Furtwängler saved the lives of many Jewish musicians, during the war. He also helped people like Horenstein, Markevitch and Scherchen, as I recall, in their moment of need. I interviewed F.'s wife, Elisabeth, around 1992, concerning F. as composer, and she told me he exhausted himself helping people. It is easy to criticize, of course.
This is more educational that I'd wished it needed to be in 2017 so it's all the more important that you posted this. As someone with a Park Avenue NYC Jewish mother and a father born in Florence Italy as an Austrian who was the youngest person in the Hitler youth I am proud to be Jewish where it's even ok to be atheist. But as a leftist who hates Trump, I'm getting sick of the "Trump is an Insult to Hitler" jokes. I hear that crap all the time here in Vancouver the left has become too regressive and it's refreshing to see my personal favourite conductor Hohenstein of my favourite composer Mahler defend Furtwangler. Where would Mahler are without Wagner? See Curb Your Enthusiasm season 2 "Trick or Treat" in which Larry David gets busted whistling "Siegfried's Idyll" from another Jewish guy. How would a conservative Jew recognize Siegfried's Idyll anyway, let alone whistle out of tune?!? But I digress. Thanks for posting, Misha, I never even knew live videos of interviews with J.H. existed. It's true a thing to be grateful for. To me it's all about great music after all.
should we argue that Lenny should've left the U.S.A. because of Vietnam, was Vietnam any less evil? Should every American conductor and soloist leave the country because of Trump, who is just as much of an idiot as any political regime? Of course the nazis were worse, but what I'm asking is, when does an artist protest with resignation? At first they feel it is their duty to stay and protect and guard and preserve the culture, but it only took the nazis under 10 years to destroy all that was "german" for a sick ideal. Where is the rulebook on when to jump ship? Just wondering.
Merci à Horenstein de rétablir une certaine vérité sur l'aveuglement volontaire de Furwangler face au nazisme dont il fut le complice inavoué et lâche .Mais le grand chef restera pour l'éternité un incomparable interprète, nous laissant un legs inestimable.
I wonder if people think he should have fled and not helped anyone, or whether they'd have preferred he be a martyr in the 1930's and not leave the world all the musical riches that he did.
By staying in Germany, WF was able to materially help people from the inside as well as providing hope for all like-minded Germans who were against the regime. He was literally safe-guarding his country in the only way he could. Leaving would have only served his reputation abroad for symbolic reasons, not material. I happen to think that WF’s refusal to abandon his people and culture, at the cost of his personal reputation, was a reflection of his integrity and his greatness. Just as he exhibited as a musician, WF as a person could only live a life of personal conviction, not of calculated political expediency. He could not abandon his home. That was the essence of it.
We shouldn't be labelling a "great musician", as Horenstein himself calls Furtwängler, "a weak man". Some might prefer a strong man who is a weak musician, but if we ask ourselves whose contribution to mankind's higher evolution will last the longer, it's obviously the former. If nobody is perfect, then at least we can try to put a great musician's other imperfections suitably low on our list of priorities.
WF's "weaknesses" were pretty low on Horenstein's list of priorities and the comment was in response to a question about WF's wartime activities. In another interview Horenstein said that one should stand to attention whenever discussing WF, so great was his admiration for the musician.
Furtwängler was what he was, and I see no reason to hold anything against him. One cannot expect a great artist to be a hero, too. Everything looks clear and simple from a distance, but it's not the same as being in the midst of it.
@@paulparoma Furtwangler gets a great deal of attention on social media so it's natural that much of it is going to be foolish talk. But he occupied a central and very public position in the capital of music during a tumultuous period and, like his successor, what he did then comes under intense, perhaps disproportionate scrutiny, both positive and negative. If he were not such a great musician no one would bother.
Horenstein did not hate Furwangler. He clearly admired him. Given the tragic circumstances of Furtwanglers position, Horenstein gave as sympathetic a reply as any decent human being could have. This content goes way beyond music, my good man. Furtwangler was caught in a web of evil that rendered him incapable of fighting back. He was in an unfortunate position that he could not extricate himself from. This is all Maesteo Horenstein meant. Just a tragic circumstance that went beyond defining a man as good or bad. What could anybody do, in such a wretched position?
