Reichsmusiktage

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The Reichsmusiktage took place in Düsseldorf from May 22 to 29, 1938 . They were an event of Nazi propaganda and were under the patronage of Joseph Goebbels . Goebbels originally planned to hold the Reichsmusiktage every year. These were carried out again in May 1939, but ceased after the start of the Second World War .

background

In the ideology of the National Socialists , a distinction was made between German and national art on the one hand and “ cultural Bolshevik ” and “ degenerate art ” on the other. Content-related and stylistic arguments were more and more replaced by racist statements. The National Socialists tried to promote the synchronization of art through special events and festivals and to bring it closer to the population as the "German". This also included the Reichsmusiktage, which opened in Düsseldorf on May 22, 1938, the 125th birthday of Richard Wagner . They were under the patronage of Joseph Goebbels , who described them as an event for “policy-making in music and setting the course”. The event lasted from March 22-29. May and was organized by Heinz Drewes , the head of the music department in the Propaganda Ministry .

Exhibition on "Degenerate Music"

Exhibition brochure (1938)
Düsseldorf Art Palace (picture from 1902)

As part of the Reichsmusiktage, an exhibition in the Kunstpalast am Ehrenhof in Düsseldorf was opened on May 24, 1938 , under the name “ Degenerate Music ”, which followed on from the “ Degenerate Art ” exhibition that had previously taken place in Munich in 1937 . The main person responsible for the “Degenerate Music” exhibition was Hans Severus Ziegler , one of the earliest supporters of Adolf Hitler and since 1935 general manager of the Weimar National Theater .

In this exhibition, music was publicly denounced that did not fit into the Nazi worldview, especially the works of Jewish artists. As before in Munich, deterrent examples of “degenerate music” were presented at this exhibition in Düsseldorf. In over 50 showcases one saw books, scores and stage sets as well as photos and disparaging caricatures. In addition, excerpts from records of the denounced works could be listened to at the push of a button.

In addition to musicians, musicologists, music directors, music critics, music educators and conductors were denounced in the exhibition and their works and writings were described as "degenerate". Both “non-Aryan” personalities such as Alban Berg , Arnold Schönberg or Kurt Weill and “Aryan” musicians such as Paul Hindemith , who was married to a Jew, and Igor Stravinsky from Russia were ostracized.

The exhibition was on view in Düsseldorf until June 14, 1938 and was then shown in Weimar, Munich and Vienna. There was no accompanying catalog, only the opening speech by Hans Severus Ziegler printed as a brochure in the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast. A caricature black jazz saxophonist was featured on the cover of this brochure. On the one hand, what was provocative was the deliberately exaggerated face, in contrast to the musician's clothes, tailcoat and top hat, and on the other hand the red Star of David , which was emblazoned in the buttonhole instead of a carnation. The National Socialists chose this fictional figure as the symbol of the exhibition and of the entire Reichsmusiktage in 1938 as the epitome of degeneration. The caricature is reminiscent of the black musician Jonny, the title character from Ernst Krenek's opera Jonny , against which NSDAP members had protested before 1933.

Side events

In addition to this exhibition, the highlight of the Reichsmusiktage also included a “cultural-political rally”. In addition to a speech by Reich Propaganda Minister Goebbels and a speech by Gauleiter Friedrich Karl Florian , Richard Strauss himself conducted his “Festive Prelude Op. 61 ”, a work for orchestra and organ from 1913, which he rearranged especially for this occasion. In addition, so-called square concerts , musicological symposia and symposia of composers and music educators were held in various places throughout Düsseldorf , where the embodiment and representation of “German” in music culture was discussed. A total of three operas were also premiered.

Actually Goebbels had planned the Reichsmusiktage as a fixed, annual institution, but after a repetition in May 1939 it was no longer held because of the Second World War.

Reactions at home and abroad

The 1938 Reichsmusiktage was not perceived as a significant event in Germany or in the foreign press. In contrast to the previous art exhibition in Munich in 1937, both the “Degenerate Music” exhibition and the Reichsmusiktage as a whole were a failure for many followers of the National Socialist cultural scene. Since mostly artists who had already emigrated abroad were convicted, the entire event could not lead directly to confiscations or bans. The propaganda evaluation of the exhibition was also limited at the time, and the reactions from home and abroad were rather modest and reserved. While some newspapers at least expressed their astonishment about why such well-known composers as Hindemith and Stravinsky were classified as “degenerate”, the reactions from abroad remained strangely cautious. The US magazine "Musical America" ​​limited itself to a list of the works and composers classified as "degenerate". The Times of London even seemed to show a little understanding for this action in the spirit of the appeasement policy of the time . The regime- loyal conductor Peter Raabe , then President of the Reichsmusikkammer , demonstratively stayed away from the opening ceremonies of the Reichsmusiktage in 1938. However, such negative reactions were kept from the public by the National Socialist censorship of the press and radio.

literature

  • Albrecht Dümling and Peter Girth: Degenerate Music. Documentation and commentary. Düsseldorf 1988.
  • Fred K. Prieberg: Music in the Nazi State. Frankfurt am Main 1982.
  • Albrecht Dümling (Ed.): The suspicious saxophone. Degenerate music in the Nazi state. Documentation and commentary. ConBrio, Regensburg 2015. ISBN 978-3-940768-52-0

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 2255.