Synopses & Reviews
Concert halls all over the world feature mostly the works of German and Austrian composers as their standard repertoire: composers like the three "Bs" of classical music, Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, all of whom are German. Over the past three centuries, many supporters of German music have even nurtured the notion that the German-speaking world possesses a peculiar strength in the cultivation of music.
This book brings together seventeen contributors from the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, history, and German literature to explore these questions: how music came to be associated with German identity, when and how Germans came to be regarded as the "people of music," and how music came to be designated "the most German of arts." Unlike previous volumes on this topic, many of which focused primarily on Wagner and Nazism, the essays here are wide-ranging and comprehensive, examining philosophy, literature, politics, and social currents as well as the creation and performance of folk music, art music, church music, jazz, rock, and pop.
The result is a striking volume, adeptly addressing the complexity and variety of ways in which music insinuated itself into the German national imagination and how it has continued to play a central role in the shaping of a German identity.
Contributors to this volume:
Celia Applegate
Doris L. Bergen
Philip Bohlman
Joy Haslam Calico
Bruce Campbell
John Daverio
Thomas S. Grey
Jost Hermand
Michael H. Kater
Gesa Kordes
Edward Larkey
Bruno Nettl
Uta G. Poiger
Pamela Potter
Albrecht Riethmanduuml;ller
Bernd Sponheuer
Hans Rudolf Vaget
Synopsis
ContentsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsGermans as the "People of Music": Genealogy of an IdentityCelia Applegate and Pamela PotterReconstructing Ideal Types of the "German" in MusicBernd SponheuerEinheit--Freiheit--Vaterland: Intimations of Utopia in Robert Schumann's Late Choral MusicJohn DaverioWagner's Die Meistersinger as National Opera (1868-1945)Thomas S. GreyLandscape--Region--Nation--Reich: German Folk Song in the Nexus of National IdentityPhilip V. BohlmanKein schvner Land: The Spielschar Ekkehard and the Struggle to Define German National Identity in the Weimar RepublicBruce CampbellHosanna or "Hilf, O Herr Uns": National Identity, the German Christian Movement, and the "Dejudaization" of Sacred Music in the Third ReichDoris L. BergenNational and Universal: Thomas Mann and the Paradox of "German" MusicHans Rudolf VagetCulture, Society, and Politics in the Cosmos of "Hans Pfitzner the German"Michael H. Kater"F r eine neue deutsche Nationaloper": Opera in the Discourses of Unification and Legitimation in the German Democratic RepublicJoy Haslam CalicoDarmstadt, Postwar Experimentation, and the West German Search for a New Musical IdentityGesa KordesAmerican Jazz in the German Cold WarUta G. PoigerPostwar German Popular Music: Americanization, the Cold War, and the Post-Nazi HeimatEdward LarkeyOn the History of the "Deutschlandlied"Jost HermandEthnicity and Musical Identity in the Czech Lands: A Group of VignettesBruno Nettl"Is That Not Something for Simplissimus?!" The Belief in Musical SuperiorityAlbrecht Riethm llerList of ContributorsIndex
Synopsis
Is it merely a coincidence that the three "Bs" of classical musicand#8212;Bach, Beethoven, Brahmsand#8212;are all German composers? Why do concert halls all over the world feature mostly the works of German and Austrian composers as their standard repertoire? Over the past three centuries, supporters of German music ranging from music scholars to politicians have nurtured the notion that the German-speaking world possesses a peculiar strength in the cultivation of music.
This book explores the questions of how music came to be associated with German identity, when and how Germans came to be regarded as the "people of music," and how music came to be designated as "the most German art." Drawing on the expertise of leading scholars in German history, musicology, and German literature, the essays assembled here examine philosophy, literature, politics, and social currents, as well as the creation and performance of folk music, art music, church music, jazz, and pop to explore the ways in which music has continued to play a central role in the German national imagination and in shaping German identity.
About the Author
Celia Applegate is an associate professor of history at the University of Rochester. She is the author of
A Nation of Provincials: The German Idea of Heimat.
Pamela Potter is an associate professor in the musicology and German departments at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is the author of Most German of the Arts: Musicology and Society from the Weimar Republic to the End of Hitler's Reich.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Germans as the "People of Music": Genealogy of an Identity
Celia Applegate and Pamela Potter
Reconstructing Ideal Types of the "German" in Music
Bernd Sponheuer
Einheitand#8212;Freiheitand#8212;Vaterland: Intimations of Utopia in Robert Schumann's Late Choral Music
John Daverio
Wagner's Die Meistersinger as National Opera (18681945)
Thomas S. Grey
Landscapeand#8212;Regionand#8212;Nationand#8212;Reich: German Folk Song in the Nexus of National Identity
Philip V. Bohlman
Kein schandouml;ner Land: The Spielschar Ekkehard and the Struggle to Define German National Identity in the Weimar Republic
Bruce Campbell
Hosanna or "Hilf, O Herr Uns": National Identity, the German Christian Movement, and the "Dejudaization" of Sacred Music in the Third Reich
Doris L. Bergen
National and Universal: Thomas Mann and the Paradox of "German" Music
Hans Rudolf Vaget
Culture, Society, and Politics in the Cosmos of "Hans Pfitzner the German"
Michael H. Kater
"Fanduuml;r eine neue deutsche Nationaloper": Opera in the Discourses of Unification and Legitimation in the German Democratic Republic
Joy Haslam Calico
Darmstadt, Postwar Experimentation, and the West German Search for a New Musical Identity
Gesa Kordes
American Jazz in the German Cold War
Uta G. Poiger
Postwar German Popular Music: Americanization, the Cold War, and the Post-Nazi Heimat
Edward Larkey
On the History of the "Deutschlandlied"
Jost Hermand
Ethnicity and Musical Identity in the Czech Lands: A Group of Vignettes
Bruno Nettl
"Is That Not Something for Simplissimus?!" The Belief in Musical Superiority
Albrecht Riethmanduuml;ller
List of Contributors
Index