of anti-Semitism because his opponent had great success with it. He
produced ideas such as nationalizing Jewish companies and battling the “Jewish press.”6 These
ideas all rubbed off on Hitler.
As a musician, Richard Wagner was extremely arrogant and jealous. He did not like to
accept that someone was better than him. Many people helped him along the way, only for
Wagner to turn on them despite their help. Giacomo Meyerbeer, an opera composer, helped
3
Hamann.
Hitler’s
Vienna.
p.
37
Hamann.
Hitler’s
Vienna.
p.
40
5
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/hitler.html
6
Hamann.
Hitler’s
Vienna.
p.
247
4
2
Wagner start his career by helping him produce Rienzi in Dresden. One of Wagner’s
contemporaries, Hans von Bülow, called Rienzi “Meyerbeer’s best opera,” which angered
Wagner and caused him to dislike Meyerbeer more.7 Because Meyerbeer was wealthy and
Jewish, many of his contemporaries, including Wagner, disparaged him and caused Meyerbeer’s
own successful operas to go out of popularity.8 Wagner criticized Meyerbeer in “Judaism in
Music” for creating operas that were superficial and lacking meaning. He felt that Meyerbeer's
opera was created only for fame. Because of Wagner’s popularity and reputation, these attacks
on Meyerbeer impacted his popularity among the people even after his death.9 Besides
Meyerbeer, Wagner also disparaged Mendelssohn because he felt that Mendelssohn’s works
were also impersonal and superficial. The two composers had different goals for their music and
as an outspoken individual, Wagner voiced his opinion.10 Although Wagner’s opinion may not
seem to be important, his writings carried great significance and caused both Meyerbeer and
Mendelssohn’s works to fall out of favor with the public, despite their previous popularity.
Although it is not clear exactly when Hitler first began hating Jews, he later stated in
Mein Kampf, that Vienna was where his anti-Semitism first emerged. Vienna was also where
Hitler first heard Richard Wagner’s most influential opera, the Ring.11 The Ring was based on
Norse mythology which Wagner had read previously. The Ring was a cycle of four operas in the
order of: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämerung. Siegfried, the hero in the
Ring, murders many of the other characters and is glorified for it. However, he is betrayed and,
7
Grey,
Thomas
S.
“Rienzi,
Paris
and
French
grand
opera”
The
Wagner
Compendium.
p.72
Hibberd,
Sarah.
"MEYERBEER,
GIACOMO
(JAKOB
LIEBMANN
MEYER
BEER)
1791‐1864."
Encyclopedia
of
the
Romantic
Era
9
Loeffler.
“Richard
Wagner’s
“Jewish
Music”:
Antisemitism
and
Aesthetics
in
the
Modern
Jewish
Culture”
10
Grey,
Thomas
S.
“Contemporary
Composers”
The
Wagner
Compendium.
p.
170
11
Köehler,
Joachim.
Wagner’s
Hitler.
Massachussets:
Polity
Press.
2000.
p.
57
8
3
literally, stabbed in the back. This plot has a striking similarity to Hitler’s rise and fall. Wagner’s
most famous work did not come easily though.
Like Hitler, Richard Wagner also had some personal struggles throughout his life. Ever
since he was a child he knew that he wanted to be a composer. In school, he had a much greater
interest in theater and music than regular studies. He tried to downplay this in his later writings
to show his musical genius.12 With such a great interest in music, it was natural that Wagner
would become a composer. Due to uncontrolled spending, Wagner and his first wife Minna
would amass a large amount of debt and had to borrow money from many people.13 In addition,
he was not always faithful to his wife and had extramarital affairs, which is how he came to
marry his eventual wife, Cosima. Originally, Cosima was married to Hans von Bülow, the
conductor, but Wagner had an affair with her and she left von Bülow a short time later, taking
two of her four children who Wagner had fathered.14 Interestingly, von Bülow did not hold a
grudge against Wagner and continued to conduct some of Wagner’s operas. This hints again at
the amount of respect Wagner’s contemporaries had for him at the time.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was known for being a gifted composer. His operas were what
first brought Wagner into the spotlight. There are a few features of Wagner’s works that make
them stand out. One of the most important aspects of his operas was the use of leitmotifs. These
leitmotifs were short musical ideas that would be repeated throughout the opera. They were used
for association purposes; when the audience hears a certain leitmotif, they will immediately
associate the sound to a character, emotion, or action.15 This was a powerful technique that other
12
Millington, Barry. Oxford Music Online. “Wagner: Richard Wagner”
13
Millington. “Wagner: Richard Wagner”
14
Millington, Barry. “Wagner: Richard Wagner”
15
Whittall, Arnold. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. “Leitmotif” 4
composers such as Richard Strauss would later use. Another unique aspect of Wagner’s operas
was his libretto. Unlike his contemporaries, Wagner wrote the librettos for his operas himself,
instead of hiring others to do this.16 This was partly because he wanted full control of his operas
and he often had some hidden political messages based on his views in the operas. He also added
elements of Greek tragedy which united the drama and music. Later in his life, he also organized
the Bayreuth Festival in order to gain financial independence. In addition, Wagner wished to
have the best conductors and singers take part in the festival. His ultimate goal was to “gain full
control over the production of his works,” so that they could be performed the way he had
envisioned.17 Wagner was often dissatisfied with the conditions that his operas were performed
in. This changed with Bayreuth, where he had an opera house built that helped him achieve his
goal.
The festival became ideological and political almost from its inception. This was partly
due to Bayreuth’s political history as a Prussian territory. Although it was a Barvarian territory
when Wagner picked it as the location for his festival, Bayreuth also represented Wagner’s
support of the German nationalist movement which was supported by the Prussians.18 Hitler
would later visit the festival and support it financially. Although the festival was not under the
control of the Nazi bureaucracy, it became an “instrument of Nazi propaganda.”19 Even today,
the Bayreuth festival continues as a place for avid Wagnerians to hear the powerful operas.
History remembers Wagner not only for his music, but also for his personal views on
religion. Wagner was extremely anti-Semitic. He wrote multiple essays about music and these
16
Barry Millington, et al. "Wagner." Oxford Music Online. .
17
Weber, William. “Opera and social reform.” The Wagner Compendium. p. 153
18
Large, David. “The Bayreuth Legacy” The Wagner Compendium p. 389
19
Large, David. “The Bayreuth Legacy” The Wagner Compendium. p.392
5
often resulted in slights against Jews. He began using the term “Jewish modernism” to describe
the role that Jewish people played in the artistic world. Wagner felt that Jews were controlling
the media and the publishing of art, which resulted in “immorality and licentiousness in modern
art.” 20 Wagner would also claim that the only culture the Jews had were the synagogue songs for
worshiping God.21 In addition, he also co-founded a journal, the Bayreuther Blätter, in which he
wrote prejudiced articles under a pen name. This journal started out as just a private one, but
later expanded to become an official publication that reported on the Bayreuth Festival and other
bodies.22 His most famous essay was “Das Judenthum in der Musik” or “Judaism in Music.”
Wagner published it under the pen name K.Freigedank, or “K. free-thought.”23 In this essay,
Wagner would label the Jewish race as “cultural parasites” that had to imitate the culture they
lived in because they possessed none themselves.24 Later on, Wagner would revise the essay and
publish it under his own name, which became much more significant. Gradually, Wagner
published more and more articles disparaging the Jews so that future generations would be brainwashed with these ideas.25 These views were not just arbitrary though.
Wagner, himself, was influenced by the German culture of the time. Some of his opinions
stemmed from the völkisch (German populist) ideology that Jews were “un-German”, and thus
were considered as outsiders. Wagner used this ideology to advance his own idea that Jewish
artists were superficial because their lack of culture prevented their music from moving the
20
Hamann. Hitler’s Vienna. p. 78
21
Loeffler. “Richard Wagner’s “Jewish Music”: Antisemitism and Aesthetics in the Modern Jewish
Culture”
22
Köhler. Wagner’s Hitler. p. 111
23
Moravitz, Mike. “Wagner and Hitler: Opera, Anti-Semitism, and the Third Reich” Web.
24
James Loeffler. “Richard Wagner’s “Jewish Music”: Antisemitism and Aesthetics in the Modern
Jewish Culture”
25
Köhler. Wagner’s Hitler. p. 110
6
soul.26 In spite of Wagner’s contempt for Jews, he still had a loyal group of Jewish admirers,
such as Joseph Rubinstein, Hermann Levi, and Heinrich Porges.27 This is proof of how popular
and prominent Wagner was. People still admired the man who wrote diatribe articles disparaging
and attacking their culture.
The operas that Wagner created during his lifetime were phenomenal. Oftentimes, he
tried to use mythology to create the plot in his works. In Rienzi, Wagner bases the plot off of a
Roman tribune named Cola di Rienzi, who was able to unite Italy into a republic.28 Wagner’s
telling of Rienzi starts in Rome with open conflict, and Rienzi gaining the support of the people.
The people like Rienzi enough to offer him the crown, but the nobles do not support Rienzi and
plan to kill him. Rienzi is able to secure freedom for the people, but eventually the Church turns
against him. This leads to the people eventually turn on Rienzi and burn the Capitol down,
killing Rienzi.29 This is the plot that affected Hitler so greatly. When asked about the ending,
Hitler stated that he would learn from Rienzi’s mistake. He realized that Rienzi failed because he
had no support from a political party and the only way not to be betrayed was to make the party
immune to traitors. This idea of traitors was always in Hitler’s mind, which is why he adopted
Rienzi’s phrase, “Death to the traitors!”30
Clearly, Wagner was extremely influential. It is no wonder that a young Hitler who was
interested in the arts would find Richard Wagner so moving, especially after experiencing Rienzi
in Linz for the first time.31 Hitler’s close friend August Kubizek stated that in Vienna, Hitler
studied Wagner’s works and life “with a feverish heart” and could even recite some of Wagner’s
26
Millington. “Wagner and the Jews” The Wagner Compendium. p162
27
Millington. “Wagner and the Jews” The Wagner Compendium. p164
28
Hamann. Hitler’s Vienna. p. 23
29
Hamann. Hitler’s Vienna. p. 24
30
Köhler. Wagner’s Hitler. p. 28
31
Köehler. Wagner’s Hitler. pp. 26-27
7
writings.32 Later on, Hitler also stated that it was in Linz that he first had the idea of becoming a
politician.33
There are plenty of other examples showing Wagner’s influence on Hitler. According to
Robert Jacobs, Hitler uses Wagnerian opera to describe the cause of Germany’s failure in WWI.
He uses an alliance from Wagner’s opera the Ring to describe the failure of the Hapsburg state.34
Hitler once said “I recognize in Wagner my only predecessor . . . I regard him as a supreme
prophetic figure.”35 Ideologically, Wagner and Hitler were very similar. Wagner’s anti-Semitic
views were partly transferred to Hitler in the Bayreuther Blätter. Wagner wrote, “It is easier for
us Germans to achieve this grand solution to the problem of ridding the world of the Jews than
for any other nation.”36 Hans Heinz Stuckenschmidt, a music critic, claimed, in 1933, that
Bayreuther Blätter provided the fundamental principles of the Nazi party. This is supported by
the fact that the logo of the Blätter was in fact a swastika.37 Wagner might not have been as
extreme as the Nazis and their quest for a unified Aryan race, but his writings did provide some
of the foundation for the Nazi principles and possibly even the symbol of the party.
The Nazi party used many of Wagner’s works for propaganda such as Rienzi which
served as the secret anthem for the Third Reich.38 Hitler was a great fan of Wagner’s operas and
often held showings for the party. However, while Hitler himself enjoyed these performances
greatly, many members of the Nazi party did not enjoy these performances, and only went
because of Hitler’s enthusiasm. Part of this reason might stem from the length of each of the
32
Hamann. Hitler’s Vienna. p. 62
33
Köehler. Wagner’s Hitler. p.26
34
Jacobs, Robert L. Music and Letters. Vol. 22, No. 1 (Jan., 1941), p. 82
35
Jacobs. Music and Letters. pp. 81-83
36
Köhler. Wagner’s Hitler. p110
37
Köhler. Wagner’s Hitler. p110
38
Hamann. Hitler’s Vienna. p. 24
8
operas. Also, not all of Wagner’s works were supported by the Nazis, despite Hitler’s
appreciation for them. Hitler and the Nazi party did not play all of Wagner’s works. Some of
Wagner’s most famous and successful operas, such as Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal, were
completely ignored by the Nazis.
There are many similarities between Hitler and Wagner’s lives as well as the entire Nazi
party’s rise and Wagner’s operas. Like Hitler, interestingly, Wagner had some controversy
regarding his paternity. Wagner’s legal father, Carl Friedrich Wagner died just six months after
Richard was born. Subsequently, his mother began living with Ludwig Geyer, a friend of Carl
Wagner, and they were married eight months later. Due to how quickly Wagner’s mother
remarried, there were rumors that Richard was in fact Geyer's son and that Geyer was of Jewish
descent.39 This is similar to the famous rumor that Hitler’s grandfather may have been Jewish.
The similarities do not end there though. Coincidentally, the rise of Hitler’s power
closely resembles that of Rienzi. Hitler thought of himself as the sole leader who could reunite
Germany by creating a master Aryan race. He was trying to unite the people in a more extreme
way than Rienzi, who was trying to gain freedom for the people. The Ring also had some
similarities to Hitler. Robert Jacobs states, “His Siegfried was stabbed in the back, but no second
Siegfried rose to avenge him; his fall ushered in a Götterdämmerung.”40 As the last opera in the
Ring, the Götterdämmerung depicts the collapse of the gods and Valhalla (home of the gods) by
fire. This plot is analogous to that of the German Army which, according to Hitler, was stabbed
in the back by the Jews in 1918.41 Jacobs further states that “heroes” who conquer others for the
sheer joy of it, will ultimately negatively impact everyone around them. This is just like what
39
Oelsner, Toni. "Wagner, Richard." Encyclopaedia Judaica. pp. 594-595
40
Jacobs. Music and Letters. p. 83
41
Jacobs. Music and Letters. p. 83
9
happened to the Nazis, who murdered millions of Jews, and ultimately made Germany worse off
than before. The Nazis believed that in order to enter an age of the “master race”, their enemies
(Jews) had to be destroyed.42These similarities are just that, similarities. However, it is
remarkable how closely Wagner’s operas modeled the events of the Nazis. It is possible that
Hitler was influenced to follow in Rienzi’s footsteps to “liberate” the Germans, but there is no
way to tell.
Although it difficult to determine how much of an effect Wagner had on Hitler, there is
still some tangible evidence. The extent of Wagner’s influence on Hitler can be more concretely
depicted by the actions of Wagner’s family, who came to develop a relationship with Hitler.
They met often and sent Hitler gifts, including a set of Wagner’s works. In addition, Hitler kept a
set of Wagner’s original scores in his bunker while he was trying to avoid capture. These scores
unfortunately perished with Hitler.
During his life, Richard Wagner was able to become one of the most famous composers
of all time, due to both his music and his beliefs. In addition to his arrogant and unthanking
personality, he was also vocal. His views on the Jewish people sparked great controversy.
Wagner’s attacks on the Jews in his essays managed to cause works from Meyerbeer and
Mendelssohn to fall out of favor with the public. Once a young Adolf Hitler was exposed to
Richard Wagner, he became a Wagnerian. It is no wonder that a person with many masterpieces
and a personality as powerful as Wagner’s would influence an artistically inclined Hitler, who
even went as far as to call Wagner his predecessor.
42
Köhler. Wagner’s Hitler. p. 17
10
Nevertheless, Hitler’s actions and beliefs are a product of a variety of factors, with
Wagner only a small portion of that. Although Wagner’s personal views on Jews and the Aryan
race would be viewed as narrow-minded and shameful today, it was not completely out of the
norm during his time. Germany was actually filled with racism at the time; it was not just
Wagner who was anti-Semitic. However, Wagner’s views were still more extreme than the
general public during the 1850s and 60s in which the focus was on the Jewish assimilation into
German culture. Wagner wanted to get rid of the Jews. According to Jacob Katz, this is most
likely due to his antagonism towards Meyerbeer and other successful Jewish contemporaries.43
Despite Wagner’s works clearly playing a role in the roots of the Nazi party, it is unclear about
how Wagner would have felt about the Nazi Party. He died before Nazism was created and thus,
although the Nazi party used his music as propaganda, he did not write the music for them. It is
impossible to say if Wagner would have been as extreme as the Nazis in his support for German
nationalism and freeing Germany of Jews with the Holocaust.
Although it is difficult to determine how much his writings and musical works impacted
Adolf Hitler, it is evident that Hitler did feel a connection to Wagner judging by how much he
talked of Wagner. Clearly, Wagner’s operas and beliefs did affect a young Hitler while he was
living in Vienna. With Hitler learning as much as he could about Wagner, he read plenty of
Wagner’s ideas on Jews and German nationalism, which definitely played a role in the
development of his own beliefs. The Nazi party played Wagner’s operas as propaganda and the
party’s anti-Semitic and nationalistic views about Germany coincided with Wagner’s. In addition,
Hitler is said to have listened to the Ring, over one-hundred forty times in his life. It may not
43
Weber, William. “Opera and social reform,” The Wagner Compendium. p. 157
11
ever be possible to know if Hitler’s ideals stemmed from his exposure to Wagner and his works,
but Wagner undoubtedly played an important role in Hitler’s life.
12
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Jewish Culture." Jewish Social Studies 15.2 (2009): 2,36,167. Ethnic NewsWatch;
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Skolnik. 2nd ed. Vol. 20. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 594-595. Gale
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13