In the late 19th century Jewish communities in Vienna and Berlin saw the character Beckmesser in Wagner's opera, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg as an anti-Semitic caricature and protested vehemently. They thought that Beckmesser's serenade in the opera's second act was a malicious and deliberate parody of Jewish cantorial style. Perhaps members of these Jewish communities were wrong. Perhaps the seeming expression of anti-Semitism by an avowedly anti-Semitic composer was not an example of his known racial predilections. But were these Jews necessarily paranoid and potentially violent because they thought so?
Here's an example of Jewish cantorial singing:
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Previous blog post on apperception:
http://dailstrug.blogspot.com/2012/02/apperception.html
Note to my readers who think my posts are repetitious.
You remember in law school how the same case would pop up in different sections of the case book depending on which precise legal principle was being illustrated?
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