Why Fans of the Evil Genius Remain Fans: The Case of Richard Wagner and the Bayreuth Festival

Abstract

An enduring feature of public life has been the social death of prominent artists, impresarios and entertainers after moral transgressions. But not everyone is shunned. Often fans and general audiences continue to consume, advocate and revere the artistic product of tainted but gifted individuals. How is this love of the ‘evil genius’ possible? The article provides answers with reference to the paradigm case of Richard Wagner and the Bayreuth Festival that he founded. The composer and event remain contaminated by deep association with antisemitism, Hitler and the Third Reich. We draw from an interview study with Wagner fans and opera connoisseurs to report on the interpretative techniques, justifications and folk-logics through which Wagner’s operas can still be listened to and found pleasurable in light of a troubled history. These involve articulations between and over four domains: (i) self (ii) artwork (iii) artist and (iv) history. These are variously connected and disconnected. We speculate that this four-factor model will be applicable in other domains where art, politics and morality make for uneasy bedfellows and the ‘evil genius’ remains culturally salient.