Stravinsky and the Jews

Stravinsky's] anti-Semitism was of long standing and went deep.To be sure, it is something he shared with Glinka, Balakirev, Chaikovsky, Musorgsky, and a whole honor roll of musical Russians.It has been characterized as no more than what every Russian "imbibed with mother's milk."Derision of Jewssilently expunged (both by Robert Craft and by Soviet editors) for public consumption-was a lifelong feature of Stravinsky's private correspondence, especially with other Russians . ... Despite his benevolent relations with individual Jews, Stravinsky retained his accustomed contempt for Jews as a group. 2Stravinsky's antisemitic attitude included elements of fascination with Jewishness and close association with Jewish musicians, as Robert Craft, Stravinsky's close associate throughout his American years (1948-71), acknowledged:The Jewish world began to fascinate Stravinsky in St Petersburg in early childhood, in the religious observances of the family in the apartment below and the mysteries of the synagogue across the canal from his home.Later, during ten summers in the Ukraine (both of his parents were born there, within the Jewish Pale of Settlement), he lived next to a shtetl and was on affectionate terms with his neighbors.In France, between the wars, his closest associates, Arthur Louri e, musical secretary and spokesman, Samuel Dushkin, with whom he logged tens of thousands of miles on concert tours, and Roland Manuel (L evy), to whom he entrusted the expression of his artistic philosophy in Po etique Musical, were Jews.In America, Stravinsky's "inner musical circle"-Sol Babitz, Ingolf (Marcus) Dahl, Claudio Spies, Lawrence Morton-was almost entirely Jewish. 3 But, of course, neither interest in Jewishness nor cordial relationships with individual Jews is incompatible with antisemitism, as Craft acknowledged in response to critical comments from Taruskin: "Nowhere does my article attempt to excuse Stravinsky's anti-Semitic remarks or absolve him from his individual responsibility for them.I simply tried to explain, and not in a salvatory way, some of the origins of his behavior." 4 In Relation to His Right-Wing PoliticsStravinsky's antisemitism was bound up with his right-wing, anti-communist, pro-fascist politics.As a Russian of aristocratic origins, he was deeply opposed to the Russian Revolution, which he "resented as a Jewish plague, the work of 'Braunstein (Trotsky).'" 5He admired Mussolini and fascism: I come to Italy [1935] not only to make music, but also to be in a country that is moving forward vigorously, that affirms itself ever more rigorously, in which one sees everywhere the imprint, and one senses the will of an intelligent and powerful regime.I became a French citizen, but spiritually I am also a fascist, above all a fascist.