The News from Paris

Extract

During the four years of servitude under German occupation, French musicians had to fight with unflinching determination to prevent their music from becoming submerged by Nazi influence. The Nazis pounced on Radio Paris at the very beginning of their occupation and used the Station for their own artistic propaganda. At that time, this Post had the best symphony orchestra in France and the artists engaged were in the first rank. The Nazis brought their own music and artists from Germany to Paris. Dr. Piersig, who was Goebbels' counterpart in the realm of music, propagated the superiority of German music. He pointed out that the beauty and influence of French music were on the decline as was the power of the State. The Nazis took complete control of the two opera houses in Paris and decided which operas should be performed. In actual fact, French artists had to perform a new German opera and ballet five times a year. In 1942 the Nazis presented Pfitzner's ‘Palestrina,’ an elaborate work in four acts. Werner Egk, one of the younger Germans, presented another opera, ‘Peer Gynt,’ based on Ibsen. It was translated into French and played by French artists. Both at the Paris Opéra and the Opéra-Comique a high proportion of the seats was reserved for German officers and their wives.