There has probably never been a conductor who has had a greater influence on the world’s political history than Richard Wagner through Hitler. They had many things in common: Wagner wanted to become a politician, and Hitler wanted to become an artist. It was due to Wagner that in his younger years Hitler endeavored to write a Wagnerian opera, Wieland the Smith, an opera that Wagner had started but never finished.

In the 1930s, Hitler's obsession with Wagner inspired him to initiate a formal prohibition and destruction of all degenerate art (Entartete Kunst), which was not in accordance with the Wagnerian aesthetics and canon, as Hitler understood it. In addition to Jewish authors and others who were not in favor of the regime, the prohibition affected the whole of avant-garde and modernism, and in music (Entartete Musik) all of jazz, primarily due to its “primitive” African-American roots.


After the war, ‘degenerate’ jazz music became another symbol of freedom and modernity. Jazz creators and improvisers, such as Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, and others broadened the definition of the freedom and interpretation of expression to unprecedented dimensions. One of the more important jazz modernists and innovators was Stan Kenton, with his large orchestras (Progressive Jazz Orchestra, Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra, Artistry in Rhythm Orchestra, Mellophonium Orchestra, and Creative World Orchestra). In 1964 he recorded and issued an album entitled Kenton/Wagner, in which he gave a jazz treatment to eight great Wagnerian themes, including The Ride of the Valkyries. Thus he freed Wagner from his own shadow, and showed jazz musicians the possibilities of new formal and content-based interpretations of this musical giant.

On a number of occasions Laibach has been encouraged to address Wagner in their repertoire, but the right moment had never truly arisen. But then KD Group, on the occasion of its 15th anniversary, proposed a common project with the RTV Slovenia Symphonic Orchestra. Wagner was immediately our first choice. When two years ago we heard Kenton's interpretation of Wagner's music, we realized the influence Wagner has had on contemporary jazz. At approximately the same time, in Ljubljana we listened to an orchestral concert conducted by Izidor Leitinger (and he also came to our concert in Paris), and very soon the idea arose to pursue some form of collaboration at the earliest opportunity. Thus, we have now drafted the VOLKSWAGNER project, as a 70-minute sonic suite, comprising interpretations of Wagner's Tannhauser Overture, Siegfried Idyll, and The Ride of the Valkyries. As our starting point, we chose the jazz form – which will also be a challenge for the symphonic orchestra – enhanced with an experimental electronic and industrial ambient.

With this project we will attempt to prove that understanding and interpretation are important components of the aesthetic and content-based definitions of the world and that Hitler was greatly mistaken regarding Wagner (except with regard to the conception of the beetle automobile, which, with its Beatnik soul and humorous form, actually became his largest art work and indirectly also his greatest economic achievement).

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