Candidate for Chancellor: Merz likes modern jazz and classical music

Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, in his own words, has a long-standing affection for music – for modern jazz and classical music. “To this day, my best memory of an evening at the opera is the performance of “La Traviata” with Anna Netrebko in Salzburg,” said the CDU leader to the magazine “Bunte”. She got so close to him that he had to “drink a schnapps” afterwards.

During his school days he learned to play the trombone and briefly played in an orchestra. “Every now and then I take out the trombone in the evening to relax a bit, but I don’t have the practice.”

In response to a question about his political career with the prospect of the Chancellery, Merz (69) said: “Somehow it makes me proud that my father is still living through it.” His father, who will turn 101 in January, was “always a political person.” His mother is 96 years old.

Merkel’s statement was probably meant as a compliment

The CDU leader also commented on an assessment of the former Chancellor and party leader Angela Merkel. She recently made it clear that she sees Merz as fulfilling an important prerequisite for the highest government office: “You need this unconditional will to power. Friedrich Merz has it too, and that’s why I grant him it.”

When asked whether that was a compliment, Merz said: “Angela probably meant it that way. But I also have other good motives than just the absolute will to power.”