Figure 1.--This unidentified German boy is pictured with his violin, probably about 1930. One question we have about the German music tradition is just what the NAZIs did in their brief 12 years to so fundamentally affect the creation of music. Before the NAZIs, Germany was at the center of world music with modern compsers like Richard Strauus. After the NAZIs we see German compsers emerging to international prominance. We see this in other areas such as sceience, but in no other area is the impact of the NAZIs so stark.

Germany at the dawn of the 20th century was the most powerful country in Europe. Today we too often think of that in military terms. This was in fact the case, but Germany was dominate in many other areas. It had the latgest, nost dynamic economy and was the most heavily industrialized. It had the finest educational system in the world with wonderful public schools and admired universities. The scientific establishment routinely demonstrated its prowess in the annual Nobel Prize awards. In no area was Germany more dominate than in music. And German played a key role in the movements that began tgo chsnge music in the early-20th century. Even after the tragedy of World War I, Germany remained the dominate country in Europe. The Allies did not occupy Germany, except the Rhineland for a brief period and the Saarland. The country's industry annd scientific estanlishment remained in tact. And German music remained the envy of Europe. Yet in the space of 12 years, the NAZIs remade Germany in ways that are still not fully understood. Germany continued to make music during and after the NAZI era. But the best known conposers were those educated before the NAZI era. (The impact of the Communists in East Germany during 1945-89 also has to be considered. Few German composers trained during or after the the NAZI era have risen to international prominance. Germsany today remains a European powerhouse, but no longer dominates Europe. German industry is still renowned for workmanship, but was largely uninvolved in the techlogical changes (tansistors, computer, internet, etc.) that have made our modern world. German universities are solid institutions, but much less known than British and American universities. And Germany is no longer the center of Western music. Fe young people growing up in the late-20th century think of Germany when they assess trends in modern music.

New Musical Movements

There were two new musical impulses which would shatter the established world of Western music that German composers had largely created. This occurred just a few years before World War I (1914-18). Those two movements had great influences greatly and a fought a fierce struggle for the soul of Western music during the NAZI Third Reich (1933-45). Let take as granted that art is a mirror of the evolving society and that any dishonest society will always fight against truth. The first new movement came from Germany. The composer, Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951), an Austrian Jew, created a new system of notation and composition called Dodecaphonism in relation with a twelve tones scale. In this music, there is no repetition, no melody,mainly timbre. Schoenberg also invented a new kind of opera using the Sprachgesang where the singer talks while singing. We are far from the Italian Bel Canto. Music historians have varied opinions on Schoenberg and of course Hitler and the NAZIs despised him. Some disciples like Alban Berg (1885–1935), another Austrian, and Anton Webern (1883-1945), another Austrian, went further. Webern wrote a symphony which lasted 2 minutes! Of course, many musicians in Germany were more popular like Gustav Malher (1860-1911), Richard Strausse (1864-1949), or Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) These composers did nothing more than Wagner himself. Their music was basically tone music like it was since the Renaissance. In Visual Arts , they did the same as Piet Mondrian and Wassili Kandinsky. and all the abstract or non-figurative paintings which flourished in United States after World War II. The second new movement impulse came from a Russian--Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (1882–1971). Stravinsky was living in Paris. He was influenced by Ravel and Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908). In his first works like 'The Firebird' and 'Petrouchka', we can observe how colorful the orchestra becomes. But in the last work, we can hear something new: the rhythm. This aspect will explode in what some consider to be the most important musical work in the 20th Century, 'Le Sacre du Printemps' (The Rite of Spring). In this work, melody is secondary because always dominated by the ever changing rhythm which is very different from jazz . This masterwork can be seen as a foretaste of World War I which began one year after his première at Paris. A HBC reader writes, "For anybody having ears and a mind connected to the political world, music like art is like a prophecy. It can plum cultural trends and tell where history is headed. Stravinsky's and Scoenberg's music does this. Stravinky echoes the barrages of the trenches in World War such as Verdun as well as the bombing of cities in World War II. Picasso did the same in visual arts with his Art Nègre and his famous painting "La Guernica". Schoenberg discordant music foreshadows the inhumanity of the concentration camps."

Weimar Republic (1919-33)

Germany after World War I was a dormant volcano. The Bolshevik attempted to seize power and were brutally suppressed. Conservative elements in society were terrified. Some turned turned to the extreme right, but it was the Socialist Social Democratic Party (SPD) that emerged as the strongest political party. The advent of Socialism was exploited by Kurt Weill in Bertold Brecht's theater. 'The Beggars' Opera' based on a popular work from England is an example of this. But at the same time, there was some attempts to change German mentality in infusing new ideas mainly in architecture and painting with the Bauhaus. Ironically, creators in this movement had a greater influence outside Germany. Important buildings in Chicago followed the impulse of Gropius. In music, the rhythmic character of works by Hindemith oriented music in the flow of Stravinsky's former works. But many adepts of this renewal were on the same ground as the socialism without claiming a revolution. Schuloff in music and Otto Dix in painting were very critical of the immorality of wealthy classes in Germany and called for a change. At the same time, Richard Strausss lived in Germany like if he lived in the 18th Century. And even during World War II, he composed operas on 18th century t like the 'Rosencavalier' as if he noted nothing happened around him.

The Third Reich (1933-45)

The 1929 New York Stock market Crash and resulting Depression led to the advent of the Third Reich. This ended the turmoil of conflicting values that swirled during the Weimar era. Germany was placed in the hands of Adolf Hitler who never told the German people that he envisioned a radical revolution to remake the German nation as well as Europe. In a climate of lawlessness masked by quiet on the streets, Hitler methodically reduced all opposition. And he not only had a political agenda, but also a very definite opinion about the arts. The Arts needed to be a kind of propaganda for the sacred cause. Richard Wagner became the ultimate in music. He wrote a tetralogy narrating how the good, even with the gods, is always victory Since the German Weltanchaung is based on the Nietzche's Will of Power, all the ingredients are there to win a war. Then, any music which doesn't follow Wagner precepts and that of Beethoven and other producers of 'good German music' was classified as 'entarte'--degenerate. As a Jew and a degenerate, Schoenberg fled to California where he lived with Stravinski. Hindemith follows the same exile and Bela Bartok from Hungary too. Many musicians, among the less talented, were honored by the regime. Much of the music created during the NAZI era was frantic and pompous music. There were also musicians of talent. Perhaps the most prominant was Karl Orff whose 'Catmina Burana' is still celebrated everywhere in the world. Wilhem Furwangler, head of the Berlin Philharmonic, continued to present Beethoven symphonies to the Nazi intelligentsia. Richard Strauss, who lived through the NAZI and World War II period, kept on working and creating beautiful music. He composed "Vier letzte Lieder" ("Four Last Songs") after the War when he was well in his 80s. Some experts see this as some of his most beautiful music he made. But Strauss and others were educated and trained before the NAZIs seized power. What of the Germans educated duing the NAZI era and the post-War era? How many world famous composers emerged from Germany. The NAZI attack on creativity has never been fully assessed. We also wonder what the impact of the Hitler Youth was which made it difficult for children to devote time to music? Or what the impact was of terminating the role that many talented Jewish music instructors was? Jews were a very small part of the German population, but they were a much greater part of the music world. Before the NAZI era, many German children were taught to play musical instruments by talented, dedicated Jewish music instructors. Usually accounts of the Holocaust understandably focus on the horendous impact on the Jews. We have not seen any careful study of the impact of the Holocaust on Germany.

Post-War Era (1945- )

The most notable impact of the NAZIs in the field of music was that Germany after the War no longer dominated the world of music. Music actually never stopped in Germany. The "Prague Symphony Orchestra" that consisted nearly exclusively of Sudeten German musicians. The Czechs deported them after the War. They regrouped in Bamberg, Bavaria, and became famous as "Die Bamberger Symphoniker". We do not mean to say that Germany was no longer important, it is to say that Germany no longer dominated the world of music as it did before the War. A reader writes, "It is true that many non-German composers became more prominent in the concert halls of the world in the 20th century. Artists like Debussy, Grieg, Bartok and the Russians wanted to get away from German musical dominance." Anotger reader writes, "I believe I myself am very musical, although I don't play any instruments. I have been president of the Redwood Empire Sänger Chor in Petaluma for 7 years. We sing mostly German Volkslieder. Some of the melodies are beautiful, because they are composed by famous composers like Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schubert, etc. We perform several concert per year, sometimes as a guest choir." Notably our reader focuses on German music before and not after the NAZIs. (This same trend in Germany can be seen in other areas, especially science.) Nature abhors a vacuum. Those Many composers and artists who fled the NAZIs came to the United States. Their impact was much the same as the physicists who worked on the Manhattan Project and created the atomic bomb. They performed and gave lessons in universities and opened the mind of a lot of students. For example, Stravinsky exerted a real influence on American composers like Aaron Copland or Leonard Bernstein or foreigners living in the United States like Edgar Varèse Even if Schoenberg remained relatively unknown, his influence is clearly visible in what we call Minimalism . Some well-known composer like John Cage, Steve Seich Morton Feldman or Philip Glass were significantly influenced. This was not only the case in classical music. Influences can be noted in Folk-Rock music like in 'Echoes' by the Pink Floyd. A new generation of composers emerged in Germany after the War such as Karheinz Stochausen and many others in electro-acoustic music. But what is very fascinating is the fact that at this moment, music is becoming an international movement where a lot of musicians coming from a lot of countries are working together. Conferences and concerts present musical works simultaneously in Italy, France, Germany and many more. We are far from this impoverishment of Arts during the Third Reich. where there was no freedom of expression, there was no creativity. This was also true of the Soviet Union, although the Soviets trained large numbers of technically competent musicians. (The same was true in dance.) We believe that fewe boys studied music during the NZI era. We are less sure about trends in East and West Germany zfter the War.

Created: 4:42 AM 8/18/2010
Last updated: 4:00 AM 7/19/2012