If Miklos Rosza‘s “Parade of the Charioteers” one of the most stirring fascist anthems ever composed? I’m not saying it is, but I suspect that rightwing bad guys the world over (Donald Trump, Dick Cheney, Benjamin Netanyahu, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin, et. al.) adore this kind of composition and performance. I certainly can’t imagine an audience of wokesters and Critical Race Theory believers responding to this eight-year-old show (Andre Rieu’s Johann Strauss Orchestra in Amsterdam) with anything other than muted horror.
I’m sorry but Rosza was a genius composer, and I can’t help feeling stirred by this. And I’m saying this as a mild-mannered, left-center moderate. Does admitting this make me a bad person regardless? In the eyes of some it probably does.
