Music has long been held in limbo regarding the issue of control versus free speech. This has been a problem since the earliest governments engaged in controlling what was "appropriate" for the public.
For instance, the Catholic church held a council in Trent spanning the years from 1545 to 1563. They convened and discussed the censorship of various arts and literature. Among some of the musical aspects they censored, they declared tritones illegal. Known as the "devil in music," tritones are diminished fifths or augmented fourths. It has been deemed "dangerous" since Guido of Arezzo developed his series of hexachords. In the Baroque and Classical eras, it became acceptable to engage the tritone in common practice. However, the tritone's appearances in music were strictly controlled with tight rules and circumstances.
In World War Two, Hilter's rule over Nazi Germany resulted in intense musical censorship. According to this teacher's guide website, the Nazi policy regarding music and musicians included these three points:
1. Loyal Nazi members who were talented musicians were guaranteed a job.
2. Loyal Nazi members who were not talented musicians were not guaranteed a job.
3. Any non-Jewish person who demonstrated a "genius" for music and was a member of the Reichsmusikkammer (Reich Music Chamber) was permitted employment. This exception in policy permitted musicians like conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler and composer Richard Strauss to continue working.
Hitler highly approved of Beethoven and Wagner. Hilter believed that both he and Beethoven had the "heroic German sprit." His approval of Wagner might have wholly rested on his severe hatred of the Jewish people. Wagner wrote an antisemitic bookcalled Das Judebthum in die Musik (Judaism in Music) insisting the Jews "poisoned public taste in the arts." Other Nazi-approved composers included: Bruckner, Strauss, Standelmann, and Hotter, among others.
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I've always liked learning about the WWII era, and I didn't realize until now how much I didn't know about the music/musicians that were considered permissable at that time. Thanks for all the insightful information! I'll never think of Wagner's music that same way..
ReplyDeleteI think this is really interesting, I had no idea about Hitler's particular interest in the music of Beethoven and Wagner. I think it really goes against the preconceptions we have had about Hitler. This is a really interesting blog I enjoyed reading it. :)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE learning about Nazi Germany and the time period surrounding WWII. I think that it's so interesting that Jews who were considered almost untouchable were guaranteed a job if they had musical talent. Hitler was apparently very cultured and well versed in music. He had good taste it seems even though he mostly liked Wagner because of his anti-Jewish music. I really enjoyed reading this Erin, thanks for sharing! Wonder what he would have thought of Schubert who wrote EXTENSIVE amounts of lieder...
ReplyDeleteI never knew that fact about tritones. It's amazing what used to be attributed to the devil, like moles and herbs. I had heard that Hitler was a Wagner and Beethoven fan. Their music would be played at the concentration camps while people were murdered in order to drown out the screams. My mother grew up next door to a couple that survived Auschwitz, and they couldn't stand to hear classical music. It literally made them sick
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting to learn a good deal about Wagner's fanatical anti-semitism this past semester in 20th Century music. It's sad that tritones were once considered demonic, since they're so beautiful (my own compositions are littered with them). Indeed, even more interesting than learning of Wagner's racism was that Strauss was able to help some of his Jewish family members because of his position within the Reich. Quite an interesting time in history, and music history, indeed.
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