Amid Outcry, Israeli Music Festival Drops Plan to Play Wagner

Bowing to public pressure, the Israel Festival announced Wednesday that it has canceled a July performance of a work by composer Richard Wagner, who was known for his anti-Semitic views.

The festival’s board of directors said the Berliner Staatskapelle orchestra, with Daniel Barenboim conducting, will instead play selections by the composers Stravinsky and Schumann. Placido Domingo, the tenor who was scheduled to perform with the orchestra, will not appear.

An Israeli, Barenboim has wanted to play Wagner here for years, arguing that the virulent anti-Semite also was an artistic genius whose contribution to music cannot be ignored. The conductor’s position was supported by many musicians and even some Holocaust survivors.

But the festival’s decision to include a selection from Wagner’s “The Valkyrie” in its program this year provoked outrage. Many Israeli lawmakers were angered at the thought of the state-funded Israel Festival, Jerusalem’s six-week cultural showcase, offering the work of Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer.

In a rare gesture of consensus, parliament voted unanimously May 2 to demand that the festival cancel the event. President Moshe Katsav, Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and ordinary citizens appealed to the festival’s organizers to shun the 19th century composer.

For years, orchestras here have boycotted Wagner out of deference to the many Holocaust survivors who found his music--which was played at death camps--offensive to the memory of the 6 million Jews slain by the Third Reich. But the ban has gradually eroded, with some orchestras, cable television and even Israel Radio occasionally playing Wagner’s music.

Yossi Tal-Gan, general director of the Israel Festival, said Wednesday that he and the board had thought the time was right for Israelis to accept the playing of Wagner in Jerusalem. But after they made their plans, the Palestinian uprising erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, wounding the nation’s sense of self-confidence and optimism.

“Israel now is not in a calm time, and we don’t think that we should add another conflict in such circumstances,” Tal-Gan said. “To play it in such a big way, in Jerusalem, with such an important conductor, such a prestigious orchestra and soloist--for some people, it looked like an effort to provoke them.”

Tal-Gan said anyone who bought a ticket to the concert will be offered a full refund or the opportunity to hear the replacement concerts at a discount. He added that he does not regret the initial decision to include Wagner in the festival or the controversy that followed.

“This was a cultural issue and a historical issue that was raised and discussed in a very high way by historians, musicians, sociologists, politicians and others,” Tal-Gan said. “It was good for the public to be shaken for a month by a cultural subject.”