The Siegfried Iydll is a relatively minor piece. Also, Hitler took what he liked from Wagner (namely the anti-semitism) and left out the things that he found repugnant, like the anarchism of his youth and the loyalty to the status quo of his later years. In fact, the Wagner presented by the Nazis was, like much of what was presented as culturally 'German', a selectively skewed version of the man and his music.
In short, there is very little in the way of anti-semetism in Wagner's collective work; certainly no more than can be found in caricature of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The damnation of Richard Wagner was that he happened to be admired by Adolf Hitler.
|