Wahnfried: composer's note
Although I am a native of Israel, I have long been connected with the culture and people of Germany. Much of my direct family fled Germany in the 1930s and the household I grew up in was permeated with German culture, from music to literature. As I developed as a musician, I was certainly influenced by the music of German composers, an influence that continues to this day. As a third-generation Holocaust survivor, I have struggled to come to terms with the understanding that this society – for which I held such a great affinity and connection – was the same society that gave birth to Nazism and had attempted to rid the world of all Jews. This tension nagged at me from an early age: how could the culture that brought about and championed the work of Bach and Beethoven, Goethe and Nietzsche, be the same one that brought to life the ideology that resulted in the Holocaust? As I started working with Lutz Hübner and Sarah Nemitz and learned more about the story of Wahnfried, it became increasingly personal, and I saw the process as an opportunity to learn more about the origins of Nazism. Delving deeper into the life of Houston Stewart Chamberlain and his family, I felt compelled to write this opera in order to explore this important part of history and to say something about it. To preserve this story through music – not only for myself but also for others to ensure that the story is not forgotten.
The main character of the opera, Houston Chamberlain is, in many ways, a contradiction himself. He begins as a failed scientist and a foreigner, scorned by the public. The libretto allows us a window into his psychology; weak and even pathetic at times, Houston earns our pity, despite his harsh and unfeeling manner. The unfeeling becomes the inhumane as his theories develop – and the crowds follow his lead.
The opera grotesquely celebrates his life, depicting the huge following he garnered at the time, while clearly highlighting his vile and racist thoughts and rhetoric. Nevertheless, Houston’s commitment to these ideas does not go unquestioned, as the ghost of Hermann Levi and the Wagner-dæmon haunt and torment him. On some level, we believe that perhaps Houston knows that what he is doing is wrong. Ultimately, Houston’s hunger for power and influence overtakes any sense of guilt or remorse, and he leads himself to his own downfall.
The music of the opera creates a fantastical, at times, absurd depiction of Houston and the Wagner household. Unlike the works of Wagner, in which the long-form, uninterrupted Gesamtkunstwerk allows and encourages the audience to be swept away into another reality, I wrote each scene in Wahnfried with a clear ending. Thus, the audience has a brief moment to break from the grotesque action of the stage and consider how it might relate to the world more broadly.
In my experience, the only way for me to deal with the gravity of the Holocaust has been through the use of humour – and the libretto of Wahnfried contains that same dark humour. The music allows the audience to laugh at the events on stage, as the portrayals foray into the ridiculous. Still, much of the music contains marches or march elements, providing a nervous, militaristic undertone despite the wild and unbelievable events occurring on stage. Ultimately, the real-life events that these scenes foreshadow are dark and deeply serious.
Having worked with this story and with these characters for several years, it is quite clear to me that the story of Wahnfried is not simply the story of the birth of Nazism. The spread of hatred, intolerance and fear that we see in Wahnfried and the ideas that Houston Chamberlain penned over a hundred years ago are still the same elements of the dark and hateful plague we see all around the world today. I see this opera as a cautionary tale that illustrates the power and contagion of hate, no matter the century or the circumstances. I hope that we can learn from the events of Wahnfried and from other darker parts of history and work to build a more peaceful world for the future.
Avner Dorman
