The dislike of Wagner for his anti-semitism does throw up the ever-present problem - discussed quite a lot on Mudcat - of the separation or non-separation of a creative artist from his or her personal life and beliefs
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Right on, Will. I can't see that the fact that Caravaggio was a feared drunken quarreler and duellist, culminating in his becoming a murderer and having to flee Rome under sentence of death until he contrived somehow a degree of pardon, detracts for a second from his "The Supper at Emmaeus" in the National Gallery, London, being one of the world's greatest paintings.

I am obviously not one to condone antisemitism; and as it happens Wagner is far from being one of my favourite composers (though my late wife and I did quite enjoy the ENO's The Flying Dutchman about 20 years ago); but that is because his music doesn't generally appeal to me — rather too portentous for my taste — not because of any opinions the man himself might have held.

≈M≈