Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim (born November 15, 1942) is an Argentinean-Israeli pianist and conductor.

Conducting Wagner in Israel

On July 7, 2001, Barenboim led the Berlin Staatskapelle in part of Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde at the Israel Festival in Jerusalem. The concert sparked an outcry, with Barenboim being branded as a fascist by some Israelis. Wagner's music has been taboo in Israel, because Adolf Hitler's theories of racial purity and extermination of Jews drew partly from anti-Semitic writings by Wagner, his favorite composer.

Related Topics:
July 7 - 2001 - Berlin Staatskapelle - Tristan and Isolde - Jerusalem - Fascist - Taboo - Adolf Hitler - Anti-Semitic

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Barenboim had originally been scheduled to perform the first act of Die Walküre with three singers, including tenor Plácido Domingo.

Related Topics:
Die Walküre - Tenor - Plácido Domingo

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However, strong protests by Holocaust survivors as well as the Israeli government led the festival authorities to ask for an alternative program.

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Barenboim agreed to substitute the offending piece with music by Robert Schumann and Igor Stravinsky, but expressed regret at the decision.

Related Topics:
Robert Schumann - Igor Stravinsky

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Still, at the end of the concert, he declared that he would play Wagner as an encore and invited those who objected to leave.

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Most of the audience responded with loud applause, but a small, vocal minority expressed their disapproval. Barenboim spent a half-hour speaking to the audience in Hebrew, explaining his rationale behind playing the piece and appealing to the protestors to let the music be heard.

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Barenboim said he had decided to defy the taboo on Wagner when a news conference he held the previous week was interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries. "I thought if it can be heard on the ring of a telephone, why can't it be played in a concert hall?" he explained.

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