Chapter 28 - Nazi Germany

Summary

This chapter charts the ways in which the Nazi regime sought to reshape the musical environment in Germany in response to the turbulent political and economic situation in the early 1930s when unemployment amongst musicians was at an all time high and the future of various hallowed institutions such as the Berlin Philharmonic was very much in doubt. The Nazi promise to devise an administrative framework of guilds designed to regulate the activities of musicians deemed acceptable to the regime initially attracted support from politically unaffiliated leading musicians such as Richard Strauss, who seized the opportunity to promote long-cherished ideas that would enhance the performing rights and firm up copyright laws for composers. For its part, the Nazi regime scored a huge propaganda coup in persuading Strauss to become the first President of the Reichsmusikkammer in November 1933. But the relationship between composer and the authorities soon foundered after Strauss refused to subsume his creative autonomy to the current political demands that outlawed creative collaboration with Jews.