Re: The absolutely human

Derrick Everett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: 

> I feel obliged to point out that "das Reinmenschliche", an
> important term in Wagner's highly individual vocabulary and one that he
> never defines for us, appears already much earlier in his writings.  I
> believe that the first appearance of this term was in 1849, in Wagner's
> essay "The Art-Work of the Future".  

And you're right, of course. I didn't look that far back. Though in my
defence, or partial defence, I'd argue that at this stage Wagner
hasn't yet reified the concept in the way he did later. He talked
about "purely human virtue", "purely human need", or "purely human
artwork", and so on. We haven't yet got "the purely, or absolutely,
Human" as a noun, a head concept in its own right. (Or if it's there
in that form I missed it.)

That's not a defence for missing it, really, so much as noting a stage
in the development of that idea. (I withdraw "absolutely human" as an
alternative translation, by the way. It's too much bother for too
little gain, to depart from the usual translation.)

I agree that Wagner never actually defines the concept of "das
Reinmenschliche". Certainly I haven't found a formal definition
anywhere in his essays. But he did come close to defining it, often
enough for it to be reasonably clear what he means.  Take these two
passages from "Artwork of the Future": Wagner doesn't use the word
"reinmenschliche", or "das Reinmenschliche", but that appears to be
the idea that he's talking about.

"The real Man will therefore never be forthcoming, until true Human
Nature, and not the arbitrary statutes of the State, shall model and
ordain his Life; while real Art will never live, until its embodiments
need be subject only to the laws of Nature, and not to the despotic
whims of Mode." (Artwork of the Future", page 71)

And:
"It is in the natural customs of all peoples, so far as they embrace
the normal man, and even of those decried as most uncultured, that we
first learn the truth of human nature in its full nobility, and in its
real beauty." [page 89].


While I'm away from the main Gobineau thread, I'll deal with a
side-issue: one of the sillier claims made about Wagner and Gobineau. 
I couldn't think where to fit this issue in a systematic consideration
of Gobineau's ideas, so I'll deal with it here.


"Gobineau music"
Some people have based some surprisingly elaborate constructions on
the following passage from Cosima's _Diaries_:

"Tuesday October 17, 1882
"But in the evening, the 3rd Act of _Siegfried_, very well played by
Herr Rubinstein, pleases both him and us.  "That is Gobineau music,"
R. says as he comes in, "that is race.  Where else will you find two
beings who burst into rejoicing when merely looking at each other? 
The whole world exists just to ensure that two such beings look at
each other!"  [end of extract]


This has been cited as proof of two things: 
(1) That Wagner interpreted his operas in a Gobinist way, even though
the texts of all of his operas were written before he read Gobineau,
and therefore it's reasonable to claim that Wagner's operas are
Gobineau's ideas set to music, back-projecting any and all Gobinist
ideas onto the Wagner canon; and
(2) By "that is Gobineau music, that is race", Wagner meant that his
operas are racist parables, and moreover he meant that Siegfried is
really Aryan, Mime is really Jewish, and so on.

There are just four problems with this reading:
(1) The first problem is that what Wagner actually said is much
smaller and less remarkable than the meanings that some commentators
have wrung out of it.  Wagner was commenting on Rubinstein's piano
rendition of the scene in which Siegfried and Brünnhilde joyously find
each other. Both Siegfried and Brünnhilde are descended from Wotan, so
they are in a sense the same race, in the scheme of things in the
Ring_.  This scene indirectly recalls one of Gobineau's ideas, that
people should mate with people of their own race, and so Wagner
referred to Gobineau.  (Wotan's sexual adventures, on the other hand,
are completely contrary to the spirit of Gobineau. Wagner was talking
about one scene between two characters in one Act of one opera, not
about the _Ring_ as a whole, let alone about his complete works.)

(2) Second, people who quote the 19 October 1882 passage never quote
the other occasion on which a piece of music reminded Wagner of
Gobineau's ideas on race:
"Sunday June 19, 1881
"In the evening R. wants _Coriolanus_ and he delights in it, saying,
"Here is race, this is something for Gobineau."  I: "_Tristan_ is the
music that removes all barriers, and that includes racial ones as
well." [End of extract.]

Wagner said that Beethoven's _Coriolanus_ overture is "race, something
for Gobineau". [Cosima's reply to Wagner shows that "_Coriolanus_"
referred to music and therefore Beethoven's overture rather than
Shakespeare's play - or Heinrich von Collin's play, for which
Beethoven's overture was written.]

Now, Beethoven's overture does have a program of sorts, and contrasts
the characters of Coriolanus and his nemesis, Aufidius.  So did Wagner
mean that Beethoven's music contains secret messages about the racial
supremacy of Aryans?  When he said, "this is race," did Wagner mean
that Caius Martius of Rome (later called Coriolanus) was Aryan, while
perfidious Aufidius, the Volscian villain, was Jewish?

Obviously not; both gentlemen were Italian. However, the terms Wagner
used about _Coriolanus_ are almost identical to those he used about
_Siegfried_. If you want to construe the 17 October 1882 quote about
_Siegfried_ and Gobineau as a statement that _Siegfried_ is a racist
parable about Aryans and Jews, and other things not remotely suggested
by what Wagner actually said, then you are logically required to
impose the same fantasy onto what Wagner said about Beethoven's
_Coriolanus_.

Fortunately there is a simple and common sense reading of Wagner's
words. In the _Coriolanus_ story the drama climaxes with Coriolanus
about to storm Rome, but being dissuaded from doing so by the
intervention of his own mother, who is Roman. Coriolanus recognised
and responded to the call of family relationships, and placed this
above his personal advantage.

In _Siegfried_, Siegfried and Brünnhilde are also family; they seemed
to recognise a kind of likeness and they were overjoyed by each other,
in a way that Wagner saw as natural.

In both cases Wagner's use of a word translated as "race" has a small
and local referent: it referred to "family loyalty" in one case and
"family likeness" in the other, rather than a grand racial concept
like "the Italian people" or "the German people".  In both cases, one
aspect of a specific piece of music reminded Wagner of one idea of
Gobineau's.

Note, by the way, that after Wagner was reminded of "race" and
Gobineau by Beethoven's music, Cosima said in reply that Wagner's
music, _Tristan_, removes all barriers, including racial ones. It
seems that Wagner accepted this statement (because we'd know about it
if he hadn't): Wagnerian music removes racial barriers.

Gosh. Does this "prove" that Wagner wrote all his music with the
secret intention of removing racial barriers?  Tempting to say "yes",
isn't it?

But no, it just means that people shouldn't seize on one statement,
pretend it is a serious pronouncement rather than an off-the-cuff
remark, and then load on to it any old interpretation that best suits
their particular hobbyhorse.


(3) In both cases, there are surrounding grounds for thinking that
Wagner was probably not all that serious with his Gobineau remarks.
Wagner made a lot of jokes about Gobineau's ideas.

On May 28 1881, a few days before calling the _Coriolanus_ overture
"something for Gobineau", Wagner had called Berlin's residents "mixed
race" because of their red noses (on pale faces): a joke on Gobineau's
ludicrously complex scheme of racial categories. On October 16 1881,
Wagner joked with Cosima about Gobineau's idea that people had to be
black, or partly black, in order to write good music. And on June 5
1882, Wagner "amuses us with the remark that educated, intelligent
people [the context shows he meant Gobineau] write boring books, but
are very pleasant in conversation."  And so on.

The remarks about Gobineau and the _Coriolanus overture_, and about
Gobineau and the Siegfried-Brünnhilde scene in _Siegfried_ are
certainly off-the-cuff flights of fancy. But it also seems more likely
than not that they were semi-humorous, or semi-serious, whichever you
prefer.


(4) It's also relevant that Wagner made the "Gobineau music" remark on
19 October 1882, just six days after Gobineau's death. Gobineau was on
his mind at the time. Even if Wagner didn't know Gobineau had just
died, when he made the remark about Gobineau and the
Siegfried-Brünnhilde scene, he at least knew that Gobineau was gravely
ill. (It is entirely in character for Wagner to make a joke when he
was either concerned for his friend, or grieving.)

The question is complicated by the fact that Cosima thought that
Wagner didn't learn of Gobineau's death till the 25th of October, when
he found her sitting with the letter on Gobineau's death and she
couldn't conceal it.  Probably Cosima is correct that Wagner didn't
know till then. But reading the entries for the days before, including
the 19th, I can't help feeling that some of Wagner's references to
Gobineau around this time seem to be elegaic and in the past tense.
That is, it's possible that Wagner knew but kept the knowledge from
Cosima, while Cosima did the same.

It doesn't affect the wider issue either way; it's just a feeling I
have, though it's hard to tell, given that we get Wagner through
Cosima's filter.  Either way, Wagner had reason to have Gobineau on
his mind around 19 October 1882. So Wagner's reference to Gobineau at
that time does not mean that that the Brünnhilde-Siegfried love scene
_always_ made him think of Gobineau.


A fifth point, perhaps not an important one, is that the immediate
inspiration for Wagner's words was Wagner's enthusiastic response to
Rubinstein's playing of that music; that is, Wagner's words were
partly inspired by his appreciation of a feat of Jewish musicianship.


That's enough on "Gobineau music", and the vast, intricate, Dr
Seuss-like edifices that have been constructed on the foundation of
those few words.

Cheers!



Laon