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- The German composer Richard Wagner was a controversial figure during his lifetime, and has continued to be so after his death. Even today he is associated in the minds of many with Nazism and his operas are often thought to extol the virtues of German nationalism. The writer and Wagner scholar Bryan Magee has written: I sometimes think there are two Wagners in our culture, almost unrecognizably different from one another: the Wagner possessed by those who know his work, and the Wagner imagined by those who know him only by name and reputation. Most of these perceptions arise from Wagner's published opinions on a number of topics. Wagner was a prolific writer who published essays and pamphlets on a wide range of subjects throughout his life. Wagner's writing style is often verbose, unclear and turgid, which has greatly added to the confusion about his opinions. Several of his writings have achieved some notoriety, in particular, his essay Das Judenthum in der Musik (Jewishness in Music), a critical view on the influence of Jews in German culture and society at that time. Some of the essays he wrote in his final years are also controversial, appearing to some readers to display an endorsement of racist beliefs. Some commentators also believe that certain of Wagner's operas contain adverse caricatures of Jews. Wagner was promoted during the Nazi era as one of Adolf Hitler's favourite composers. Historical perception of Wagner has been tainted with this association ever since, and there is debate over how Wagner's writings and operas might have influenced the creation of Nazi Germany. There is also controversy over both the beginning and the end of Wagner's life – his paternity and his death. It is suggested that he was the son of Ludwig Geyer, rather than his legal father Carl Friedrich Wagner, and some of his biographers have proposed that Wagner himself believed that Geyer was Jewish. A belief also exists that his fatal heart attack followed an argument with his wife Cosima over the singer Carrie Pringle, with whom some claim he had an amorous relationship. (en)
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