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Talk:Richard Wagner/Archive 1

Richard Wagner's anti-Semitism
Here is a small sampling of the many sources documenting Richard Wagner's anti-Semitism.

Documentation of Wagner's extreme anti-Semitism

The controversy over Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner: Origins of Anti-Semitism

Hmm, it seems that User:RK just added some stuff about an apparently anti-semitic essay that Wagner wrote, and then User:Clutch deleted it without comment. I'm far from a Wagner expert myself (his music bores me stiff, and I try to steer clear of the fellow), but I am interested in this, because I know he is often accused of anti-semitism, and we have no mention of this in the article at present. I have two questions therefore:

To Clutch: Why did you remove RK's addition?

To RK: Can you say for sure that this essay is really anti-semitic, and that it criticises Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn simply because they were jewish, rather than because he simply didn't like their music? These aren't trick questions, I'm just trying to work out what's going on here, and whether this essay is worthy of mention for the light it casts on Wagner's musical thought, on his anti-semitism, or not worthy of mention at all. --Camembert

 * Despite the fact that Wagner did have a few Jewish friends, most historians of the subject agree that Wagner was an anti-Semite. I understand that you want to find a way to put a friendlier face on his works, but we cannot turn anti-Semitism into a mere disagreement about musical styles. Sure, Wagner never was a Nazi, and never wanted to exterminate the Jews. But we can't define anti-Semitism so narrowly, just as we can't define homophobia or racism against blacks or Asians no narrowly. RK

 * "I understand that you want to find a way to put a friendlier face on his works" - not too sure what brings you to that conclusion, but let me just state that I have no desire to put a friendly face on his works, musical or literary. I studied his opera Parsifal for a while, and am now of the opinion that all his music should have a strongly worded health warning on it: "Do not operate heavy machinery shortly after listening to Wagner, drowsiness may result". That sort of thing. --Camembert

The question was not if Wagner was anti-Semitic; it's of whether that is appropriate for the Wikipedia article on Wagner. I don't feel it was. Wagner wrote some great music, and that is what he is famous for. Dragging the mans youthful mistakes and dirty laundry out of the closet after he is dead and gone is bad form. He didn't inspire any anti-Semitic movements; he didn't base his music on his anti-Semitism; the anti-Semitism doesn't deserve more than a brief mention, if that. Also, his anti-Semitism wasn't out of keeping with the times he lived in; everyone around was like that. I don't think it's appropriate to judge him by modern standards. The fact that despite his public views he got along and worked well with so many Jews in the music industry tends to make you wonder how "anti-Semitic" he actually was. He could repeat the rhetoric of the anti-Semitic majority, but when it came right down to it, he was more interested in musical excellence than in issues of race. --Clutch 13:20 Nov 21, 2002 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the response, Clutch - in many ways I agree with you - well, I don't think he wrote "great music", but otherwise... ;) However, it's a fact that people do talk about his anti-semitism a lot, rightly or wrongly. And its also a fact that one doesn't hear of, for example, Brahms being anti-semitic. So I think there's a bit more to it that you're making out, but yes, maybe a bit of context would not go amiss. However, I think as the article grows (as it surely will), this bit about his anti-semitism won't seem so significant. --Camembert

 * Well, I've put RK's edits back - I think the title of Wagner's essay makes it clear that he was indeed criticising Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn simply for being Jewish, so that clears up my question to RK (if I'd been paying attention I wouldn't have had to ask it - apologies). I'm still not sure why Clutch removed the edits. Anyway, they're back now. Anybody who wants to read the essay in full can find it at http://users.belgacom.net/wagnerlibrary/prose/wagjuda.htm --Camembert

Can someone translate the German quotes? -- Merphant
 * I'll look into it when I have more time if nobody gets there before me. --Camembert

The question was not if Wagner was anti-Semitic; it's of whether that is appropriate for the Wikipedia article on Wagner.

 * Absolutely. This was a big part of his philosophy. RK

Wagner wrote some great music, and that is what he is famous for. Dragging the mans youthful mistakes and dirty laundry out of the closet after he is dead and gone is bad form.

 * No, it is called history and biography. You are incorrect that Wagner is only famous for his music. Wagner is infamous for his writings against the Jews. You may be unfamiliar with this aspect of Wagner, but it is well-studied and much written about. I don't have any objections to putting his writings in context, but this important part of his beliefs deserves mention. You might argue that we should spend more time writing about other facets of his work, his musical influence, and I would totally agree with you. The addition of one paragraph about his view on Jews should not, and does not, prevent us from writing pages more about other aspects of the man and his work. RK

I agree, that 95 % of the article should be about Wagner's music. But his anti-semitic beliefs can't be dismissed as "youthful mistakes". He never took these statements back, and he was infamous for hating jews. What is wrong about writing on the fact, that he wrote some really great music, but had a nasty character? A composition is always more than a projection of the author's character, and condemning Wagner's ideology says nothing about the value of his music. Cordyph

 * 11:01 Nov 21, 2002 . . Ed Poor (page is blocked, reverting to RK's version -- meet me in talk)
 * 10:49 Nov 21, 2002 . . Clutch (you are the one doing the censoring RK; you try to paint everyone as an anti-Semite. we aren't standing for it anymore! just because people don't like YOU, doesn't mean they don't like Jews!)
 * 10:36 Nov 21, 2002 . . RK (Adding back the censored, NPOV discussion of Wagner's anti-Semitic articles. Please stop making apologetics for Jew-hatred, guys. This puts you in a VERY poor light.)
 * 10:33 Nov 21, 2002 . . RK (removing a dishonest and misleading apologetic for Wagner's anti- Semitism. Come on guys, this is immoral. No one on Wikipedia does this for ANY other ethnic group.)
 * 08:41 Nov 21, 2002 . . Clutch (nationalist movement in classical music)
 * 08:32 Nov 21, 2002 . . Clutch (more appropriate paragraph on Wagner and anti-Semitism)
 * 08:25 Nov 20, 2002 . . Camembert (restoring deleted passages (see talk))
 * 20:42 Nov 17, 2002 . . Clutch
 * 20:33 Nov 17, 2002 . . RK (Adding details from the public domain Jewish Encyclopedia)

If a great person commits an indiscretion, should it be in an encyclopedia article?
 * Gore said "I took the initiative in creating the Internet" -- although what he meant (or should have said) was that he pushed some key funding bills through Congress -- and the flap is thoroughly examined in Al Gore
 * Bush said "They misunderestimated me", etc. -- but Bushisms redirects to a non-partisan article --Ed Poor

 * Although these things may be in the wikipedia, generally they would NOT go in any other encyclopedia that I am aware of. --Clutch 16:10 Nov 21, 2002 (UTC)

Mencken, the prolific columnist and journalist made many anti-semitic remarks, although he was a life-long friend of publisher Knopf.

Some Jews think that Rev. Moon is anti-semitic. I disagree, but who am I to judge? There's an article at Unification Church and anti-Semitism discussing the "is he, or isn't he?" controversy.Ed Poor

I don't know who Mencken and Knopf are, Ed, but I'll tell you what disturbs me. The article talks about Wagner in very broad and general terms; when he was born, in what country, some operas he wrote... Then all of a sudden appears this big paragraph with lots of specific details driving home the thesis that Wagner was Jew hater. It doesn't fit in. One sentence saying "Some people today consider Wagner an anti-Semite." would be in keeping with the tone of the rest of the article. Also, the paragraph originally came from the Jewish Encyclopedia. An obviously biased source when it comes to the topic of anti-Semitism. This isn't the Jewpedia, it's the Wikipedia, and as such I expect some balance here, not copious Stasi style notes on everyone that the ADL doesn't like. --Clutch

 * Well, it's easier to put something in than to take something out, so why not add a phrase like According to the Jewish Encyclopedia or move the whole anti-semitism thing down to the bottom of the article, with a heading like Claims of anti-semitism or Criticism of Wagner's non-musical views, etc.? --Ed Poor

It can go in an entirely separate article, linked from here, and that will be fine. As I said, it comes from a biased source, and RK seems determined not to let any relevant facts in that will show Wagner to be less of an anti-Semite than he wants him to be. The fact about Wagner having many Jewish friends and workmates came from the Jewish Encyclopedia itself, but that fact was buried and never taken into account in condemning him as a Jew hater. The surest way to turn someone into a hater is to condemn them as a hater first. --Clutch

--Ed Poor
 * 1) Let's not condemn our fellow Wikipedians, then.
 * 2) Let's see those relevant facts.

The fact that some of Wagners most respected colleagues and many of his friends were Jews are "facts" that came from the article. RK seemed outraged though when I pointed out that nationalism was a trend that was sweeping the classical music world at the time. A person who understands the history of classical music can thus understand Wagners comments about "Jewish music" in a rather different context than a person who does not. In each nation, composers were trying to get right down to their musical roots in folk-music, and cast out all foreign music. At the time, the only "foreign" influence in Germany were the Jews. In other countries it was German influence that was foreign and that they were trying to remove. Wagner wasn't doing anything special; he was just going along with the crowd. To pick on him for this, and make him out to be a sort of 19th century David Duke is a gross injustice. The reason everyone makes a big deal about Wagner being anti-Semitic is because Hitler liked listening to his music. It's not fair to judge a man badly just because a monster who lived half a century after you died happened to like your music. --Clutch

I hope you don't mind, if I state my opinion here. I agree with you in many details, Clutch. Hitler liked Wagner's music, and that is reason enough for many people to disapprove of his music. Fortunately there is no indication of anti-semitic ideology in his music. But there is the fact, that he had written this book and did some nasty statements. For all these reasons it is nearly unpossible to hear and play Wagner in Israel. In the moment there is a public discussion in Israel, largely thanks to the great conductor Daniel Barenboim, who ventured to play Wagner's music in Israel again. I think, if there is such a public discussion in a country, then the reasons should be stated in an article. I agree, that it should be in a distinct paragraph or even in an own article. But it should be there. As I said above, criticizing Wagner says nothing about the value of his music, that I like myself. -- Cordyph

Clutch, stop making Wagner's extreme anti-Semitism out to be no big deal. Anyone who thinks that hatred of Jews is no big deal, is suspect of anti-Semitism themselves.

Wagner was an anti-Semite from, at the latest, 1850, when he wrote 'Judaism in Music' (Das Judenthum in der Musik). This essay was first published anonymously in the 'Neue Zeitschrift für Musik' in two instalments in September that year. RW took as his starting point earlier articles in which Theodor Uhlig had attacked Meyerbeer's 'Les Huguenots'. RW reprinted his article practically unchanged in 1869, thereby provoking demonstrations at the first performances of 'Die Meistersinger'. It includes the following assertions (page references are to Wm Ashton Ellis' English translation of the Prose Works, which follows the 1869 revision):

1. Jews are hateful (passim) 2. Judaism is rotten at the core; a religion of hatred (PW3 p90-1) 3. Jewish composers are comparable to worms feeding on the body of art (PW3 p99) 4. Jews are hostile to European civilisation (PW3 p84-5) 5. The Jew rules the world through money (PW3 p81) 6. The cultured Jew is "the most heartless of all human beings" (PW3 p87) 7. The Jews should, like Ahasuerus, "go under" (PW3 p100) RW, however, did not explicitly advocate anything like extermination; and in his private life had close Jewish friends who appear to have regarded him with considerable affection. Nonetheless, his second wife Cosima held strongly anti-Semitic views.

After RW's death, Bayreuth became a focal point for anti-Semitic and right-wing individuals, encouraged by Cosima. This culminated in the marriage of her daughter Eva to the right-wing ideologue, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who saw world history in terms of conflict between races. The son of Richard and Cosima, Siegfried, was more balanced, ruling out racial exclusivity at Bayreuth, but he died in 1930. His English-born widow Winifred developed a close friendship with Hitler when he was still a young unknown, and was largely responsible for Bayreuth's Nazi links.

A good starting point for reading about RW's anti-Semitism is the book by Jacob Katz, 'The Darker Side of Genius'. A number of recent books have taken a fresh look at this subject, including:

view in which racial and anti-Semitic ideas were the driving force behind Wagner's creativity, even in 'Der fliegende Holländer'. Many Wagner scholars vehemently oppose this view, in particular harshly criticising Rose's scholarship; see for example Stewart Spencer's review ('Wagner', January 1995, pages 46-48).
 * 'Wagner: Race and Revolution' by Paul Lawrence Rose, who presented a

Wagner's anti-Semitism that has been met with hostility by many Wagnerians, although other Wagnerians, including the author of this FAQ and also Anthony Arblaster in his review ('Wagner', January 1996, pages 44-47), think that Weiner sheds light on some dark corners of Wagner's  character.
 * 'Wagner and the Anti-Semitic Imagination' by Marc Weiner, is a study of

These two books refer to earlier articles by Hartmut Zelinsky which ignited a heated controversy in Germany. Zelinsky interpreted RW as a proto-Nazi, and attempted to demonstrate that racial and anti-Semitic schemes lay beneath the surface of RW's music-dramas. Hartmut Zelinsky's published writings include:

Künstler sein?', ed. H-K. Metger and R. Riehn. Article entitled: 'Die Feuerkur des Richard Wagner oder die neue Religion der Erlösung durch Vernichtung', Munich 1978.
 * In 'Musik-Konzepte 5: Richard Wagner: wie antisemitisch darf ein

Wirkungsgeschichte Richard Wagners 1876-1976', Frankfurt am Main 1976, Vienna 1983.
 * 'Richard Wagner: ein deutsches Thema: Eine Dokumentation zur

Holland. Articles entitled: 'Richard Wagners letzte Karte', 'Der verschwiegene Gehalt des Parsifal'. Hamburg 1984.
 * In 'Parsifal: Texte, Materialen, Kommentare', ed. A. Csampai and D.

Although himself a critic of Zelinsky, Barry Millington has presented arguments for an anti-Semitic theme in 'Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'. The relevant articles are:

'Cambridge Opera Journal', volume iii, 1991. Reprinted in 'The Wagner Compendium', London 1992 and in 'Wagner in Performance', New Haven 1992.
 * 'Nuremberg Trial: Is There Anti-Semitism in Die Meistersinger?', in

Reprinted in 'Wagner', May 1997, vol. 18 no.2.
 * 'Richard Wagner's Anti-Semitism', in the 'Musical Times', December 1996.

Other sources that discuss Wagner's anti-Semitism include 'Aspects of Wagner' by Bryan Magee (who has also written an interesting article on the subject, included as an appendix to his 'Wagner and Philosophy'), 'Richard Wagner: the Terrible Man and his Truthful Art' by M. Owen Lee, and Dieter Borchmeyer in chapter 5 of the 'Wagner Handbook', in an appendix to his 'Richard Wagner: Theory and Theatre' and, at greater length, in his recent book on this subject (proceedings of a seminar held in Bayreuth).

Hmcw participant Simon Weil has written a study, 'Wagner and the Jews'. It can be found online at <  >.

I'm still waiting for someone to propose a change to the article which will:
 * describe Wagner's sentiments about Jewish people
 * neither endorse or condemn the view that Wagner is anti-Semitic

When someone has a neutral change ready to add to the article, I will either add it, or unlock the article. Not before. --Ed Poor

 * Ed, locking articles is extremely damaging. While this article has all this attention going through recent changes, nobody else can write anything about the subject.  Nor can anybody suggest by example a good statement about Wagner.  Administrators are not parents or teachers looking down on the little people who can't lock and unlock pages.  They are there only as trusted users who can prevent vandalism.  DanKeshet 19:06 Nov 21, 2002 (UTC)

I propose to move any material on Wagner and anti-Semitism to a separate article, and to link it in something like the following sentence:

 * In modern times the topic of Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism has been controversial.

--Clutch

 * This is what we did for many months with Noam Chomsky, because the information on allegations of anti-semitism overwhelmed the other information. Eventually, when we had enough information on other aspects of Chomsky that it could fit in fairly smoothly, we merged it back in.  Not advocating one thing or another, but just giving history. DanKeshet

Page is unlocked. Have it at, lads. --Ed Poor

Well, Clutch created the Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism article. Is everyone happy with it? --Ed Poor

 * Suits me - it's better than endless changes here anyway. Now then, I hear that Wagner wrote some music once as well - anybody know anything about that? ;) --Camembert

 * Yeah, something about a Ring -- or was that Tolkien? ;-) --Ed Poor

I moved the Richard Wagner and Anti-semitism article here; in my opinion, there is no point having a separate page on Wagner's anti-Semitism. Some of the material in that page was copied verbatim from a newsgroup post, and has been reworded. -- CYD

I will be working on the Wagner page over the next few days. The anti-semitism part may seem disproportionate now, but it won't be soon. Please don't delete relavant content, Clutch. -- CYD

 * Wagner is known primarily for his music. His music is not detectably influenced by his anti-Semitism.  Anti-Semitism isn't what defines Wagner.  Given these facts, what makes it so important that his anti-Semitism get more than a small reference? --Clutch 08:37 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

Clutch, this is an article about Wagner the man, and not just his music. Do not delete the work of others in an attempt to restore balance. If you think the article is unbalanced, add more about Wagner's music. -- Stephen Gilbert 14:30 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

 * Stephen, I didn't delete any information. It is still in the original sub-article where CYD took it from.  When he is ready to work on the article again, he can reincorporate it.  In the meantime, that information just severely imbalances the article. --Clutch 14:35 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

It will be very difficult for CYD to work on the article if his work is reverted. He made changes to the article, including the re-wording of some plagerized material; Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism does not contain these changes. Again, I encourage you to balance the article by adding to it, not taking away. -- Stephen Gilbert 14:50 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

That other people of Wagner's time were anti-Semites, too, doesn't make this information insignificant. Mass murders of Jews as a result of anti-Semitism have occurred long before Hitler, he merely took a deeply seated anti-Semitism that was already present in culture to the extreme. Had influential people like Wagner not perpetuated anti-Semitic propaganda, the disasters that followed might have been prevented. The statement "Richard Wagner was a staunch anti-Semite" should therefore be in the article itself, not just on a linked to page.--Eloquence

I put the following into the article, as a compromise between the Clutch and Eloquence versions. It's silly to have an edit war over this.

 * Israeli performances of works by the German composer are often accompanied by protest from Holocaust survivors and others who say he promoted anti-Semitism. Some have described the situation as amounting to an "informal ban", but a public performance in 2001 of a work by Wagner resulted in no charges or arrests of conductor Daniel Barenboim.
 * 1) Like many people of his time, Richard Wagner was a staunch anti-Semite. Because Adolf Hitler (long after Richard Wagner's death) was so approving of Wagner's music and of his anti-Semitic writings, Wagner's anti-Jewish statements have assumed an importance they would not otherwise have had (see Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism). The Nazis heavily promoted Wagner, while banning the music of Jewish composers like Felix Mendelssohn (and sending the composers themselves to death camps, if they were within their grasp). Although few people consider the music itself anti-Semitic, public performance of Wagner's music is currently forbidden in the state of Israel.
 * 2) Public performance of Wagners music is currently forbidden in the state of Israel. One often given reason is that Wagner was an anti-Semite, although his music itself was not anti-Semitic. The fact that Wagners music was promoted heavily by the Nazis while they banned the music of such Jewish composers as Felix Mendelssohn, is commonly cited as the most significant factor in Israel's ban.

Please explain why the bullet item is better worse than either numbered item, and then I will un-protect the article. This back and forth he who laughs last laughs best approach is not worthy of either of you guys, so I'm giving you both a time out. --Uncle Ed

Ed, you are falling for Clutch's subtle strategy of creating non-NPOV articles again:

 * do something outrageous
 * persist in doing it
 * when others react, do something slightly less outrageous
 * persist in doing it
 * try to make sure that the less outrageous version stays in.

First, Clutch has removed the anti-Semitism claims unilaterally, which were then moved to a separate article, quite unjustly so. Then he has even removed the link to this separate article, which is still gone in the revision you protected, and toned the brief NPOV discussion of Wagner's anti-semitism down further. This is NOT acceptable. You should unprotect the page and protect my previous revision, which was perfectly NPOV. The information about Hitler's Wagner glorification surely belongs in an article about Wagner. I have explained all this in my change summary, and I have also explained the previous change above after I made it. You can only argue so much with a persistent troll.

In summary: --Eloquence
 * the Wagner-Hitler connection belongs into the article
 * the link to Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism belongs into the article

I hope I'm not falling for anyone's anti-neutrality strategy. Larry, Jimbo and I have chastised Jonathan in the mailing list, and I've protected the article. I am listening to all comments on this talk page (please note that I restored the Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism link). --Ed

Ed, I would be happy to see that paragraph reduced to the following:

 * Many Holocaust survivors prefer not to listen to Wagner's music because it was heavily promoted by the Nazis, and because Wagner himself held some anti-Semitic views. See Wagner and anti-Semitism.

However, I believe even the link to Wagner and anti-Semitism is unneeded; in the context of his times Wagner was neither good nor bad; he was just ordinary. To put too much emphasis on this one aspect of his personality does a grave disservice to the legacy of great music he left posterity.

--Clutch 17:13 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

 * Wikipedia articles aim to be complete. No biography should be whitewashed, whatever the person may have achieved. We are not here to do service or disservice to the legacy of Wagner; we're here to write an encyclopedia article about him. -- Stephen Gilbert 17:23 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

Also, it's churlish to cast rocks at a man who has been dead for more than a century, and who cannot defend himself.

--Clutch 17:16 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

The page currently reflects Clutch's stated desire to sanitize the article. Clutch has now toned down his arguments and is appealing to "balance". Until we have a massive and complete article on Wagner, I suspect Clutch will contibue to use this tactic to remove as much anti-semetism material as possible, ignoring the fact that the constructive way to balance an article is to add to it in other areas. -- Stephen Gilbert 17:23 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

Jonathan, at your request I am keeping up the flow of puns: you're clutching at straws if you think a personal opinion like the following is suitable for a Wikipedia article: We might say rather that some critics maintain that, etc. but the link to Wagner and anti-Semitism is never coming out. Not as long as there are significant numbers of people out there who want to label Wagner an anti-Semite. You'll note that despite Rev. Moon's clear statement of support for Jews, Judaism and Israel there is nonetheless a Unification Church and anti-Semitism article.
 * "In the context of his times Wagner was neither good nor bad; he was just ordinary."

You need to understand the NPOV policy better, Clutch. --Uncle Ed

 * Oh, I understand the NPOV policy quite well. I just happen to be very sensitive to the Zionist bias of some prolific contributors.  This isn't the Zionpedia.

 * Wow, Its rare to see such a nakedly anti-Semitic rant. Props to Clutch for his "bravery" in combating the evil Zionists. Off his meds again....

 * As far as the Unification Church and anti-Semitism article, I feel it is shameful that some people felt it necessary to add it in. Some controversies are actually better not put into articles, when neither side can produce verifiable facts to support their case, or when the case of one side consists mainly of taking things out of context and misinterpreting them. If the Wikipedia is too wishy-washy about asserting facts, people won't respect it as much. --Clutch 17:37 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)
 * No it is not better to not mention some controversies. Especially ones that several people have seen important enough to write entire books about Rmhermen 17:41 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

Ed, hopefully you can substitute in the following paragraph. You will notice it preserves the Wagner and anti-Semitism link.

 * Many Holocaust survivors prefer not to listen to Wagner's music because it was heavily promoted by the Nazis, and because Wagner himself held some anti-Semitic views. See Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism.

--Clutch 17:46 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

 * Unacceptable. Makes it look like only Holocaust survivors would hold such views, whereas in reality, pretty much the entire political left in Germany rejects Wagner for that reason. Also, the article needs a detailed discussion, not your brief "oh, by the way, he hated Jews" variant. --Eloquence

Can someone (besides Clutch, thank you) explain to me why we discuss in detail the nonsensical anti-Semitism claims against Noam Chomsky (a Jew) in the article about him, whereas we have quickly bowed to Clutch's pressure by moving the fact that Wagner was a rabid Jew-hater into a separate article? Does that mean that we split "offensive" information away from a main article as soon as someone complains? I hope not. --Eloquence

 * I think the Chomsky and anti-semitism bit was originally added to the main Chomsky article, was then split off into a separate Noam Chomsky and anti-Semitism article, and then reintegrated again when ... and anti-Semitism articles started popping up all over the place. Anyway, I certainly haven't bowed in on this article, and I'm prepared to revert it unless someone can provide a good argument really quick. -- Stephen Gilbert 00:56 Dec 10, 2002 (UTC)

Poor clutchie-poo. He thinks he understands the NPOV policy quite well, yet he asserts that some controversies are actually better not put into articles. It is actually the essence of neutrality to include both sides when neither side can produce verifiable facts to support their case. As for taking things out of context and misinterpreting them, well, it's unfortunate that advocates do that but all we can do is, once again, include both sides.

I still think a geek like you is smart enough to grasp this concept, Jon. If I unprotect the article now, will you promise to play nicely? ^_^ --Uncle Ed

Ed. It clearly isn't appropriate to put into the article on Catholicism that "Protestants believe Catholics worship Satan the Devil". I don't see that being NPOV, no matter how much you say "some people say that" or "although some people say XXX, Catholics deny..." When it comes to religions, articles should provide just the facts; the partisan accusations of outsiders have very little room in such articles. This is where I think the NPOV, as currently stated, is harmful. It doesn't allow bad information to be weeded out altogether. --Clutch 18:16 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

Clutch, I think you mean well but are misguided. First of all, it is a sad fact, but nevertheless a fact, that Wagner has become associated with Nazi in the public mind. We may lament it, because it's rather unfair - Wagner's anti-Semitism was a far cry from Nazi extremism, and many of the Nazis' values were diametrically opposed to Wagner's own - but the association nevertheless exists, and an article on Wagner (if it is a comprehensive and well-balanced article) must deal with it.

There has been quite a lot of dishonesty surrounding Wagner, especially in the movement of recent years to aggressively "interpret" Wagner's operas to extract supposedly racist messages. The interpretations are rather far-fetched, and if this is what you're reacting to, then I sympathize. However, the way to fight dishonesty is with honesty, not with lies or misdirection of your own. The fact is that

 * 1) Wagner made public and private statements against the Jews, some of which were  vicious even for its time, and
 * 2) The content of his operas are not tainted by anti-Semitism. In fact, they contain deeply humanist messages. Herzl, the founder of Zionism, drew a great deal of inspiration from the messages in Wagner's operas, and he was certainly aware of the composer's anti-Semitic public statements.

A NPOV article has to discuss both of these points, which may seem mutually irreconcilable but are nevertheless true; Wagner was simply that complex a character. (A good model for such a discussion is the book Wagner by Michael Tanner, a prominent Wagnerian.) I wrote some material which discussed the reasons for Wagner's anti-Semitism, which is largely missing from the Wagner and anti-Semitism - and which, incidentally, still contains the plagiarized material which I removed.

I really would like to have a few days to work on this article without this silly reverting business. -- CYD

On a very minor point, I have put in a redirect from Wagner and anti-Semitism to Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism which is the article's correct name. I hope this helps. 138.37.188.109 18:55 Dec 9, 2002 (UTC)

Ed, your current attempts at NPOV are misguided. Show me a single page from an attributable source that says that Richard Wagner was not an anti-semite. Everyone agrees about this, including even many people on the political right (who would hate to lose one of their champions). What people disagree about are mainly the following things:

 * Was his anti-Semitism exterminatory? I.e. would he have approved the "final solution?
 * Did his operas contain anti-Semitic motives?
 * Do Wagner and his circle have any responsibility for the events that followed?

The attribution "modern sources" is also incorrect. Even at the time, contemporaries regarded Wagner as anti-Semitic. By any reasonable definition, he was. See the linked to page.

It's bad enough that we have moved important information into a separate article. The main article needs a reasonable summary of the issues, with the separate article clarifying the details (i.e. listing the facts about Wagner's anti-Semitism). Facts that are not controversial do not need to be "NPOVified". --Eloquence

For the record, I still think the two articles should be merged, and will probably do that eventually if nobody except Clutch objects. --Eloquence

Eloquence, I'm not sure you and I are using the same definition of neutrality. What is wrong with saying that some modern writers regard Wagner as anti-semitic? Is there a factual error in that sentence? I would think that you would agree that, in fact, some modern writers do regard him that way.

In case you missed my comment at talk:Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism, let me hasten to point out that I am not denying Wagner's anti-Semitism.

If you like, change the article to say that modern writers universally regard Wagner as anti-semitic. I won't revert that, and neither should anyone else unless they supply what you specified above: an attributable source that denies the anti-semitic thing.

--Uncle Ed

I'll tell you why, Ed. Let's take a random statement from the article:

 * "Wagner commenced the study of music at the University of Leipzig"

Should we rewrite this statement to say "Modern writers universally agree that Wagner commenced the study of music at the University of Leipzig"? That would either be redundant, or it would imply past disagreement. If there is past disagreement, we should describe it. The same goes for the anti-Semitism statement.

So if you have any past historians you would like to quote who deny that Wagner was an anti-Semite, feel free to do so. But we shouldn't add redundancy to articles just for kicks (or, as I suspect, for revisionist reasons, subconscious or not, as it weakens the statement). --Eloquence

This sentence is broken:

 * His of the "leitmotiv" - musical themes which stand for characters and events - would be present throughout a work, reappearing interwoven with other melodies whenever the story makes reference to them

His idea? His what? Whoever wrote it, please fix. --Eloquence

I didn't write it, but I just rewrote it to read as follows:
 * His use of the leitmotiv- a musical themes which stands for characters and events - was both a literary technique and a musical device, with the leitmotiv reappearing interwoven with other melodies whenever the story makes reference to the character or event.

However, my rewrite got caught by an edit conflict with another blast of the the never-ending shifting of the anti-semitic stuff. Look, either it goes in the main article (because it is a constant theme in his life and the continuing life of his music) or it goes in a separate article (because it is disruptive to the discussion of his works), but it doesn't go both places. That is just amateurish.

I'm a bit cranky because the main victim of the edit conflict was a painstaking attempt by me to regularize the use of italics and quotes in the article. I'll list the changes here, so someone else can take it on because I don't want to hang around until the latest anti-semite/anti-anti-semite thing gets settled.
 * 1) Titles of major works should be in italics
 * 2) Titles of his operas are so much better known in German than in English that they should be given in German and in italics with translations provided. Too bad the main articles about the operas use the English titles.
 * 3) Carl Maria von Weber should get a link.

And, another couple of things:
 * 1) It is bizarre that this article identifies Wagner first as a "German essayist" before mentioning his music. I had rewritten the first paragraph to say something like: "His early ambition to be a writer heavily influenced his approach to music."
 * 2) I doubt very seriously the statement:
 * It has been said that more has been written about Wagner than perhaps any other historical figure with the exception of Christ and Muhammad the Prophet.

Who said this? And I believe Napoleon and Lincoln should also be on the list of most-written about, probably ahead of both Wagner and Muhammad.

 * Not that I believe either source: sounds like standard journalistic hyperbole to me. -Martin

 * Neither source mentions Muhammad, source 1 mentions Napoleon, both mention Jesus. Source 1 (which is adapted from the Grove Dictionary of Music) is a good example of what a suitable article about Wagner would be like, weaving the controversy in with the artistry.  Our articles just weave.  Incidentally, the article in source 1 calls the infamous essay "ragingly anti-Semitic".  Ortolan88

I'm leaving now, I hope someone will take care of this, but between the edit wars over anti-semitism, dubious assertions, and the markup, this article remains weak, for all the attention it has gotten. If nothing happens with this I may come back in a few months, but not now, thanks. Ortolan88 15:31 Dec 10, 2002 (UTC)

Well, you could have resolved the conflict yourself by copying your edits into the edit conflict window. Too late now .. I agree that the whole article needs work, it's lacking in clarity and style. --Eloquence
 * Coulda woulda shoulda, but I didn't. See you in the spring.  Ortolan88

Eloquence, I've asked Jimbo in the Wikipedia-l mailing list to answer the question you raised, comparing "studied at university" vs. "is anti-Semitic". Pending an answer from him, I'm going to keep the page locked. --Uncle Ed

 * I personally think you should only use your sysop privileges to mediate conflicts you yourself are not involved in. I consider everything else an abuse of said privileges. --Eloquence

I'm not "involved" in this conflict. I have no opinion on Wagner. However, I said I would only lock the page until I got an answer from Jimbo. He answered promptly, and I unlocked the page a moment ago. --Uncle Ed

The moment you wrote your own summary, you became involved. Please be aware of this and try to be more careful in using your administrative privileges in the future. You are not an editor, you are a sysop. --Eloquence

 * Are you saying that if I abstain from making edits, you won't mind my protecting the page? --Uncle Ed

 * Actually, yes, that's what I'm saying. The protection should only have a time out function to resolve pending edits on the talk page. If the current revision is the cause of the problem, you should first revert to a previous one before protecting the page, but no more than that. That you find this funny indicates that you seriously overestimate the range of sysop responsibilities. --Eloquence

 * No chuckle. Ed, you are most definitely involved.  It is disingenuous to say otherwise.  You've locked the article at least twice and rewritten several sections, plus provided a good 50% of the talk page.  Rub some cortisone on that itchy trigger finger. Ortolan88

 * I stand corrected. *sigh* another mistake on my part. The one good thing to come out of this is the knowledge that Jimbo has a high tolerance level for people who learn by trial and error. --Ed

Ortolan wrote "Too bad the main articles about the operas use the English titles." -- I'd be in favour of renaming the operas to their German titles. I agree that they are much better known in German than in English. - Tarquin 16:26 Dec 10, 2002 (UTC)

In light of my mistake of protecting this page inappropriately, I feel I have squandered much of my moral capital. Thus I feel bound to ask you all: what is the best way I can help with this article?
 * stay out of it altogether
 * just edit like anyone else
 * just mediate conflicts (but don't edit)

-- contritely, --Cousin Eddie

I say don't take it too seriously; just carry on writing. Btw, I've started seriously adding stuff into the Wagner article now (including ressurrection of the material I wrote on anti-Semitism which I consider unfairly removed, so be warned), and a humorous thought struck me while I was writing it: does anyone know if the de-facto Wagner ban in Israel extends to the Wedding March? RK? -- [[User:CYD|CYD]

 * In answer to that, the wedding march is not used in Israel, but it is more of a cultural question than anything else. It has nothing to do with who wrote it. As for the ban, it is gradually disappearing. Yes, Wagner was anti-Semitic. So was Strauss, and so where many other composers. That is not the origin of the ban, however. It is the identification of Wagner's music with the Third Reich and extremist forms of German nationalism that irks many survivors of the Holocaust. On the other hand, many Israelis feel the "ban" (and it is not an actual legal ban, but more like self-censorship) is out of place, and many orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic, are beginning to reintroduce Wagner into their repertoires. BTW, as an interesting aside, the biggest protest against a musical piece that I remember in Israel was actually against Handel's Messiah. Danny

 * the Wedding march is Mendelssohn. You're thinking of the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin. -- Tarquin

 * Yup. Fixed. -- CYD

Eloquence is right -- this needs to be merges with the anti-Semitism article and that needs to be removed. JHK

Yes. It seems that Clutch has removed the link to the anti-Semitism article. To give him the benefit of the doubt, I assume it's because he agrees with this (instead of, say, attempting to bypassing NPOV by making innocuous uncommented edits), so I will merge that article back into this one. -- CYD

This is no joke VANDALISM ALERT. Clutch is again vandalising this article, in a very severe way, despite group consensus. Please ban him before he screws up more of our work. CYD, it seems that you were wrong; Clutch is literally vandalising this entry, yet again. Be aware that he has a long history of making outrageous anti-Semitic attacks on Wikipedia as a whole (which he calls Zionipedia), and personal anti-Semitic attacks to Wikipedia contributors. Given these attacks and his non-stop vandalism, he is clearly in violation of all Wikipedia protocols. Please ban him before he causes yet more damage. RK

 * Take your concerns to the mailing list or nothing will happen. Only Jimbo can ban a logged-in contributor and he doesn't normally read talk pages. --mav 21:35 Dec 10, 2002 (UTC)

 * I agree with RK here, is there anyone who disagrees? --Eloquence

-

Plz clarify the info from "Judaism in Music" or temporarily remove it. Vera Cruz 21:22 Dec 10, 2002 (UTC)

I think Vera Cruz is probably Clutch. This is becoming very, very silly indeed. -- CYD

 * No, Vera Cruz is not Clutch. Look at the comment that Vera left on my talk page. It was in reference to an edit War I was having with Clutch. In the message Vera indicates support for my position. Please retract your statement. --mav 21:51 Dec 10, 2002 (UTC)

I support CYD in his efforts to expand and improve this article. I do not support RKs attempts to shoehorn biased smear material into every article he can.

CYD, I suggest that if you use the same approach with this article that barbers use to cutting hair, you won't find me doing any reverts of your material. When a barber cuts someones hair, they don't just start chopping. They cut bits off here and there, so that if at any time you were to walk out of the barber shop, you wouldn't be able to say "look what a mess the barber made of my hair! it's horrible!". With this article, because there has been so much bias from contributors like RK, I won't feel comfortable with a straight dump of the material from the Wagner and anti-Semitism page unless it is incorporated with the rest of the article as the article itself expands. I don't want to see the former imbalance where RK's comments about Wagners anti-Semitism made up 80% of the article.

--Clutch 21:56 Dec 10, 2002 (UTC)

From Clutch's recent addition:
 * The combination of anti-Semitism in Wagner's youthful writings [...]

If my math is correct, Wagner was 35 or 36 when Judaism in Music was written. In what sense of the word are the writings "youthful"? AxelBoldt 23:16 Dec 10, 2002 (UTC)

 * You are correct. Not only that, but Wagner continued to maintain these views for the next 20 years. Wagner incited anti-Semitism well into his late 50s, if not further. But Clutch doesn't seem to have a problem with this...  RK

You don't have to look far to understand that Clutch is an Internet troll, albeit a quite sophisticated one. I recognized this (and pointed it out) the moment he started posting his "You need to develop a modicum of taste" stuff on Lir's user page "until you [Lir] cry uncle", and he's been trolling more or less frequently ever since (he himself admitted that he has trolled in the past, but claims that his trolling days are over). His insertion of "youthful" here is one of many giveaways, and so was his "Social workers are kidnappers" stuff, his referral to himself in the third person on the mailing list etc. But because of the fact that he's quite eloquent and usually manages to portray all of his stunts as "controversies" (and to sometimes pull other people in who actually suport him, if only partially), he has suffered no repercussions yet. He has several effective strategies, such as appealing to authorities in sight, trying to depict other contributors as malicious and partisan etc. As with all trolls, there are two rules to consider:

 * Don't feed him. Just undo his edits when he gets tired.
 * If he doesn't ever get tired, ban him.

Really, arguing with Clutch is precisely what he wants. He hopes to reach a "compromise" eventually. He probably believes nothing he writes here (he didn't contribute any meaningful information about Wagner), it's just a game for him to show that he can put anything he wants into a Wikipedia article. That's where RK is probably wrong: Clutch just likes to press people's buttons. --Eloquence

Wagner's most virulent anti-Semitic statements seem to have been rhetorical flourishes.

CYD, I think you added this. I believe it is not NPOV, as it is certainly not the generally held view. Can you attribute this view? Otherwise I think it should be removed. --Eloquence

 * Yes, I can see how it may be a problem. The point I was making is that Wagner is inconsistent, and his more excessive statements (in "Judaism" and elsewhere) don't match views expressed elsewhere (this apparently isn't confined to his attitudes on the Jews, but to his writings on other subjects as well.) Go ahead and remove it or alter it if you like. -- CYD

From the article:

 * Wagner's most virulent anti-Semitic statements seem to have been rhetorical flourishes.

To 'whom do these statements seem, etc.? It would be better to attribute this statement, e.g., Heinrich Brittle called Wagner's anti-Semitic statements "rhetorical flourishes", in light of his well-known friendships with Jews like, etc. --Cousin Eddie

Ed, may I ask you to direct your eyes a few centimetres above where they currently are? ;-) --Eloquence

 * Hang on while I convert from metric units... Okay, I see it! CYD wrote of Wagner being inconsistent, and said the sentence could be removed or altered. *blush* I admit I didn't read the talk page before cutting the sentence. Sloppy ol' Uncle Ed

Another lying summary line from Clutch "restoring leitmotiv", should read "Wagner, the best friend the Jews have had since Moses". I know, I know, I should ignore it. I don't even care about Wagner, but this guy is harmful to the Wikipedia and I do care about that. Ortolan88

 * "hateful", "heartless", and "hostile to European civilisation"

These quotes were attributed to "Judaism in Music", which I took for granted in earlier edits. However, I haven't been able to find them when I checked in the English translation here. Therefore, I have removed the sentence, which in any case isn't very useful - specific anti-Semitic claims that Wagner made are much more relelvant than any insults he chose to offer along the way. I think the remaining material is sufficient, but feel free to change it (I'm not really interested in digging through "Judaism", which like Wagner's other essays is a bit of a bore.)-- CYD

 * These were not originally quotes but a bullet point list of summarized statements (see Richard Wagner and anti-Semitism where they still are in the original form), I think they got mangled during the Clutch edits. They seem to be accurate, and I do think that a decent summary of Wagner's claims, including his insults, should be part of the article. It should, however, not be disproportionate. --Eloquence

I'll be travelling during the holidays, and won't be able to do any more work on the article until after the new year. Yes, I know the biography is still only about a third of the way through (this is going to be a nice and long article.)

Apart from the biography, one thing that's sorely missing is a description of the themes that Wagner was interested in: redemption by love, renunciation, the corrupting effect of power, and so forth. In other words, the reasons (apart from the music) that his operas had such an effect on the public imagination during his lifetime. I think I inadvertently deleted some material that covered this, though IIRC that material was insufficient anyway. It'd be great if someone could work on this.

Cheers. -- CYD

Assessment comment
Substituted at 21:59, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Richard Wagner/Archive 1


text:
Zip the Pinhead

William Henry Johnson (c. 1857 – April 9, 1926), known as Zip the Pinhead, was an American freak show performer known for his tapered head.

Early life
William Henry Johnson was likely born in New Jersey, and was one of six children in a very poor African-American family. His parents were William and Mahalia Johnson, former slaves. As he grew, his body developed normally, but his head remained small. His tapering cranium and heavy jaw made him attractive to agents from van Emburgh's Circus in Somerville, New Jersey. His appearance caused many to believe that he was a "pinhead", or microcephalic. Microcephaly patients are characterized by a small, tapering cranium and often have impaired mental faculty. It is arguable, however, whether he was intellectually disabled.

Johnson's parents agreed to allow the circus to display him in return for money. He was billed as a missing link, supposedly caught in Africa and displayed in a cage. He was a popular attraction, and his success led his agent to show his charge to showman P.T. Barnum.

Barnum purchased the right to display Johnson from the circus and gave him a new look. A furry suit was made to fit him, and his hair was shaped to a tiny point that further accented his sloping brow. Finally, he was given the name, "Zip the Pinhead", the "What-Is-It?," or the "Man-Monkey".

Career
Johnson was first exhibited by Barnum when he was 18, and his career lasted longer than 60 years. He was eventually renamed "Zip" after "Zip Coon", an archetypal character in minstrel shows. Johnson was "[l]aughed at, pelted with coins, called a 'cross between a nigger and a baboon.

Zip's early performances were set against a background story. It was told to the audience that a tribe of "missing links" had been discovered in Africa, and that Zip was one of these. It was further explained that the "wild man", the "What-Is-It", subsisted on raw meat, nuts, and fruit, but was learning to eat more civilized fare such as bread and cake.

Zip would then be revealed in a cage where he could rattle the bars and screech. This act was tremendously successful for Barnum, and Zip was as big an attraction to Barnum's American Museum as the famous Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker.

In later years, Zip became more "civilized" in his act. He shared the stage with other anomalies, including his friends "Texas Giant" Jim Tarver, "Tallest Man in the World" Jack Earle and Koo-Koo the Bird Girl. He traveled extensively with the Ringling Brothers circus.

In 1860, he was visited at the museum by Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales; his photo was taken by Civil War photographer Mathew Brady.

Throughout this period, Zip's best friend and manager was Captain O.K. White. White conscientiously looked after Zip's interests. He also gave Zip one of his prized possessions, a tuxedo.

In his later years, Zip eschewed traveling in favor of performing at Coney Island. One Sunday afternoon in 1925, Zip heard a little girl cry for help. He noticed the girl waving her arms in the ocean and swam out to rescue her.

Zip caught bronchitis in early 1926, and despite the wishes of his doctor and Captain White, he continued to perform his part in the stage play Sunny at the New Amsterdam Theater. Upon the closing of the play, he returned to his home in Bound Brook, New Jersey, where he was cared for by his doctor, Captain White, and his sister. When his condition worsened, he was moved to Bellevue Hospital in New York City, where he died.

It is estimated that during his 67 years in show business, Zip entertained more than one hundred million people.

Zip the Pinhead was buried in Plot 399 of the Bound Brook Cemetery on April 28, 1926. A small gravestone bearing the inscription "William H. Johnson, 1857–1926" marks his resting place.

Inspiration
Johnson is partly the inspiration for Bill Griffith's comics character, Zippy the Pinhead. He was featured in the "Freak Show Tech" episode of the History Channel series Wild West Tech. Although not the first pinhead in the American circus sideshows, his costumes and presentation led to the display of several other microcephalic people to the American public.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Zip the Pinhead


text:
Roberta Flack

Roberta Cleopatra Flack (born February 10, 1937) is a retired American singer who topped the Billboard charts with the No. 1 singles "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", "Killing Me Softly with His Song", and "Feel Like Makin' Love".

Flack influenced the subgenre of contemporary R&B called quiet storm, and interpreted songs by songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and members of the Beatles.

Flack was the first artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in two consecutive years: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" won in 1973 and "Killing Me Softly with His Song" won in 1974.

Early life and education
Flack was born on February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, to parents Laron Flack, a Veterans Administration draftsman, and Irene (née Council) Flack a church organist (some sources have cited 1939 but the 1940 Census gives Roberta's  age as 3 years old). She grew up in Arlington, Virginia.

Growing up in a large, musical family, she often accompanied the choir of Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church by playing hymns and spirituals on piano, but she also enjoyed going to the "Baptist church down the street" to listen to contemporary gospel music including songs performed by Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke.

When Flack was nine, she started taking an interest in playing the piano. During her early teens, Flack excelled at classical piano and Howard University awarded her a full music scholarship.

By age 15, she entered Howard University in Washington, D.C., making her one of the youngest students ever to enroll there. She eventually changed her major from piano to voice and became an assistant conductor of the university choir. Her direction of a production of Aida received a standing ovation from the Howard University faculty.

Flack became a student teacher at a school near Chevy Chase, Maryland. She graduated from Howard University at 19 and began graduate studies in music there, but the sudden death of her father forced her to take a job teaching music and English in Farmville, North Carolina.

Early career
Before becoming a professional singer-songwriter, Flack returned to Washington, D.C., and taught at Banneker, Browne, and Rabaut Junior High Schools. She also taught private piano lessons out of her home on Euclid Street, NW in the city. During that time, her music career began to take shape on evenings and weekends in Washington metropolitan area night spots.

At the Tivoli Club, she accompanied opera singers at the piano. During intermissions, she would sing blues, folk, and pop standards in a back room, accompanying herself on the piano. Later she performed several nights a week at the 1520 Club, again providing her own piano accompaniment. About this time her voice teacher, Frederick "Wilkie" Wilkerson, told her that he saw a brighter future for her in pop music than in the classics. Flack modified her repertoire accordingly and her reputation spread. In 1968 she began singing professionally when she was hired to perform regularly at Mr. Henry's Restaurant, which is on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

1970s
Les McCann discovered Flack singing and playing jazz in a Washington, D.C. nightclub. He later said on the liner notes of what would be her first album First Take noted below, "Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I've ever known. I laughed, cried, and screamed for more... she alone had the voice." Very quickly he arranged an audition for her with Atlantic Records, during which she played 42 songs in 3 hours for producer Joel Dorn. In November 1968, she recorded 39 song demos in less than 10 hours. Three months later, Atlantic reportedly recorded Flack's debut album, First Take, in a mere 10 hours.

In 1971, Flack participated in the legendary Soul to Soul concert film by Denis Sanders, which was headlined by Wilson Pickett along with Ike & Tina Turner, Santana, The Staple Singers, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, The Voices of East Harlem, and others. The U.S. delegation of musical artists was invited to perform for 14th anniversary of African independence in Ghana. The film was digitally reissued on DVD and CD in 2004 but Flack declined permission for her image and recording to be included for unknown reasons. Her a cappella performance of the traditional spiritual "Oh Freedom" retitled "Freedom Song" on the original Soul to Soul LP soundtrack is only available in the VHS version of the film.

Flack's cover version of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" hit number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. Her Atlantic recordings did not sell particularly well, until actor/director Clint Eastwood chose a song from First Take, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" written by Ewan MacColl, for the sound track of his directorial debut Play Misty for Me; it became the biggest hit of the year for 1972, spending six consecutive weeks at No. 1 and earning Flack a million-selling Gold disc. It finished the year as Billboard's top song of 1972. The First Take album also went to No. 1 and eventually sold 1.9 million copies in the United States. Eastwood, who paid $2,000 for the use of the song in the film, has remained an admirer and friend of Flack's ever since. It was awarded the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1973. In 1983, she recorded the end music to the Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact at Eastwood's request.

In 1972, Flack began recording regularly with Donny Hathaway, scoring hits such as the Grammy-winning "Where Is the Love" (1972) and later "The Closer I Get to You" (1978), both million-selling gold singles. Flack and Hathaway recorded several duets together, including two LPs, until Hathaway's 1979 death.

On her own Flack scored her second No. 1 hit in 1973, "Killing Me Softly with His Song" written by Charles Fox, Norman Gimbel and Lori Lieberman. It was awarded both Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 1974 Grammy Awards. Its parent album was Flack's biggest-selling disc, eventually earning double platinum certification. In 1974, Flack released "Feel Like Makin' Love," which became her third and final No. 1 hit to date on the Hot 100; she produced the single and her 1975 album of the same name under the pseudonym Rubina Flake. In 1974, Flack sang the lead on a Sherman Brothers song called "Freedom", which featured prominently at the opening and closing of the movie Huckleberry Finn. In the same year, she performed "When We Grow Up" with a teenage Michael Jackson on the 1974 television special, Free to Be... You and Me.

1980s
Flack had a 1982 hit single with "Making Love", written by Burt Bacharach (the title track of the 1982 film of the same name), which reached No. 13. She began working with Peabo Bryson with more limited success, charting as high as No. 5 on the R&B chart (plus No. 16 Pop and No. 4 Adult Contemporary) with "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" in 1983.

In 1986, Flack sang the theme song entitled "Together Through the Years" for the NBC television series Valerie, later known as The Hogan Family. The song was used throughout the show's six seasons. In 1987, Flack supplied the voice of Michael Jackson's mother in the 18-minute short film for "Bad". Oasis was released in 1988 and failed to make an impact with pop audiences, though the title track reached No. 1 on the R&B chart and a remix of "Uh-Uh Ooh-Ooh Look Out (Here It Comes)" topped the dance chart in 1989. Flack found herself again in the US Top 10 with the hit song "Set the Night to Music", a 1991 duet with Jamaican vocalist Maxi Priest that peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and No. 2 AC.

Later career
In 1999, a star with Flack's name was placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the same year, she gave a concert tour in South Africa; the final performance was attended by President Nelson Mandela. In 2010, she appeared on the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, singing a duet of "Where Is The Love" with Maxwell.

In February 2012, Flack released Let it Be Roberta, an album of Beatles covers including "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be". It was her first recording in over eight years. Flack knew John Lennon and Yoko Ono, as both lived in The Dakota apartment building in New York City and had apartments next door to each other. Flack has said that she has been asked to do a second album of Beatles covers. In 2013, she was reported to be involved in an interpretative album of the Beatles' classics.

At age 80, Flack made her most recent recording, Running, the closing credits song of the 2018 feature documentary 3100: Run and Become with music and lyrics by Michael A. Levine.

Critical reputation
In 1971, Village Voice critic Robert Christgau reported that "Flack is generally regarded as the most significant new black woman singer since Aretha Franklin, and at moments she sounds kind, intelligent, and very likable. But she often exhibits the gratuitous gentility you'd expect of someone who says 'between you and I'." Reviewing her body of work from the 1970s, he later argued that the singer "has nothing whatsoever to do with rock and roll or rhythm and blues and almost nothing to do with soul", comparing her middle-of-the-road aesthetic to Barry Manilow but with better taste, which he believed does not necessarily guarantee more enduring music: "In the long run, pop lies are improved by vulgarity."

Writer and music critic Ann Powers argued in a 2020 piece for NPR that "Flack's presence looms over both R&B and indie "bedroom" pop as if she were one of the astral beings in Ava DuVernay's version of A Wrinkle In Time." Jason King argued that she occupies a complex place in popular music, as "the nature of her power as a performer—to generate rapturous, spellbinding mood music and to plumb the depths of soulful heaviness by way of classically-informed technique—is not too easy to claim or make sense with the limited tools that we have in music criticism."

Flack's minimalist, classically trained approach to her songs was seen by a number of critics as lacking in grit and uncharacteristic of soul music. According to music scholar Jason King, her work was regularly described with the adjectives "boring", "depressing", "lifeless", "studied", and "calculated"}; in contrast, AllMusic's Steve Huey said it has been called "classy, urbane, reserved, smooth, and sophisticated".

Personal life
Flack is a member of the Artist Empowerment Coalition, which advocates for artists to have the right to control their creative properties. She is also a spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; her appearance in commercials for the ASPCA featured "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face". The Hyde Leadership Charter School in the Bronx, NYC, runs an after-school music program called "The Roberta Flack School of Music" to provide free music education to underprivileged students in partnership with Flack, who founded the school.

From 1966 to 1972, she was married to Steve Novosel. Flack is the aunt of professional ice skater Rory Flack. She is also the godmother of musician Bernard Wright, who died in an accident on May 19, 2022.

According to DNA analysis, she is of Cameroonian descent.

Health
On April 20, 2018, Flack was appearing onstage at the Apollo Theater at a benefit for the Jazz Foundation of America. She became ill, left the stage, and was rushed to the Harlem Hospital Center. In a statement, her manager announced that Flack had had a stroke a few years prior and still was not feeling well, but was "doing fine" and being kept overnight for medical observation.

On November 14, 2022, it was announced by a spokesperson that Flack had been diagnosed with ALS and had retired from performing, due to the disease making it "impossible to sing".

Accolades
On May 11, 2017, Roberta Flack received an honorary Doctorate degree in the Arts from Long Island University.

Flack was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

In 2021, Flack was one of the first inductees into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.

On March 12, 2022, Flack was honored with the DAR Women in American History Award and a restored fire callbox in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington DC commemorating her early-career connection to nearby Mr. Henry's neighborhood bar.

On 24 January 2023, the PBS series American Masters opened its 37th season with an hour-long look at her career.

On May 13, 2023, Flack received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music.

Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Flack has received four awards from thirteen nominations.

 * || "You've Got a Friend" (with Donny Hathaway) || Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group || Nominated
 * rowspan="3"| || "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" || Record of the Year || Won
 * "Where Is the Love" (with Donny Hathaway) || Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus || Won
 * Quiet Fire || Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female || Nominated
 * rowspan="3"| || Killing Me Softly || Album of the Year || Nominated
 * rowspan="2"| "Killing Me Softly with His Song" || Record of the Year || Won
 * Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female || Won
 * rowspan="2"|
 * rowspan="2"| "Feel Like Makin' Love" || Record of the Year || Nominated
 * Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female || Nominated
 * || "The Closer I Get to You" (with Donny Hathaway) || Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group || Nominated
 * rowspan="2"| || Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway || Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female || Nominated
 * "Back Together Again" (with Donny Hathaway) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal || Nominated
 * || Roberta || Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance || Nominated
 * || Roberta Flack || Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award || Won
 * rowspan="2"|
 * rowspan="2"| "Feel Like Makin' Love" || Record of the Year || Nominated
 * Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female || Nominated
 * || "The Closer I Get to You" (with Donny Hathaway) || Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group || Nominated
 * rowspan="2"| || Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway || Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female || Nominated
 * "Back Together Again" (with Donny Hathaway) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal || Nominated
 * || Roberta || Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance || Nominated
 * || Roberta Flack || Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award || Won
 * "Back Together Again" (with Donny Hathaway) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal || Nominated
 * || Roberta || Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance || Nominated
 * || Roberta Flack || Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award || Won
 * || Roberta || Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance || Nominated
 * || Roberta Flack || Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award || Won
 * || Roberta Flack || Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award || Won

American Music Awards
The American Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony created by Dick Clark in 1973. Flack has received one award from six nominations.

 * rowspan="3"| |||  || Favorite Female Artist (Pop/Rock) || Nominated
 * || Favorite Female Artist (Soul/R&B) || Won
 * | "Killing Me Softly with His Song" || Favorite Single (Pop/Rock) || Nominated
 * rowspan="2"| |||  || Favorite Female Artist (Soul/R&B) || Nominated
 * | "Feel Like Makin' Love" || Favorite Single (Soul/R&B) || Nominated
 * ||| || Favorite Female Artist (Soul/R&B) || Nominated
 * rowspan="2"| |||  || Favorite Female Artist (Soul/R&B) || Nominated
 * | "Feel Like Makin' Love" || Favorite Single (Soul/R&B) || Nominated
 * ||| || Favorite Female Artist (Soul/R&B) || Nominated
 * | "Feel Like Makin' Love" || Favorite Single (Soul/R&B) || Nominated
 * ||| || Favorite Female Artist (Soul/R&B) || Nominated
 * ||| || Favorite Female Artist (Soul/R&B) || Nominated

Discography

 * First Take (1969)
 * Chapter Two (1970)
 * Quiet Fire (1971)
 * Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972)
 * Killing Me Softly (1973)
 * Feel Like Makin' Love (1975)
 * Blue Lights in the Basement (1977)
 * Roberta Flack (1978)
 * Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway (1980)
 * I'm the One (1982)
 * Born to Love (1983)
 * Oasis (1988)
 * Set the Night to Music (1991)
 * Stop the World (1992)
 * Roberta (1994)
 * The Christmas Album (1997)
 * Let It Be Roberta (2012)
 * Running (2018)

title: Roberta Flack


text:
Litotes

In rhetoric, litotes, also known classically as antenantiosis or moderatour, is a figure of speech and form of irony in which understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect. Litotes is a form of understatement, which can be in the form of meiosis, and is always deliberate with the intention of emphasis. However, the interpretation of negation may depend on context, including cultural context. In speech, litotes may also depend on intonation and emphasis; for example, the phrase "not bad" can be intonated differently so as to mean either "mediocre" or "excellent". Along the same lines, litotes can be used (as a form of auxesis ), to euphemistically provide emphasis by diminishing the harshness of an observation; "He isn't the cleanest person I know" could be used as a means of indicating that someone is a messy person.

The use of litotes is common in English, Russian, German, Yiddish, Dutch, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ukrainian, Polish, Chinese, French, Czech and Slovak, and is also prevalent in a number of other languages and dialects. It is a feature of Old English poetry and of the Icelandic sagas and is a means of much stoical restraint.

The word litotes is of Greek origin (λιτότης), meaning 'simplicity', and is derived from the word λιτός, litos, meaning 'plain, simple, small or meager'.

Classical litotes
The first known mention of litotes is in a letter from Cicero in 55 BC (De Oratore). Cicero uses the word to mean simplicity (or frugality) of life. The meaning and the function of the word changed from 'simple' to the idea of understatement that involves double negatives, a way to state things simply.

Old Norse had several types of litotes. These points are denied negatives ("She's not a terrible wife" meaning "she's a good wife"), denied positives ("He's not a great learner" meaning 'he has difficulty learning'), creating litotes without negating anything, and creating litotes using a negative adjective ("Days spent in his home left him unenthused" meaning 'he preferred to be out and about').

Litotes and ethos
Litotes can be used to establish ethos, or credibility, by expressing modesty or downplaying one's accomplishments to gain the audience's favor. In the book Rhetorica ad Herennium, litotes is addressed as a member of the Figures of Thought known as deminutio, or understatement. It is listed in conjunction with antenantiosis and meiosis, two other forms of rhetorical deminutio. For example, a very accomplished artist might say "I'm not a bad painter", and by refraining from bragging but still acknowledging his skill, the artist is seen as talented, modest, and credible.

Classical Greek
In Classical Greek, instances of litotes can be found as far back as Homer. In Book 24 of the Iliad, Zeus describes Achilles as follows: "οὔτε γάρ ἔστ᾽ ἄφρων οὔτ᾽ ἄσκοπος" (line 186), 'he is neither unthinking, nor unseeing', meaning that he is both wise and prudent.

French
In French, pas mal (not bad) is used similarly to the English, while il n'est pas antipathique ('he is not disagreeable') is another example, actually meaning il est très sympathique ('he is nice'), though the speaker is reluctant to admit it. Another typical example is Ce n'est pas bête! ('It's not stupid'), generally said to admit a clever suggestion without showing oneself as too enthusiastic. (As with all litotes, this phrase can also be used with its literal meaning that the thing is not stupid but rather may be clever or occupy the middle ground between stupid and clever.)

One of the most famous litotes of French literature is in Pierre Corneille's Le Cid (1636). The heroine, Chimène, says to her lover Rodrigue, who just killed her father: Va, je ne te hais point ('Go, I hate you not'), meaning 'I love you'.

Chinese
In Chinese, the phrase 不错 (Pinyin:, traditional characters 不錯, literally 'not wrong') is often used to present something as very good or correct. In this way, it is distinct in meaning from the English 'not bad' (though not 'not bad at all') or the general use of the French pas mal. Also, the phrase 不简单 (pinyin, traditional characters 不簡單, literally 'not simple') is used to refer to an impressive feat.

Danish
In Danish, understatements using litotes are seen as characteristic of the Jutlandic dialect. A stereotypical example is the phrase det er ikke så ringe endda ('it is not even so bad'), which is used to mean 'that's great'.

Dutch and German
Similarly, in Dutch, the phrase niet slecht (also literally meaning 'not bad') is often used to present something as very good or correct, as is German nicht schlecht.

Italian
In Italian, meno male (literally 'less bad') is similar to the English expression, 'So much the better' – used to comment that a situation is more desirable than its negative (cf. Winston Churchill's comment, since transformed into a snowclone, that "democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others").

Latin
In Latin, an example of litotes can be found in Ovid's Metamorphoses: non semel (bk. 1 ln. 692, 'not one occasion'), meaning 'on more than one occasion'. Some common words are derived from litotes: nonnulli from non nulli ('not none') is understood to mean 'several', while nonnumquam from non numquam ('not never') is used for 'sometimes'.

Russian
Perhaps the most common litote in Russian is неплохо ('not bad'). Somewhat unusually, it is permissible to say something is очень неплохо ('very not bad') to signify that it is, in fact, very good. An example of litotes can be found in the Nikolai Gogol's The Government Inspector, in which the Mayor says: "There's no such thing as a man with no sins on his conscience", meaning 'All men have sins on their conscience' (Act 1, Scene 1). In this case, it is used to downplay the Mayor's statement – a euphemism of sorts – making it less harsh than its understood meaning.

Spanish
In Spanish, it is usual to say No es nada tonto ('It's not at all foolish'), as a form of compliment (i.e., to say something was smart or clever). Another common Spanish phrase is menos mal (cf. Italian meno male above), meaning literally 'less bad', but used in the same way as the English phrases "Thank goodness!" or "It's just as well".

Swedish
In Swedish, it is quite common to use litotes. For example, when one chances to meet someone after a long time it is usual to say: Det var inte igår ('It wasn't yesterday').

Turkish
In Turkish, it is quite common to say Hiç fena değil! ('Not bad at all!') as a form of compliment.

Welsh
In Welsh, Siomi ar yr ochr orau ('To be disappointed on the best side') means 'to be pleasantly surprised'.

title: Litotes


text:
River Test

The River Test is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at Ashe near Basingstoke and flows southwards for 40 mi to Southampton Water. Settlements on the Test include the towns of Stockbridge and Romsey. The river's valley gives its name to the local government district of Test Valley. Below the village of Longparish, the river is broadly followed by the Test Way, a long-distance footpath.

Much of the Test is a 438 ha biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is part of the Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar site and Special Protection Area. The river is used for fly fishing for trout from its source to its tidal limit.

Etymology
Recorded forms are Terstan from 877 and 901, Tarstan stream in 1045, Terstein 1234, and Test in 1425. If Common Brittonic, not Old English, all related dictionaries show three suitable words beginning with Tre- and none with extremely rare Ter-. There is precedent to such metathesis: as for the river Tern in the far west, from tren 'strong'. If so it most likely relates to the Welsh tres (tumult, commotion, contention, uproar) or trais (force, might in older Welsh). A close set of words (diversely conjugated and pronounced) in Old English is (f)irst(en), the meaning of which is as at present, first.

Course
The river rises near the village of Ashe, 7 mi to the west of Basingstoke (at ), and flows west through the villages of Overton, Laverstoke, and the town of Whitchurch, before joining with the Bourne Rivulet at Testbourne and turning in a more southerly direction. It then proceeds through the villages of Longparish and Middleton to Wherwell and Chilbolton, where the Rivers Dever and Anton join.

From Chilbolton the river goes through the villages of Leckford, Longstock, Stockbridge and Houghton to Mottisfont and Kimbridge, where the River Dun joins the flow. From here the village of Timsbury is passed, then through the grounds of Roke Manor before reaching the town of Romsey. On the western edge of Romsey, Sadler's Mill, an 18th-century watermill, sits astride the River Test.

South of Romsey, the river passes the country house of Broadlands, and then Nursling, once the site of a Roman bridge. Finally the river is joined by the River Blackwater and soon becomes tidal, widening out into a considerable estuary that is lined on its northern bank by the container terminals and quays of the Port of Southampton. The Test estuary then meets that of the River Itchen and the two continue to the sea as Southampton Water.

Between Chilbolton and Redbridge, the river was once paralleled by the Andover Canal, which was itself converted to a railway in 1865, and then in turn abandoned. Most traces of the canal have disappeared, although the remains of a stretch can still be seen between Timsbury and Romsey.

Ecology
This chalk stream has one of the richest fauna and flora of any lowland river in England. More than 100 species of flowering plant have been recorded along its banks and 232 invertebrate taxa in the river. It is also important for wetland birds, with breeding species including kingfishers, grey wagtails and little grebes.

Water quality
The Environment Agency measure water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish. Chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations, is rated good or fail.

Water quality of the River Test in 2019:

In popular culture
The river features in Richard Adams' 1972 novel Watership Down. When the Watership rabbits are pursued by an enemy force, one rabbit carries out a plan which leads to their successful escape down the Test on a punt. In the text, readers are told that this plan would not have been possible on most rivers, but the Test's smooth-flowing, weed-free nature makes it an exception. The punt becomes lodged on a low bridge, and the surviving rabbits are forced to swim under the bridge to the riverbank.

Tributaries
The following are the named tributaries of the River Test, listed in order upstream from Southampton Water.
 * Tanners Brook
 * Wimpson stream (historically; due to the extension of the docks it now merges with Tanners Brook just before it reaches the Test)
 * River Blackwater
 * River Dun
 * Wallop Brook
 * River Anton
 * Pillhill Brook
 * River Dever
 * Bourne Rivulet
 * River Swift

title: River Test


text:
Victor Talking Machine Company

The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became the RCA Victor Division of the Radio Corporation of America until late 1968, when it was renamed RCA Records.

Established in Camden, New Jersey, Victor was the largest and most prestigious firm of its kind in the world, best known for its use of the iconic "His Master's Voice" trademark, the design, production and marketing of the popular "Victrola" line of phonographs and the company's extensive catalog of operatic and classical music recordings by world famous artists on the prestigious Red Seal label. After Victor merged with RCA in 1929, the company maintained its eminence as America's foremost producer of records and phonographs until the 1960s.

History
In 1896, Emile Berliner, the inventor of the gramophone and disc record, contracted machinist Eldridge R. Johnson to manufacture his inventions.

Name
There are different accounts as to how the "Victor" name came about. RCA historian Fred Barnum gives various possible origins of the name in "His Master's Voice" In America, he writes, "One story claims that Johnson considered his first improved Gramophone to be both a scientific and business 'victory.' A second account is that Johnson emerged as the 'Victor' from the lengthy and costly patent litigations involving Berliner and Frank Seaman's Zonophone. A third story is that Johnson's partner, Leon Douglass, derived the word from his wife's name 'Victoria.' Finally, a fourth story is that Johnson took the name from the popular 'Victor' bicycle, which he had admired for its superior engineering. Of these four accounts, the first two are the most generally accepted." The first use of the Victor name was on a letterhead, dated March 28, 1901.

Marketing
Herbert Rose Barraud's deceased brother, a London photographer, willed him his estate, including his DC-powered Edison-Bell cylinder phonograph with a case of cylinders and his dog, named Nipper. Barraud's original painting depicts Nipper staring intently into the horn of an Edison-Bell while both sit on a polished wooden surface. The horn on the Edison-Bell machine was black and after a failed attempt at selling the painting to a cylinder record supplier of Edison Phonographs in the UK, a friend of Barraud's suggested that the painting could be brightened up (and possibly made more marketable) by substituting one of the brass-belled horns on display in the window at the new gramophone shop on Maiden Lane. The Gramophone Company in London was founded and managed by an American, William Barry Owen. Barraud paid a visit with a photograph of the painting and asked to borrow a horn. Owen gave Barraud an entire gramophone and asked him to paint it into the picture, offering to buy the result. On close inspection of the painting, the contours of the Edison-Bell phonograph are visible beneath the paint of the gramophone.

In 1915, the "His Master's Voice" logo was rendered in immense circular leaded-glass windows in the tower of the Victrola cabinet building at Victor's headquarters in Camden, New Jersey. The building still stands today with replica windows installed during RCA's ownership of the plant in its later years. Today, one of the original windows is located at the Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C.

Acoustical recording era (1901–1925)
In the company's early years, Victor issued recordings on the Victor, Monarch and De Luxe labels, with the Victor label on 7-inch records, Monarch on 10-inch records and De Luxe on 12-inch records. De Luxe Special 14-inch records were briefly marketed in 1903–1904. In 1905, all labels and sizes were consolidated into the Victor imprint.

Victor recorded the first jazz and blues records ever issued. The Victor Military Band recorded the first recorded blues song, "The Memphis Blues", on July 15, 1914, in Camden, New Jersey. In 1917, The Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded "Livery Stable Blues".

Electrical recording era (1925–present)
The advent of radio as a home entertainment medium in the early 1920s presented Victor and the entire record industry with new challenges. Not only was music becoming available over the air free of charge, but a live radio broadcast made using high-quality microphones and heard over amplified receivers provided sound that was startlingly more clear and realistic than a contemporary phonograph record. After plummeting sales and much resistance from Victor's senior executives, the company switched from the acoustical or mechanical method of recording to the new microphone-based electrical system developed by Western Electric in 1925. Victor called its version of the improved fidelity recording process "Orthophonic", and sold a new line of phonographs called "Orthophonic Victrolas", scientifically designed by Western Electric to play these new records. Victor's first electrical recordings, issued in the spring of 1925 were not advertised as such; in order to create an extensive catalog of records made by the new process to satisfy anticipated demand, and to allow dealers time to liquidate their stocks of old-style Victrolas, Victor and its longtime rival, Columbia Records, agreed to keep electrical recording secret until the autumn of 1925. Then, with the company's largest advertising campaign to date, Victor publicly announced the new technology and introduced its new records and the Orthophonic Victrolas on November 2, 1925, dubbed "Victor Day".

Victor's first commercial electrical recording was made at the company's Camden, New Jersey studios on February 26, 1925. A group of eight popular Victor artists, Billy Murray, Frank Banta, Henry Burr, Albert Campbell, Frank Croxton, John Meyer, Monroe Silver, and Rudy Wiedoeft gathered to record "A Miniature Concert". Several takes were recorded by the old acoustical process, then additional takes were recorded electrically for test purposes. The electrical recordings turned out well, and Victor issued the results that summer as the two sides of twelve inch 78 rpm disc, Victor 35753. Victor's first electrical recording to be issued was Victor 19626, a ten-inch record consisting of two numbers recorded on March 16, 1925, from the University of Pennsylvania's thirty-seventh annual production of the Mask and Wig Club, released in April, 1925. On March 21, 1925, Victor recorded its first electrical Red Seal disc, twelve inch 6502 by pianist Alfred Cortot, of works by Chopin and Schubert.

Post-acquisition (1929–present)
In 1926, Johnson sold his controlling (but not holding) interest in the Victor Company to the banking firms of JW Seligman and Speyer & Co., who in turn sold Victor to the Radio Corporation of America in 1929.

Archives
The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a continuation of the Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings (EDVR) project by Ted Fagan and William Moran to make a complete discography of all Victor recordings as well as adding the recordings of Columbia, Brunswick and other historic American labels now controlled by Sony Music Entertainment. The Victor archive files are the main source of information for this project.

In 2011, the Library of Congress and Victor catalog owner Sony Music Entertainment launched the National Jukebox offering streaming audio of more than 10,000 pre-1925 recorded works for listening by the general public; the majority of these recordings have not been widely available for over 100 years.

title: Victor Talking Machine Company