Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits

Rating:
Summary: Questions? some fascinating data on neglected composers
Review: I don't think knowing whether a composer or an artist had deep affiliations with the Nazi regime or the Italian Fascist Party has done anything to clarify what this means today concerning the issues of race and culture,it is fairly inconsequential. Knowing all these deep,dark secrets hasn't hurt in any way the successes of Richard Wagner or Richard Strauss,or Martin Heidegger for that matter. Since the time of the War all have had glorious posthumous careers with entire cadres of devoted writers,scholars,conductors and musicians surveying and performing their work. The Wagner Ring is continuously done,so are Strauss Operas,and there are countless books on Heidegger.

So what are the issues? it seems to be idle curiosity for historical fact without explanation(as fascinating as that seems to be), but what Kater does furnish here is actually interesting profiles and historical data on some composers long neglected. The marvelously powerful "Symphonies" of Karl Amadeus Hartmann for one, to this day remain in a state of neglect,and the chapter here is the only material on his life you will find in English. There is another picture-filled book with Henze,Hartmann and Hindemith published in a series. In focusing on composers lives during the political times of the Nazi era is like looking at history wrongfully from the inside out,with a focus on an individual's life nuances without the larger perspective that created how he/she must act. Artists and composers for the most part only care about their careers and recognition, where is the next performance of their?, and as Kater frequently identifies,he reveals the dirty dealing with Nazi party hacks in order to obtain performances.

Much of the material is fairly redundant as the chapter on Richard Struass or the chapter on Kurt Weill,being Jewish we know he had no chance for successes in an Anti-Semitic country growing more racist by the day, from 1933 forward.

I think there is a danger in reviewing history from this narrow perspective of the individual,especially artists(composers) who are hardly ever power brokers within the state of culture.Frequently the ones that are jettisoned to the top have little artistic genius. First it erases the sense of historical context and the inherent danger of the times. This issue has been well discussed and documented with the "collaborationist" theories during the Nazi Era,yet I doubt if it has been answered with any degree of vigor, and we frequently overlook the fact that the situation in war times is never a "us against them"one's enemies are only revealed after the fact,there are gradations of affiliation between individuals when speaking of betrayel,corruption and greed.

It still remains an open question for us who sit here in a retrospective position, that given a situation of politically dangerous times,not necessarily times of War,which is obvious, but would we have collaborated with a Nazi party hack,when our survival,or demise was a phone call away? That will always be a question we can never answer,but Kater's book certainly makes this question all the more a reality,especially when the focus is on another's creative life.

Rating:
Summary: Questions? some fascinating data on neglected composers
Review: I don't think knowing whether a composer or an artist had deep affiliations with the Nazi regime or the Italian Fascist Party has done anything to clarify what this means today concerning the issues of race and culture,it is fairly inconsequential. Knowing all these deep,dark secrets hasn't hurt in any way the successes of Richard Wagner or Richard Strauss,or Martin Heidegger for that matter. Since the time of the War all have had glorious posthumous careers with entire cadres of devoted writers,scholars,conductors and musicians surveying and performing their work. The Wagner Ring is continuously done,so are Strauss Operas,and there are countless books on Heidegger.

So what are the issues? it seems to be idle curiosity for historical fact without explanation(as fascinating as that seems to be), but what Kater does furnish here is actually interesting profiles and historical data on some composers long neglected. The marvelously powerful "Symphonies" of Karl Amadeus Hartmann for one, to this day remain in a state of neglect,and the chapter here is the only material on his life you will find in English. There is another picture-filled book with Henze,Hartmann and Hindemith published in a series. In focusing on composers lives during the political times of the Nazi era is like looking at history wrongfully from the inside out,with a focus on an individual's life nuances without the larger perspective that created how he/she must act. Artists and composers for the most part only care about their careers and recognition, where is the next performance of their?, and as Kater frequently identifies,he reveals the dirty dealing with Nazi party hacks in order to obtain performances.

Much of the material is fairly redundant as the chapter on Richard Struass or the chapter on Kurt Weill,being Jewish we know he had no chance for successes in an Anti-Semitic country growing more racist by the day, from 1933 forward.

I think there is a danger in reviewing history from this narrow perspective of the individual,especially artists(composers) who are hardly ever power brokers within the state of culture.Frequently the ones that are jettisoned to the top have little artistic genius. First it erases the sense of historical context and the inherent danger of the times. This issue has been well discussed and documented with the "collaborationist" theories during the Nazi Era,yet I doubt if it has been answered with any degree of vigor, and we frequently overlook the fact that the situation in war times is never a "us against them"one's enemies are only revealed after the fact,there are gradations of affiliation between individuals when speaking of betrayel,corruption and greed.

It still remains an open question for us who sit here in a retrospective position, that given a situation of politically dangerous times,not necessarily times of War,which is obvious, but would we have collaborated with a Nazi party hack,when our survival,or demise was a phone call away? That will always be a question we can never answer,but Kater's book certainly makes this question all the more a reality,especially when the focus is on another's creative life.