Israeli orchestra will perform Hitler’s favorite composer’s music in Germany

An Israeli orchestra will perform a work by Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer, Richard Wagner, in a taboo-breaking concert in Germany, the head of Bayreuth city’s cultural affairs department said Monday.

The performance marks the first time an Israeli orchestra has played Wagner in Germany. Tuesday’s concert is the part of the annual Bayreuth festival, held in Wagner’s hometown.

Due to the sensitivities of the topic, the orchestra started rehearsing the Wagner piece only upon their arrival in Germany Sunday.

Since the independence proclamation of the State of Israel in 1948, it has put an informal ban on Wagner’s music because of its use in Nazi propaganda before and during World War II.

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