This is a repeating eventmarch 22, 2023 9:00 am
You will not play Wagner- Film presented at Sarasota Jewish Film Festival
Event Details
In 1850, the composer and occasional philosopher Richard Wagner published the antisemitic essay “Jewishness in Music.” The screed is infamous for its assertion that Jews were responsible for everything that
Event Details
In 1850, the composer and occasional philosopher Richard Wagner published the antisemitic essay “Jewishness in Music.” The screed is infamous for its assertion that Jews were responsible for everything that had gone wrong in art and society. In that essay, Wagner further attacked the Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn. He asserted that Mendelssohn “has shown us that a Jew can have the richest abundance of talents and be a man of the broadest culture but still be incapable of supplying the profound, heart-seizing, soul-searching experience we expect from art.”
The essay also launched Wagner into the public‘s consciousness as a virulent antisemite, where he remains firmly lodged. Despite his artistic genius, Wagner is reviled in most, if not all, Jewish spaces. In Israel, live performances of his music are unofficially banned. Over the years, the ban has acquired the gravity of law in the same way Jewish tradition adheres to the observance of a long-time custom as if it were law.
“You Will Not Play Wagner,” a short one-act play that has been adapted as a film, doubles as the sternest of commands. The time is the current day, and the settings are Lenox, Massachusetts, New York, and Tel Aviv. Esther, a Holocaust survivor and wealthy patron of the arts, is the benefactor of an annual competition to name the best living conductor in the world. Yakov, a young, exceptionally talented Israeli, is favored to win the competition until he decides to conduct a piece by Wagner for his final presentation.
In a recent conversation with JewishBoston, Lilia Levitina, the film’s director, described the film as “venturing into the very brave territory, and hard questions of Jewish identity.” Levitina is forthright about her neutral position on the question of whether Wagner’s music should be performed live in Israel. Neither does the original play deliver any pronouncements, something Levitina admires about the late Victor Gordon’s script. Gordon died in 2021 of COVID-19.
For Levitina, Gordon’s play grapples with going beyond an artist’s biography and only considering the work. “Do we negate the work of artists who were awful people and abusers?” she asked. “One of the things that I love about the play is that it doesn’t give you a definite answer—it doesn’t take sides. It simply poses a question for the audience to think about.”
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Time
(Tuesday) 7:00 pm
Location
Temple Imanu, 151 Mcintosh Rd., Sarasota
151 Mcintosh Rd.
Organizer
Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee
Cost
Virtual Pass – All 14 Films $180.00, This event- $15
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