Degenerate music 1
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Transcript of Degenerate music 1
‘Degenerate music’
(Entartete Musik) was a
term used during the
Third Reich to condemn
composers who were
considered a threat to the
integrity of an ideal
German life.
Shortly after the opening of
the exhibition "Entartete
Kunst" (Degenerate Art), the
Nazis put on another:
"Entartete Musik" (Degenerate
Music) which was staged in
Düsseldorf in 1938. It exhibited
all of the composers the regime
considered 'degenerate' and
therefore worth denouncing.
In the opening speech for the
exhibition, the Cultural Minister,
Adolf Ziegler explained that the
decay of music was "due to the
influence of Judaism and
capitalism".
It is clear that the condemnations
were not artistic or musical, but
based solely on Nazi laws of
racial origin.
Adolf Ziegler
Nearly all of the
musicians affected by
this censorship were
either deported or
killed. This made a
huge impact on
European musical life.
Hanns Eisler (1898–1962)
- Son of Jewish parents - Involved in Marxist groups all of
his life and later became a memberof the Communist Party
- Student of Arnold Schoenberg, thefather of 'modern' music
- Friends with the politicallyradical Bertold Brecht
- Exiled when the Nazis came intopower and was forced to move to
America.
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
- Complicated relationship with theNazi regime
- Russian-born with a Jewishbackground
- Ziegler included his music as part ofthe 1938 Entartete Musik exhibition - Despite this, his music achieved a
relatively secured position in thecultural life of the Third Reich, beingmore tonal than most other 'modern'
composers
Erich Korngold (1897-1957)
- Born in Austria; Jewish - Lots of Jewish friends and
colleagues - His music was deemed too modern
and jazzy for the Nazis- He moved to Hollywood to escape the
Third Reich's persecution of Jews- While working in the US, the Nazis
seized his Austrian home and he neverreturned there again