Re: GG: Music and Morality

["Michael D. Benedetti" <benedett@bluestone.COM>]

Marco Poli wrote:
>(and, of course, moral judgements are not
>always straightforward for a very intelligent and open-minded person:
>Gould's parameters of reference might have been quite different from and
>reached far deeper than the ones adopted by other people).

GG's judgements often did not seem very deep; often they seemed to be the
results of someone who was nuts. GG was a hypocrite about so many things
that it seems ridiculous to expect consistency from him.

>I can understand that anybody's involvement in Nazism should not be
>forgotten - but then one should always put things in an historical
>perspective (how many of us, had we lived in Germany in the early Forties,
>would have been brave enough to publicily dissent from Nazims?) and,
>moreover, judge the real degree and circumstances of this involvement, but
>I strongly question the rightness of mixing artistical and political
>considerations.

For myself, at least, art does not exist in isolation. Art has a connection
to the outside world, and the outside world has an impact on art. Just as
my appreciation of a work of art is changed by my knowledge of the craft,
my appreciation is changed by my knowledge of the artist, and of the
circumstances in which the art was created.

I find your argument that "we would not have stood up to the Nazis, therefore
we cannot judge Karajan" to be fatuitous.  Karajan did not flee the Reich;
this says something about him. We are all responsible for our actions, even
though we don't always want to be.

I think that a thread like this is _very_ relevant to this group, because
these issues were of interest to GG himself. He understood very well that
what you know about a work of art has an impact on your perception of it.

And this is a lot better than the usual fanboy droning.

Mike