Karl Richter criticises the recent German production of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser as reflective of the filth in all of contemporary Germany.

According to reports, the medieval singer Tannhäuser, the title character of Richard Wagner’s romantic opera of the same name, is portrayed as gay in a recent Frankfurt production. This renders the entire stage action and Wagner’s libretto nonsensical, but it serves as an illustrative example of the state of the cultural scene in Germany. It is on par with the rest of the country, its institutions, its elites, and the majority of its citizens. One should not expect anything more from the supposedly educated Wagner audience either. They applaud any rubbish and understand nothing. Everything is a complete cesspool.

This has as little to do with Richard Wagner, whose 211th birthday we celebrate today, as it does with any other decent German of any era, whether Martin Luther, Hans Sachs, Ludwig Thoma, or Björn Höcke. On the contrary, anyone who is defiled and attacked by the German sewer and its representatives is a good person. They have accomplished something that has incited the filth against them.

This makes the rank and value of our great minds, among whom Richard Wagner is one of the most outstanding, all the more evident to those who can see. Currently, one can only watch his works at home on DVD in Germany. However, in all other ‘normal’ countries, his achievements and legacy are not up for debate. He represents Germany — the eternal, the better Germany. This, not the pink fool’s republic, is valued and respected around the world as ever.

In Novosibirsk, which I have visited a good dozen times, a director was dismissed a few years ago by the Russian Minister of Culture himself for a Tannhäuser production deemed inappropriate and ‘blasphemous’, and his production was scrapped. This is the right attitude, in my opinion. There is no fool’s freedom for art criminals.

Our Richard Wagner can be as confident as the Emperor in Kyffhäuser that the nightmare will soon come to an end. If any theatres remain standing in Germany by then, Wagner’s works will once again be seen on their stages without making one feel sick.

(Translated from the German)