The year 1933 marked both the fiftieth anniversary of Wagner's death and the coming to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany, which led to the full implementation of the National Socialists’ manipulation of Wagner's music. In Paris, the cinquantenaire—as the anniversary was called in France—was widely celebrated, sparking an intensive flurry of Wagner activity just as Franco-German political relations became increasingly tense and difficult. In 1933, then, a peak in Paris performances of Wagner's music coincided with a surge of press commentary registering shock, alarm, and outrage at the new treatment of Wagner in the Third Reich.

Why did Parisians react so strongly to Hitler's appropriation of Wagner? Why was Paris saturated with Wagner-related celebrations, performances, and press commentary when France was pervaded by fear, insecurity, and unease in response to rising German aggression and hostility? Why did Parisians enthusiastically celebrate Wagner and his music in the face of the Third Reich's attempts to claim Wagner as its own? In this chapter I respond to these questions by exploring the discourse of Wagner the universalist, through which the Parisian press attempted to present him as contributing to the universal human values that France represented, thus paradoxically appropriating him for France. Descriptions of Wagner as “classic,” French, and European all ultimately contributed to the universalist argument, which challenged Nazi rhetoric and defended France's Wagner from Hitler's Wagner—an essential task because of Wagner's unique and central place in the French musical imagination. The prospect of losing Wagner to the Nazis moved the French to position him as a composer with universal appeal who could be worshipped by all.

A New Wave of Wagnerism

In 1933 France was entering a period of political and social instability that would entail the polarization of the political arena, the repercussions of a global economic crisis (which hit France later than most other European countries), and a blind determination to preserve peace with a foreign regime intent on making war. In the domestic sphere, moderate and mainstream views gave way to extremism and violent opposition from all sides of politics. French society was rife with xenophobic, antisemitic, and fascist discourses, resulting in what Dominique Borne describes as “the time of hatred” (le temps de la haine).