Nazism, Musical Modernism, and the German Concert Hall, 1933–45

As scholars have long since understood, Nazism’s relationship to musical modernism was considerably more complex than an earlier generation of historians – who stressed its fundamentally anti-modernist predilections – believed. There were many within the regime who were more open to modernism and its possibilities. Conversely, not all modernist composers fled or were immediately forced into exile: many, such as Paul Hindemith, sought accommodation with the regime. However, the implications of this for programming choices, concert-going experiences and for listening habits remain poorly understood. Who and what determined what was programmed in symphony concerts in provincial German towns, and how was that music consumed? Drawing on research conducted on over twenty German orchestras, ranging from prestige bands such as the Munich Philharmonic to small town theatre orchestras operating on the professional/amateur border, this paper seeks to explore the presence of modernism in Nazi Germany as it was experienced in everyday musical life. It also, however, registers the impossibility of separating listening experiences from the wider material context of the concert, noting the presence of modernist performing environments and, through consideration of concert paraphernalia such as programmes and posters, the construction of a self-consciously modern musical idiom through graphic design and material culture.