Furtwängler

[Levin]

I've just read the wiki page for for Wilhelm Furtwängler and it's quite incredible. The article mentions some of the people who criticised his remaining in Germany (like Mann) but doesn't go into much detail. As presented he showed great courage and determination. Can anyone recommend a good book on him?

My wiki-ing was prompted by this review of his wartime records released in a gorgeous looking package.

[Nefertiti2]

It's a bit of a whitewash that article.

"The remarkable pianist Markus Pawlik, a noted Schnabel specialist, has shared with us a letter from Artur Schnabel to his American lover describing a post-War dinner with his sometime colleague Wilhelm Furtwängler. It is a chilling document, demonstrating that the great conductor was in total denial about his dubious role in the Third Reich. It is the most vivid evidence I have seen of WF’s moral ambiguity:

"Last night Furtwängler and wife came to see me. It was partly pleasant, partly opposite. So far it seems to me that these Germans cannot be helped, nor can they help themselves. He demonstrated the same old blending of arrogance, cowardice, and self-pity. After the first “world war” the German leaders circulated as facts what obviously had been fake. For instance: that they had lost the war only because the home front had stabbed the army in the back. The Germans had no guilt whatsoever in the outbreak of that war: that was another of their entirely baseless catchphrases. Now Furtwängler went as far last night (he got terribly excite, hysterical, shouted and roared), as to say that he has never known any Nazi. And that Germans and Nazis are not only absolutely different beings but hostile to each other. That millions of Germans are now murdered daily, and that the whole world shows its decadence by its total lack of charity. He admitted, however (without having been asked) that he has had quite a good time during the “regime.” What a confusion! Poor creature; he would love to do away, with some magic, with that whole spook – after it had failed."

[Levin]

Cheers Bruno/

Yeah, Nef the Wiki article is hard to read as anything but one sided. Thanks for the link.