Musicology Under Hitler

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Musicology Under Hitler: New Sources in Context

By PAMELA M. POTTER

N 1982, THE MUSIC DEPARTMENTS of Duke University and the University of North Carolina jointly sponsored a conference on

Mendelssohn and Schumann and invited the German scholar Wolf- gang Boetticher to participate. Two months before the event, after a New York Times article by Anthony Lewis nationally exposed Boet- ticher's collaboration in the Third Reich-membership in the Nazi party, staff appointment under Alfred Rosenberg, and anti-Semitic distortions about Mendelssohn in his 1941 dissertation-Boetticher promptly withdrew from the conference.' Shortly thereafter, Chris- toph Wolff issued a pointed wake-up call to the German scholarly community, reminding colleagues that evidence about the political

Portions of this paper were presented at the Fifty-seventh Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Chicago, November I991, and at the Sixteenth Annual Conference of the German Studies Association, Minneapolis, 1992. Support for the research and writing was provided by the Social Science Research Council (Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies), the John F. Enders Research Assistance Grant (Yale University), and the Hewlett Summer International Fellowship (University of Illinois). Special thanks go to Nicholas Temperley for his valuable suggestions for revisions, as well as to Bryan Gilliam, Herbert Kellman, Pamela Starr, and Isabelle Belance-Zank for their careful reading and comments.

The following abbreviations for archival sources will be used throughout:

BDC Berlin Document Center (followed by the name of the individual whose files were consulted and the source of the file, when known)

BA Bundesarchiv Koblenz (followed by the catalogued number of the file, e.g., NS 15/24)

UAB Universititsarchiv Berlin (followed by PA for Personalakte [personnel file] and name of individual)

Sandberger Papers Adolf Sandberger Papers, Ana 431, Handschriften- und Inkunabelabteilung, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich

Moser Papers Hans Joachim Moser Papers, N. Mus. Nachl. 31, Musik- abteilung, Staatsbibliothek PreuBischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

'Anthony Lewis, "Facing the Music," New York Times, 18 February 1982, A23.

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER 71

activities of Boetticher and other musicologists had already surfaced two decades earlier and questioning their failure to deal with this information beforehand.2

Judging from the ominous silence surrounding the period in standard bibliographical literature and other scholarly writings,3 postwar musicology apparently opted to excise this controversial chapter from the history of the discipline, rather than to confront head-on the implications of their distinguished colleagues' and teach- ers' relationships to a barbarous political regime.4 The discovery of the Holocaust had left the world in a state of shock, failing to comprehend how a society so long respected for its arts, letters, and sciences could be capable of such crimes against humanity, and the process of denazification set a precedent for quickly ascertaining the guilt or innocence of individuals in order to proceed with the rebuilding of occupied Germany. The few studies of music and musicology in Nazi Germany to date have similarly sought primarily to hand down verdicts on the degree of culpability of selected musicians and scholars,5 but the oversimplifications established by the

' Christoph Wolff, "Die Hand eines Handlangers. 'Musikwissenschaft' im Dritten Reich," Frankfurter Rundschau 168, 24 July 1982, "Zeit und Bild" (weekend supplement), 2. The article was reprinted in Entartete Musik. Zur Diisseldorfer Ausstellung von 1938: Eine kommentierte Rekonstruktion, ed. Albrecht Diimling and Peter Girth (Diisseldorf, 1988), 93-94.

3 Biographical entries on musicologists active in the Third Reich in both The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 6th ed., and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Ist ed., notably omitted numerous titles published between 1933 and 1945 in the works lists. Cultural and intellectual historians generally avoided dealing with music and music scholarship, despite-or perhaps because of-the centrality of music in German culture and society.

4 In the course of conducting research in Germany on musicology in the Third Reich, I interviewed at least one prominent musicologist who adamantly adhered to the position that the entire episode was better left alone, and I encountered similar attitudes among some archivists. I later learned that a younger generation of German musicologists who had attempted to embark on projects such as mine believed their efforts to be hindered by the musicology establishment in Germany. They held the position that only an outsider such as myself could successfully investigate this topic.

s Since the end of the war, most investigations of the music world under Hitler have focused on determining the guilt or innocence of prominent personalities, especially Richard Strauss, Wilhelm FurtwAngler, and Herbert von Karajan. For a survey of the literature appearing from 1949 to 1987 on Strauss's relationship to the Nazi government and the debates over his degree of guilt, see Pamela M. Potter, "Strauss and the National Socialists: The Debate and Its Relevance," in Richard Strauss: New Perspectives on the Composer and His Work, ed. Bryan Gilliam (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1992), 93-113. Broader attempts to consider musical life essentially cast the net wider, gathering a preponderance of evidence to use against

72 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

denazification process failed to encourage an understanding of the complexities in any given society and further contributed to the silence.6

Without attempting to incriminate or exonerate individual musicologists, this essay examines the social, economic, and intellectual climate that enabled and encouraged scholars to use their expertise to further the ideological aims of the Nazi regime. The creation of new cultural outlets by the Nazi government and party offered opportunities for musicologists to prosper outside the academy and to exploit Germany's famed musical legacy for the purposes of highly developed propaganda campaigns. This essay seeks to undertake a more fully contextual study of the entire complex of musicology in the Third Reich in an effort to restore this neglected chapter to the history of the discipline. Countering the tacit assumptions that "Nazi musicology"7

other suspected wrongdoers. The most thoroughly researched monograph on music in Nazi Germany is Fred K. Prieberg, Musik im NS-Staat (Frankfurt: Fischer, 1983), which uses this as its underlying premise.

The few published confrontations with musicology tend to follow this model. Albrecht Diimling, responding to a criticism by Hans Joachim Moser's son, focused on bits of evidence, some of them questionable in relevance and accuracy, to be used against both Moser and Boetticher. His enumeration of Moser's transgressions included many instances of guilt by association: his publications in "non-neutral" periodicals such as Das innere Reich, Die Zeitwende, and Volkstum udnd Rasse; citations of his works in publications on music and race; and involvement in rewriting operettas by removing the stories from their Polish settings, thereby "falsifying history" and "excluding Poland from the arena of high culture." Diimling also misleadingly designated Boetticher as the "director" since 1939 of the music division of Alfred Rosenberg's bureau for ideological supervision of the Nazi party. Boetticher was named "Stellenleiter" in 1939 at the age of twenty-five, but documentary evidence clearly shows that he received all of his orders from Herbert Gerigk, the actual head of the division. Albrecht Diimling, "Wie schuldig sind die Musikwissenschaftler: Zur Rolle von Wolfgang Boetticher und Hans-Joachim Moser im NS-Musikleben," Neue Musikzeitung 39, no. 5 (October-November 1990): 9. ' The shortcomings of denazification have been acknowledged for some time; see chapters 3 through 6 in Constantine FitzGibbon, Denazification (London: Michael Joseph, 1969). It has also been argued that such oversimplification and silence actually paved the way for an immediate reemergence of National Socialist sympathy in the 1950S and for the current neo-Nazi movement (see Michael Kater, "Problems of Political Reeducation in West Germany, 1945-1 960," Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual 4 [1987]: Ioi).

7 Michael Meyer elaborated on an ill-conceived notion of "Nazi musicology" in two articles ("Musicology in the Third Reich: A Gap in Historical Studies," European Studies Review 8 [I1978]: 349-64; and "The Nazi Musicologist as Myth-Maker in the Third Reich," Journal of Contemporary History io [1975]: 649-65), basing his arguments on works of journalists and attorneys whom he misidentified as musicologists. He referred to Friedrich Welter as "a musicologist of repute" ("The Nazi Musicol- ogist," 655) and to Walter Abendroth as "the authoritative Nazi musicologist" (ibid., 654). He likewise designated the authors of legal tracts on the Reichsmusikkammer


emerged spontaneously in the first months of 1933, and that this "nazified" discipline, like much of the adult German population, underwent a form of intellectual "denazification" after 1945, evidence suggests that many of the ideas that served the nationalistic and militaristic purposes of the Third Reich predated Hitler's rise to power and have survived in postwar conceptions of the history of Western music.

The Crisis in German Musicology after World War I

Musicology faced a number of challenges in the years leading up to Hitler's seizure of power in 1933. Wartime travel restrictions, a shortage of research funds, and the dissolution of the International Music Society in 1914 curtailed German musicologists' impressive gains in research in European music and hampered international scholarly exchange. Prospects of peacetime prosperity allowed for the establishment of new chairs in musicology throughout the German university system,8 but no one had foreseen the job shortages caused by employable musicologists returning from the front, the hyperinflation of the early 192os, and the depression. Furthermore, the Weimar government's express concern for democratizing the education system spread panic among members of the scholarly community who feared losing their academic freedom.9 Musicologists, faced with all of these issues, declared a state of emergency and started to reconsider more seriously their roles as professional scholars and civil servants in a democratic society.

Concerns about the relevance of musicology to the greater public good had already surfaced around the turn of the century when Hermann Kretzschmar argued that music scholarship needed to serve the public rather than other sciences,"0 and his exhortations would reverberate in debates that continued well into the 1940s." In the

such as Karl Friedrich Schreiber and attorneys Willi Hoffmann and Wilhelm Ritter as "musicologists" (ibid., 657-58; "Musicology in the Third Reich," 356).

8 Eight German universities appointed full professors in musicology between 1918 and 1932: Halle (1918), Breslau (192o), G6ttingen (1920), Leipzig (192o), Heidelberg (1921), Kiel (1928), Freiburg (1929), and Cologne (1932).

9 Fritz Ringer, The Decline of the German Mandarins: The German Academic Community, 1890-1933 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969), 67-75; and Walter Laqueur, Weimar: A Cultural History, i918-1933 (New York: Putnam, 1974), 188, 22 1-23.

"o Hermann Kretzschmar, Musikalische Zeitfragen (Leipzig: Peters, 1903), 79. " See for example Friedrich Blume, "Musikforschung und Musikpraxis," Festschrift Fritz Stein zum 6o. Geburtstag (Braunschweig: Litolff, 1939), 20-25; and


years following the war, scholars like Johannes Wolf, Hans Joachim Moser, and Arnold Schering found it increasingly difficult to reconcile their research interests with the needs of society and openly criticized the ivory-tower isolationism of their colleagues. Wolf insisted that musicology in the university must always be accessible to practicing musicians, Moser admonished musicology to pay more attention to "burning issues" of the day, and Schering chided musicology for burying itself in the past and losing contact with modern composition.'2 Others, like Theodor Kroyer, outraged that anyone should feel pressured to justify scholarly activities, insisted that even if musicological work might appear "incomprehensible and useless for the people's community [Volksgemeinschaft]," the power and pervasiveness of music justified even the most minute details of musicological scholarship: "We too work for the state and the Volk!"'3

In response to these growing concerns, a significant number of musicologists set out to demonstrate an interest in musical life, and "service to the Volksgemeinschaft" became a popular slogan.'4 Scholars voiced their opinions on music education, music policy, Hausmusik,

Wilhelm Ehmann, "Das Musikleben an den deutschen Universititen," in Musik im Volk: Gegenwartsfragen der deutschen Musik, ed. Wolfgang Stumme, 2d ed. (Berlin: Vieweg, 1944), I54-61. Both works cite Kretzschmar and address his concerns directly.

'2Johannes Wolf, "Musikwissenschaft und musikwissenschaftlicher Unterricht," Allgemeine Musikzeitung 45 (1919): 552; Hans Joachim Moser, "Die diussere und innere Krisis in der Musikgeschichte," Die Hochschule 4 (1920): 42-46; Arnold Schering, "Musikwissenschaft und Kunst der Gegenwart," Bericht iiber den I. Musik- wissenschaftlichen Kongress der Deutschen Musikgesellschaft in Leipzig (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hiirtel, 1926), 13.

'3 "Es mag dem Fernstehenden scheinen, als ob mit unserer Feier eine unzeitge- mai3e, wirklichkeitsfremde Sache angepriesen wiirde-etwas fiir Feinschmecker, fiir Intellektualisten, fiir Alexandriner, die, in profunden Kleinkram verbohrt, in sich selber uneins und fiir die Volksgemeinschaft unverstindlich und zwecklos, einem Gaukelbild nachjagten.... Haben nicht auch die Kiinste trotz alledem immer noch ihren Kredit? Und gar erst die Musik-ist sie uns nicht eben jetzt eine Lebensnot- wendigkeit, weil sie uns alle angeht, ob wir wollen oder nicht, weil auch sie zur Diitetik der Seele geh6rt, eine Macht ist, die uns beherrscht-uns zum Heil oder auch zum Fluch! Und um dieser Gefahr willen-einer Gefahr von geradezu antikem Ausma3-ist die Wissenschaft der Musik kein leerer Wahn.... Das ist der Sinn unserer Feier... daB auch die Musikwissenschaft an der groBen, allen Universitdits- wissenschaften obliegenden gemeinsamen Aufgabe teilhat, die Menschheit aus der gegenwdirtigen Zersplitterung zu einem einheitlichen, ganzen Leben zu erziehen. Staat und Stadt haben uns diese Staitte der Arbeit gegeben-auch wir arbeiten fiir Staat und Volk!" Theodor Kroyer, "Die Wiedererweckung des historischen Klang- bildes in der musikalischen Denkmdilerpraxis," Mitteilungen der Internationalen Gesell- schaft fiir Musikwissenschaft 2 (1930): 80.

'4 See chapter 2 of Pamela M. Potter, German Musicology and Society from the Weimar Republic to the End of Hitler's Reich (Yale University Press, forthcoming).

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER 75 the youth movement, and other topical issues by contributing articles to a variety of nonscholarly periodicals destined for a general readership.'5s They also tailored their scholarly editions to the needs of the growing amateur performance market.'6 Musico- logical work could also serve to strengthen a flagging sense of national identity following the demoralizing lost war. Wartime isolation, which had cut off German scholars from international travel and foreign resources, had forced the discipline to recognize the importance of previously neglected topics in German music history. The Deutsche Musikgesellschaft (with its organ the Zeitschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft) and the Fiirstliches Institut fiir deutsche Musikforschung zu Biickeburg (with its organ Archiv fiir Musikwissenschaft), all established between 1917 and 1919, reflected a nationalist impulse by encouraging work in German music by German scholars.'7 The results, at least in quantitative terms, show

is In the Weimar and Nazi periods, musicologists contributed generously to such nonscholarly music journals as Deutsche Tonkiinstlerzeitung, Der Auftakt, Die Musik, Allgemeine Musikzeitung, Deutsche Militdr-Musiker Zeitung, Die Musikpflege, Collegium Musicum (later renamed

Zeitschriftfiir Hausmusik), Deutsche Musikkultur, Vilkische Musik- erziehung, Musik in Jugend und Volk, Deutsche Singerbundeszeitung, Musik im Leben, and Melos, as well as numerous nonmusic periodicals (Allgemeiner Rundschau, Deutsches Volkstum, Volk und Welt, Forschungen und Fortschritte, Illustrierte Zeitung, Helhlweg, Nation- alsozialistische Monatshefte, and Osterreichiscxher Rundschau).

'6 The Denkmiiler deutscher Tonkunst made its publications more accessible to an amateur market when, after a five-year shutdown, Prussian administrators and musicologists convened and agreed to revise the format to create "performance- ready" editions of early music. "Mitteilungen," Zeitschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft 7 (1924-25): 252-53. See Pamela M. Potter, "German Musicology and Early Music Performance, 1918-1933," in Music and Performance During the Weimar Republic, ed. Bryan Gilliam, Cambridge Studies in Performance Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, I994), 94-106.

'7 In his proposal to form the Deutsche Musikgesellschaft, Hermann Abert contended that the First World War had not inhibited the growth of musical scholarship but had actually contributed to the awareness that there was much to be done in the area of German music: "ja der Krieg hat uns auch auf diesem Gebiete vor eine ganze Reihe neuer Aufgaben, vor allem nationalen Charakters gestellt und uns daran erinnert, daf3 unser im eigenen Hause noch sehr viel ungetane Arbeit harrt, an der wir friiher zugunsten internationaler Beziehungen und nicht immer zum Vorteil unserer nationaler Musikkultur voriibergegangen sind." "Aufruf zur Grundung der Deutschen Musikgesellschaft," i December [I19 7], Sandberger Papers. This message was carried further in Alfred Einstein's introduction to the first volume of the society's organ, the Zeitschrift fir Musikwissenschaft, in which he states that the new journal could justifiably limit its scope to German music history and the work of German scholars: "Wir k6nnen uns den Luxus dieser Beschrankung erlauben: unsere musikalische Vergangenheit ist so reich an Gegenstinden, so reich an sch6pferischen Helden, daf unsere Kammer sicherlich nicht leer werden sollte.... In der Stoffwahl wird sich das Deutsche wahrscheinlich mehr aussprechen als bisher geschehen ist." Alfred Einstein, "Geleitwort," Zeitschrifi iir Musikwissenschaft i (1918-19): 3. For a


a steady increase in publications on German topics.'8 The generation of students, returning veterans, and recent doc-

torates who had serious doubts about opportunities to pursue an academic career after the First World War saw the current "crisis" in an even harsher light. During the period of hyperinflation, Friedrich Blume asked the University of Leipzig to support his bid for more seniority by confirming that he had intended to finish his doctorate before his induction into military service. Blume added, "You will certainly understand that in the current economic situation one has to strive to recognize any advantages that present themselves, in order at least to retrieve a part of those years lost during the war."'9 Dimin- ishing career opportunities during the depression then forced some younger musicologists to venture beyond the academy into the radio, film, and recording industries,"2 where a doctoral degree in musicology, as they sometimes discovered, proved more of a liability than an asset.21

detailed discussion of the origins of the Deutsche Musikgesellschaft, see Pamela M. Potter, "The Deutsche Musikgesellschaft, I918-1938," Journal of Musicological Re- search Ii (1991): 151-76.

The primary goal of the Fiirstliches Institut was the centralization of archival resources for German music history. Active membership was limited to German scholars, its publications were mainly on German subject matter, and prizes were bestowed upon German citizens for works that contributed to a better understanding of German culture (Max Schneider, "Bericht iiber die erste Vollversammlung," Archiv fir Musikwissenschaft 2 [19 19-20]: 5, 7). Its scholarly journal, Archivfiir Musikwissen- schaft, was even more explicitly devoted to German music research than the Zeitschrift: "Wird die Gesamthaltung des 'Archivs' somit eine gewisse Ahnlichkeit mit den 'Sammelbinden' der durch den Krieg zersplitterten Internationalen Musikgesell- schaft aufweisen, so zeigt es schon durch seine Schriftwahl an, daB es sich im Unterschiede zu jenen an das Deutschtum vornehmlich wenden will." The editors ("Die Schriftleitung"), "Zum Geleit," Archivfiir Musikwissenschaft i (1918-19): 2. For a history of the Biickeburg institute, see Potter, German Musicology and Society.

i8 A survey of the listings of works on music published annually in the Jahrbuch der Musikbibliothek Peters reveals a heightened concentration on German music history, especially in the 193os, and the tables of contents of the recognized scholarly journals yield even more striking statistics. The Archiv fir Musikwissenschaft ran only from 1918 to 1925, but in those years at least half of its articles focused on German music history. Even more noteworthy is the Zeitschriftfiir Musikwissenschaft, in which studies on Germany tended to outnumber all others by at least 50 percent from the 1920-21 volume through the 1932-33 volume.

'9 "Sie werden begreifen, dass man bei der heutigen wirtschaftlichen Lage das Bestreben hat, die Vorteile wahrzunehmen, die sich darbieten, um wenigstens einen Teil der durch den Krieg verlorenen Jahre auszugleichen." Blume to Philosophische Fakultit, 26 April 1923, Universitaitsarchiv Leipzig, Phil. Fak. Promotionsakte 1350.

" Wilhelm Trittenhoff, "Der Student der Musikwissenschaften," Deutsche Tonkiinstler-Zeitung 29 (1931): 107-8. "2 In response to a proposal in the Zeitschriftfir Musikwissenschaft to form a career placement organization for musicologists, Hans Engel cynically remarked that it

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER 77 Those who had returned from the front or had come of age in the

shadow of the war felt generally optimistic about the "revolution" of 1933 and could easily overlook some of the negative aspects of the Nazi party's message. The Nazi government's immediate steps to remove Jews and other "undesirables" from academic posts caused few repercussions, since anti-Semitic policy in university hiring was already so firmly established that these dismissals involved only a small number of Jewish musicologists actually holding university positions." The government's policy of advancing the careers of the next generation (Nachwuchsfdrderung) and the encouragement and sometimes coercion of older scholars to retire offered hope to young musicologists. Moreover, the creation of the Propaganda Ministry and its competitors (the Amt Rosenberg and the German Workers' Front) hinted at the prospect of new jobs beyond the walls of the university for cultural experts. Musicologists themselves responded to these developments with a flurry of suggestions for creating new state- supported, nonacademic jobs for those with musicological training.23

would make more sense to have an organization that would discourage the study of musicology. Kurt Rasch, "Musikwissenschaft und Beruf," Zeitscbrift fir Musikwissen- schaft 15 (1933): 67-69; and Hans Engel, "Miszellen," Zeitschriffifir Musikwissenschaft 15 (1933): 275-

22Pamela M. Potter, "Die Lage der jiidischen Musikwissenschaftler an den Universititen der Weimarer Zeit," in Musik in der Emigration 1933-1945: Vorge- schichte- Vertreibung-Riickwirkung, ed. Horst Weber (Stuttgart: VerlagJ. B. Metzler, 1994), 56-68.

23 In 1935, Siegfried Goslich began a report of the Deutscher Studentenbund with a quote from Hider and declared, "Die Durchdringung unseres gesamten Volksleben mit der nationalsozialistischen Weltanschauung hat in der jungen Generation der Musikwissenschaft das Gefiihl der Verpflichtung zu einer Auseinandersetzung mit den neuen Gegebenheiten wachgerufen" ("the penetration of the entire life of our Volk with National Socialist ideology has awakened the feeling of obligation to come to terms with the new situation in the younger generation of musicologists"); he then suggested new careers in National Socialist organizations and in dramaturgy, journalism, radio, and film (Siegfried Goslich, "Studium und Beruf des jungen Musikwissenschaftlers," Die Musik 27 [19351]: 283, 285). Alfred Morgenroth (Propa- ganda Ministry) responded by citing jobs that his organization could provide for those with musicological training and endorsing a state examination that would create other career opportunities (Richard Petzoldt, "Heutige Berufsziele der Musikwissen- schaftler," Allgemeine Musikzeitung 63 [1935]: 467-68). Karl Gustav Fellerer also suggested several potential careers for musicologists, with the justification that if musicology was to be "bound to the Volk" (volksgebunden), it must apply itself to practical areas and not leave them open to dilettantes. He recommended the creation of the "Musikkonservator" to preserve musical treasures on a regional level; an expansion of teaching opportunities beyond universities in accordance with the new system of music education; jobs in theater (as dramaturg, producer, or director), concert agencies, radio, the recording industry, publishing, and instrument and music sales; and the application of training in systematic fields to radio


Because National Socialist leaders generally mistrusted intellectuals and, to the extent that they did support research, gave priority to science and technology,'4 musicology still had to demonstrate its usefulness to the greater public good and show interest in ideologi- cally and politically relevant subjects.1s As in the 192os, musicologists used nonscholarly media-newspapers, magazines, education periodicals, music trade journals, party publications-to reach a wider audience. They even launched new journals, such as Deutsche Musikkultur and the Hitler-Youth-sponsored Musik in Jugend und Volk, with the express purpose of making musicology accessible to lay persons.26 Their pre-I933 practice of writing short essays for a wide

technology, mechanical music, recording, and instrument building (Karl Gustav Fellerer, "Praktische Musikwissenschaft," Zeitschriff fiir Musik 103 [1936]: 27-31; idem, "Entrumpelung und Musikwissenschaft," Die Musik 30 [1937]: IOO-ioi; and idem, "Historische und systematische Musikwissenschaft," Die Musik 31 [1937]: 340-43)-

24 Edward Yarnell Hartshorne, Jr., The German Universities and National Socialism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937), Io6-25.

2s Shortly after Hitler's assumption of power, Fritz Bose called attention to the racial approach in musicology in a Nazi party organ founded in 1931 and edited by Joseph Goebbels (Fritz Bose, "Das Rassische in der Musik," Unser Wille und Weg 4 [1934]: 10-12).

2 Heinrich Besseler, as head of the Denkmiiler division of the Staatliches Institut fiir deutsche Musikforschung, first proposed what was to become Deutsche Musikkul- tur to fill the need for a periodical "which would forge a connection between scholarship and [everyday] life in National Socialist Germany" ("eine Musikzeitschrift, die im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland die Verbindung von Wissenschaft und Leben herstellt") and would serve as a "musicologically directed, culturally-politically active German music journal," directed to musicologists and music lovers "disappointed with the present low standards of music periodicals" ("Es handelt sich um eine musikwissenschaftlich gefiihrte, kulturpolitisch aktive deutsche Musikzeitschrift, deren Bezieherkreis sich zusammensetzt i) aus den deutschen Fachgenossen, 2) aus den im Beruf stehenden 'praktischen Musikwissenschaftlern' als nattirlichem Bindeglied zwischen Forschung und Leben, 3) aus den vom gegenwirtigen Tiefstand der Musikschriften unbefriedigten Liebhabern"). It was to provide a forum for musicologists to reach out to musicians and amateurs on all questions of the "musical heritage" and to take part in the tasks of the present "in the spirit of scholarly responsibility" ("Die deutsche Musikwissenschaft hat in dieser Zeitschrift vor einem Forum von Musikern und Liebhabern i) alle Fragen zu behandeln, die unser musikalisches Erbe angehen, und 2) an den groBen Aufgaben der Gegenwart- nicht des Tages-im Geist wissenschaftlicher Verantwortung mitzuarbeiten." Form letter from Besseler to various colleagues dated July 1935, Archive of the Staatliches Institut fiir Musikforschung PreuBischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin). Musik in Jugend und Volk, for a time under the editorship of musicologist Gotthold Frotscher, was described as a "music-political journal" which included "racial-musicological studies" and educational writings with the goal of "deepening knowledge as well as practice" ("Rassenkundlich-musikwissenschaftliche Einzelarbeiten und musikerzieherisches Schrifttum dienten der Vertiefung der Erkenntnis wie auch der Praxis." Wolfgang Stumme, "Musik in der Hitler-Jugend," in Musik im Volk, ed. Stumme, 27).


readership revealed the discipline's ability to rationalize current political and ideological developments (such as the importance of racial studies, the definition of German nationality through music, and the preservation of folk culture) and called the attention of the government and the public to the field's potential enrichment of Germany's future.

In a Festschrift honoring Hitler's fiftieth birthday in 1939, Friedrich Blume summarized the most important accomplishments of musicology in the new state, emphasizing its service to the German Volk and its preservation of the German musical heritage:

German musicology has to preserve one of the noblest commodities of German culture. Music has always been one of the liveliest and most characteristic expressions of the German spirit. The German Volk has for centuries erected for itself and for its destiny a "victory boulevard" of great monuments. Given this fact, the direction of any music research that takes its obligations to the Volk and state seriously has become clear. The heritage of German music dictates its duties. Even if earlier research often went off in several futile directions and sacrificed a living bond with the ordinary for a pursuit of the extraordinary, a National Socialist musicology can only proceed from the living core of German music, laying the periphery around it, orienting remote problems around this center.27

This statement, more than just lip service to the occasion of Hitler's birthday, encapsulated significant developments in the recent history of the discipline: the earlier debates on the relevance of musicology, the efforts to forge links with the public through individual publications and the creation of new journals, and the commitment to the study of German music. As the party and state provided new outlets for them, musicologists would continue to branch out beyond the academy and, especially during the war, take advantage of a variety of

27 "Die deutsche Musikwissenschaft hat eines der edelsten Giiter der deutschen Kultur zu hiiten. Von je ist die Musik eine der lebendigsten und eigenartigsten Prigungen des deutschen Geistes gewesen. Das deutsche Volk hat sich und seinem Schicksal in der Musik seit Jahrhunderten eine 'Siegesallee' groBartigster Denkmale gesetzt. Mit dieser Tatsache ist einer Musikforschung, die es mit ihren Pflichten gegen Volk und Staat ernst nimmt, die Ausrichtung vorgezeichnet. Das Erbe der deutschen Musik diktiert seinen Auftrag. Wenn eine friihere Forschung oftmals in unfruchtbarer Zersplitterung die lebendige Verbundenheit mit dem Artgegebenen der Jagd nach dem AuBergewohnlichen aufopferte, so kann eine nationalsozialistiche Musikwissenschaft nur von der Lebensmitte der deutschen Musik ausgehen und um sie die weiteren Ringe legen, die entferntere Probleme um diese Mitte ordnen." Friedrich Blume, "Deutsche Musikwissenschaft," in Deutsche Wissenschaften. Arbeit und Aufgabe. Dem Fiibrer und Reichskanzler zum 5o. Geburtstag (Leipzig, 1939), i6.


unusual, even illegal, tasks carried out in the name of preserving this "noble commodity," German music.

Government and Party Opportunities for Musicologists, 193 7-45

Musicologists showed their willingness to work for the state, and the state responded with its grandest gesture of support for the field through the resurrection of the all but defunct Fiirstliches Institut ffir deutsche Musikforschung in Biickeburg. The Nazi education minister moved the institute to Berlin in 1935, adding on the Berlin folk music archive, the music instrument collection, a number of editing projects (the largest of which was the Denkmaler deutscher Tonkunst, restruc- tured as Das Erbe deutscher Musik) and periodicals (Archiv fiir Musik- forschung and Deutsche Musikkultur), and a new department for folk music research. A number of other government and party organizations created opportunities for musicologists to apply their skills in less traditional working environments, especially when their research showed promise of supporting political and ideological ends. As early as 1937, musicologists started to reap the benefits of financial support for relevant research from sponsors such as the SS-"Ahnenerbe," the Propaganda Ministry, and Boetticher's employer, the Amt Rosenberg.

The SS-"Ahnenerbe" was the scientific branch of Heinrich Himmler's massive organization. This branch brought together nat- ural sciences, social sciences, and humanities in a collaborative effort to achieve a complete understanding of the Germanic race.'8 For musicologists who could demonstrate an interest in anything con- strued as "Germanic" music, the SS-"Ahnenerbe" proved a particularly generous and problem-free source of research and publication subvention, owing to Himmler's special privileges as leader of the elite "state within a state" and his ability to circumvent government bureaucracy. On Himmler's direct order, the "Ahnenerbe" adopted and published Joseph Miiller-Blattau's study on prehistoric Germanic traits found in folk music (Germanisches Erbe in deutscher Tonkunst, 1938), copublished by the Hitler Youth. Himmler even had a special interest in research into the Germanic influences in Gregorian chant'9

28 Michael H. Kater, Das "Ahnenerbe" der SS 1935-1945: Ein Beitrag zur Kultur- politik des Dritten Reiches, Studien zur Zeitgeschichte herausgegeben vom Institut fiir Zeitgeschichte (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1974), 17-24, 47-53, 65, 72.

29 "Der Reichsfiihrer-SS hat ein besonderes Interesse an den Fragen des gregor- ianischen Chorals und das 'Ahnenerbe' deshalb beauftragt, sich damit zu befassen. Ich wiirde aus diesem Grunde auch unsere Zusammenarbeit zunichst gerne auf diesem Gebiet verwirklicht sehen." SS-"Ahnenerbe" to Erich Schenk, 7 September 1942,


and entertained proposals to subsidize the publication of relevant works by Karl Gustav Fellerer and Ewald Jammers.30

The Propaganda Ministry, for its part, supported only those musicological projects that promised to yield some practical benefit. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels cosponsored a folk-song an- thology edited by Miiller-Blattau and others,3' not so much for its scholarly merit but for its use as a songbook for party organizations and schools. Goebbels similarly endorsed research in historical musicology only when it could serve propagandistic ends. Herbert Gerigk, for example, received support to write a biography of Sibelius in 1942 on the strength of its potential to help reinforce the "Nordic ties" between Germany and Finland.3' The most ambitious musicological project initiated by Goebbels's ministry was a collection of essays edited by Hans Joachim Moser, discussed below, that aimed to demonstrate Germany's long history of musical hegemony in territories recently occupied by German troops.

Alfred Rosenberg's office for the ideological supervision of the Nazi party offered a wide variety of options to apply musicological expertise. Rosenberg, chief National Socialist ideologue and author of The Myth of the Twentieth Century, had founded the Fighting League for German Culture (Kampfbund fiir deutsche Kultur) in 1929 and became a contender for control of all cultural administration when the Nazis came to power. When Rosenberg lost out to Goebbels (who was entrusted with the administration of cultural affairs in the form of the Propaganda Ministry and the Reich Chamber of Culture), Hitler placated him with the title of Deputy to the Fiihrer for the Supervision of the Total Intellectual and Ideological Training and Education of the National Socialist German Workers Party. Rosenberg's office, referred to as the Amt Rosenberg or the Reichsiiberwachungsstelle, served as a watchdog organization scrutinizing the policies of others. His fierce rivalry with Goebbels never waned, and although he had little power to direct cultural affairs, he used his position to observe Goebbels's every move and strike at the slightest indications of ideological impropriety.

BDC Schenk. See Pamela M. Potter, "Did Himmler Really Like Gregorian Chant? The SS and Musicology," Modernism/Modernity 2, no. 3 (September 1995): 45-68.

30 "Ahnenerbe" to Widukind Verlag, 4 March 1938, "Ahnenerbe" to Vieweg Verlag, 24 August 1938, "Betr.: Miiller-Blattau" (no date), and Reichsgeschiftsfiihrer to Wiist ("Ahnenerbe"), 24 March 1938, BDC Miiller-Blattau; Quellmalz to Reichs- sicherheitshauptamt, I2 June I943, BA NS 21/220.

3' Hans Albrecht (Staatliches Institut) to Kallmeyer Verlag, 7 October 1943, BA NS 21/220.

32 File memo by Gerigk, 21 February 1942, BA NS 15/99.


The Amt Rosenberg had its own music department, the Amt Musik or Hauptstelle Musik, headed by musicologist Herbert Gerigk. Best known for its publication of the Lexikon derJuden in der Musik, a directory of Jews active in music,33 and for its takeover and transformation of the periodical Die Musik into a National Socialist mouth- piece,34 Gerigk's division enlisted the assistance of many colleagues in musicology to carry out both the "supervisory" and the "educational" tasks ordained by Rosenberg's commission. For instance, Gerigk called upon Rudolf Gerber, Wolfgang Boetticher, and Werner Danckert to assess the ideological conformity of their colleagues' works.3s From 1939 on, these and other scholars, including Fellerer, Erich Schenk (then head of the musicology department at the University of Vienna), and Helmut Osthoff, became involved in developing the musicology division of the Hohe Schule der Partei,36 an elite university planned by Hitler and Rosenberg.37 Their first planned undertaking for the Hohe Schule was a large-scale music reference work that would be "newly compiled in the sense of our Weltanschauung" and would "counteract" the "dangerous false opinions" contained in existing scholarly reference works.38

33 Lexikon der Juden in der Musik, ed. Herbert Gerigk and Theophil Stengel, Ver6ffentlichungen des Instituts der NSDAP zur Erforschung der Judenfrage 2 (Berlin: Hahnefeld, i940).

34Gerigk to Schroth (Reichsstudentenfiihrung), 30 September 1937, BA NS I5/59.

3s Gerigk commissioned musicologists to evaluate the political acceptability of musicological works for the future training of National Socialists, and they submitted their reports to the Amt Schrifttumspflege within the Amt Rosenberg. Among those reports were Gerigk's evaluation of works by Raabe, Schering, and Schiedermair; Boetticher's evaluations of two works by Schering and one by Zimmermann; Hermann Killer's evaluation of Schering; Gerber's evaluation of Valentin; and Danckert's evaluation of Wiora (BA NS i5/101 includes reports dating from 1937 through 1944).

36 A report on the activities of the Amt Musik cites Danckert, Gerber, Fellerer, Schenk, H. Schole, and Erich Schumann as scholarly consultants who assisted in the planning of the Hohe Schule ("Betrifft: Hauptstelle Musik-Aufgaben und Arbeiten laut Schreiben des Reichsleiters vom 14.5.1940," BA NS I5/i89).

37 Reinhard Bollmus, "Zum Projekt einer nationalsozialistischen Alternativ- Universitiit: Alfred Rosenbergs 'Hohe Schule,' " in Erziehung und Schulung im Dritten Reich. Teil 2: Hochschule, Erwachsenbildung, ed. Manfred Heinemann (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1986), 125-52.

38 "Das Ziel dieser Arbeiten ist, m6glichst bald schon eines im Sinne unserer Weltanschauung neu gestalteten umfangreichen Musiklexikons zu veroffentlichen, das wiederum den Ausgangspunkt fiir die kommende enzykloptidistische Zusammen- fassung des Stoffgebiets bilden soll. Die Durchfiihrung dieser Arbeiten ist vordring- lich, weil in den derzeitigen wissenschaftlichen Darstellungen ebenso wie in den fiir Schulungszwecke und im Unterricht herangezogenen Biichern folgenschwere Fehlmeinungen enthalten sind, die durch unsere Tiitigkeit ausgemerzt werden


Other Amt Rosenberg tasks lay outside the scholarly realm entirely. Between 194o and 1944, Erich Schenk and Karl Blessinger assisted Gerigk in the ostracism of Jews from musical life by providing him with details of the non-Aryan status of individuals for inclusion in the Lexikon derJuden in der Musik. Gerigk approached Schenk to attest to the "racial affiliation" of Jews who had received their doctorates in Vienna,39 and Schenk complied thoroughly and promptly.40 Gerigk thanked him for his cooperation, adding that "a careful scrutiny of the names of Viennese doctorates would probably bring to light many more fat Jews."4' While drafting a review of the Lexikon for Die Musik, Blessinger offered the criticism that although a comprehensive list of all Jews in music would be an impossible task, nevertheless for "practical use" the omission of names from the Lexikon implied Aryan status. He offered his own small contribution toward comprehensive- ness by adding names of Jews he knew in Munich.42

The activities of the Amt Musik went far beyond these short-term and largely domestic assignments, and it attracted musicologists with the prospect of having substantial influence in policy-making in the future of the Reich. Hitler's promises to rebuild Germany and the realization of his doctrine of Lebensraum, the acquisition of living space for the German nation through annexations and military conquests, inspired scholars to see limitless career possibilities in the future expansion of Germany. The tasks of resettlement and German- ization on the new frontiers would certainly open up new university positions, but they would also involve developing large-scale programs for establishing or reforming music education, concert activity, music publishing, and other branches of musical life.

Under the auspices of Rosenberg's wartime operational staff, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenbergs, and its special music task force,

sollen." "Betrifft: Hauptstelle Musik-Aufgaben und Arbeiten laut Schreiben des Reichsleiters vom I4.5.I940," BA NS 15/I89. According to the documents available, Gerigk could rely on the cooperation of Osthoff, Gerber, Fellerer, Danckert, and Schenk (Gerigk to Osthoff, 11 August 1939, and Osthoff to Gerigk [no date], BA NS 15/26; Gerigk to Gerber, io August 1939, 28 February 1940, and 8 July 1940, and Gerber to Gerigk, 3 March 1940 and 13 July 194o, BA NS 15/25; Gerigk to Fellerer, 28 February 1940, 31 May i940, and 30 June i94o, BA NS 15/24; Gerigk to Danckert, ii August 1939, Gerigk to Verwaltungsamt, Io May 1940, BA NS 15/24; Gerigk to Schenk, 4 August 1939, BA NS 15/26).

39 Hauptstelle Musik to Schenk, 21 March 1941, BA NS 15/2 1. 40 Schenk to Gerigk, 31 March 1941, BA NS 15/21. 4' "Eine genaue Durchsicht der Namen der Wiener Promoventen wiirde wahr-

scheinlich noch manchen fetten Juden zu Tage f6rdern." Gerigk to Schenk, 28 December 1944, BA NS 15/2 a.

42 Blessinger to Gerigk, 30 April 1940, BA NS 15/21.


Sonderstab Musik, the Amt Musik involved musicologists directly in preliminary policy-making with regard to the occupation. The Ein- satzstab's primary mission was to seize valuable property in occupied territories with the intention of supplying the library of the Hohe Schule, state libraries, and museums. It allowed Rosenberg and the German government to defy international law and seize private property from Jews under occupation, since, it was argued, any cease-fire agreements had not been reached with Jewish citizens.43 It also functioned as a barometer for the receptiveness of Aryans under occupation to Germany's eventual domination. A I942 communica- tion from Gerigk to Boetticher lays out specific instructions for the Sonderstab Musik during Boetticher's trip to the Baltic states (see Appendix A), guidelines that applied to most assignments in other occupied regions as well:

i. Determination of available music manuscripts and prints in public and scholarly libraries. Most important are those documents that are of German origin and that indicate the political significance of the Eastern regions. The items must be catalogued in a card index, the most valuable items are to be photographed.

2. According to the Fiihrer's orders, you must immediately protect from destruction, damage, or transport all musical documents, including musical instruments, taken from Jewish possession. You are advised to work together with the foreign office of the SD [Sicherheitsdienst]. Suitable material will, as in prior cases, be designated for the Hohe Schule.

3. Medieval music documents in monasteries and other libraries which are otherwise not publicly accessible are also to be catalogued. The value of such collections that were previously unknown to German scholars should be determined.

4. The warehouses of individual recording companies are to be investigated and thoroughly searched for enemy and/or Jewish material. A strict standard must be maintained in selecting these recordings. This means that even those recordings in which Jewish artists merely partic- ipated are also to be catalogued. Since, according to experience, recordings are the most easily susceptible to enemy seizure, you are to lock up the material following your search.

5. Radio stations are to be checked for their inventory of printed music and recordings. The processing of these documents is to follow the guidelines in 4.

6. The files of concert agencies and agents are to be thoroughly examined. Most important here is to check all written correspondence between Germans and these foreign agents.

43 Reinhard Bollmus, Das Amt Rosenberg und seine Gegner. Zum Machtkampf im nationalsozialistischen Herrschaftssystem, Studien zur Zeitgeschichte herausgegeben vom Institut fiir Zeitgeschichte (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1970), 145-48.


7. Several Jews who have come forth as musicians in that region are to be recorded in a bibliography, since such documentation is indispensable for the party's publication Lexikon derJuden in der Musik. In this work you should also foster a friendly collaboration with the foreign office of the SD. Furthermore, it would be advantageous to make close contact with resident Aryan composers and performing artists. It is important to determine the present and past political orientations of these non-Jewish musicians. In appropriate cases you should try to win over these artists for the cultural tasks of the German Reich. In this way it will be possible to create optimal conditions for cultural institutions and scholarly organizations to be founded in the future. You are to provide written reports on the results of your inquiries and particularly on your collaboration with the appropriate departments of the German Reich stationed there.44

Besides the mere seizure of materials, the tasks of the Sonderstab Musik extended to the assessment of the conditions in occupied territories in order to plan the future takeover of musical life. As Gerigk outlined in item 7 of this assignment, the mission encompassed investigating activities of concert agencies with special attention to their foreign contacts; identifying practicing Jewish musicians and composers; and evaluating the political reliability of non-Jewish musicians with a view toward encouraging them to work for the German cultural cause. Although these tasks represented only the first steps for musicologists to gain a foothold in the administration of the expanded Reich, they promised scholars concrete input in the control of musical life and music policy in countries under occupation, experiences which could have led to more substantial assignments after the war.

Boetticher managed to further his career with the exclusive advantages he gained from his position as Gerigk's assistant.45 The Amt Rosenberg published his dissertation,46 and his activities with the Einsatzstab47 allowed him to complete his Habilitation by bringing him to several occupied territories during the war and enabling him to use libraries that were otherwise inaccessible, as reported by Georg Schiinemann in the evaluation of his Habilitationsschrift. Schiinemann wrote that "the war initiative led him on a mission from Minister Rosenberg to Paris, Brussels, Warsaw, Cracow, Amsterdam, and other

44Gerigk to Boetticher, 9 February 1942, BA NS 15/24. 4s Boetticher was appointed Referent in the Hauptstelle Musik in February 1939

(Gerigk to Verwaltungsamt, 18 January 1939, BA NS 15/24). 4 Georg Schiinemann, "Gutachten uiber die Habilitationsschrift Dr. Wolfgang

Boettichers," I8 March 1943, UAB PA Boetticher. 47 Boetticher to Philosophische Fakultit, I February 1943, listing his addresses

with the Einsatzstab Rosenberg in Amsterdam and Brussels, UAB PA Boetticher.


cities, where he was required to assess the German musical treasures. [Boetticher] exploited this rare opportunity for scholarly study in the area of lute music.... The Habilitationsschrift comes out of earlier research which he supplemented significantly with wartime visits to foreign libraries."48 He also used his time in occupied Paris to work on a study published in 1944 in the Neues Mozart-Jahrbuch on a newly discovered Mozart autograph in the Bibliotheque Nationale, and he used his Vilna sojourn to conduct research and write about German influence in Latvian folk song.49

But Boetticher was not the only musicologist working for the Sonderstab Musik. Gerigk also entrusted the older, more established, and presumably wiser scholars Rudolf Gerber (professor in Giessen, born 1899), Karl Gustav Fellerer (professor in Cologne, born 1902), and Georg Schiinemann (professor in Berlin, born 1884) with Sonder- stab assignments. In the fall of 1942, he sent Gerber and Fellerer on a three-to-four-week Sonderstab mission to Paris to seize German printed music,50 and an August 1941 list of the Sonderstab Musik's expenses indicates that Fellerer and Schiinemann had previously been sent to Paris in March and April 1941.s' Boetticher assumed more assignments than others, traveling to Poland, Belgium, France, Hol- land, and the Baltic states, and even securing release from military service to carry out these tasks,s2 but as a junior scholar, at least

48 "Der Kriegseinsatz fiihrte ihn im Auftrag von Minister Rosenberg nach Paris und Briissel, Warschau und Krakau, Amsterdam u. in andere Stadte, in denen er Feststellungen iiber das deutsche Musikgut zu treffen hatte. Diese seltene Gelegenheit nutzte er zu wissenschaftlichen Studien iiber das Gebiet der Lautenmusik aus. ... Aus friiheren Materialsammlungen, die im Kriege durch den Besuch auslandischer Bibliotheken wesentlich erginzt wurden, ist die Habilitationsschrift hervorge- gangen." Schiinemann, "Gutachten," I8 March 1943, UAB PA Boetticher.

49 ioetticher to Dekan, 29 February I944, UAB PA Boetticher. 5so Gerigk to Baumler (Hohe Schule planning commission), 17 September I942, BA NS 15/24. s' "Sonderstab Musik Abrechnung fiir das Reichspropagandaministerium," 16

August 1941, BA NS 15/99. s5 BA NS 15/24. Boetticher was sent to Warsaw in 1940 to pack up and transport

material already seized for the Amt Rosenberg, to search the Warsaw branches of Columbia Records and His Master's Voice for "Jewish-undermined" and "treason- ous" material, and to seize and transport such material for the Hohe Schule. When he was called up for military service, the Amt Rosenberg requested that he be excused, owing to his indispensability for the Sonderstab Musik as demonstrated by his excellent musicological qualifications, command of foreign languages, and prior work in Cracow, Warsaw, Belgium, France, and Holland from 1940 to i941. He was allowed to have a dual assignment with the Einsatzstab and the Waffen-SS and was immediately sent to the Baltic states with the specific instructions listed above early in 1942 (two certifications, 7 October i940; Gerigk to head of Einsatzstab task forces, 9

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER 87 sixteen years younger than the others named, he had the freedom to devote most of his time to his Amt Musik responsibilities.

Musicologists' Contributions to Lebensraum Propaganda

While Boetticher and his colleagues went abroad to assess the cultural and political climate, musicologists at home did their part to educate the public with musicological rationalizations for German foreign policy. The doctrine of Lebensraum and its realization in annexations, invasions, and military occupations gave musicologists a new avenue for using their expertise toward a larger cause. Contem- porary literature reveals a ground swell of unprecedented interest in the music of specific geographical regions that coincides exactly with Germany's military advances. Those musicologists involved turned their attention to geographic areas currently on the political agenda and contributed generously to the popular press, offering their authoritative explanations for the musical advantages of German expansion into each region.

It was the annexation of Austria in 1938 that first inspired music historians to help validate political developments with historical evidence of German presence in the musical life of neighboring territories. These earliest musicological essays to support Hitler's foreign policy highlighted the theme of "estranged" German provinces (Austria, the Sudetenland, and Danzig) "returning home," not only in a political but also in a musical sense, since, they claimed, the music of these regions was and always had been German. The desire for the cultural and political unity of Germany and Austria had existed in some form among Austrian intellectuals ever since the disintegra- tion of Austria's Dual Monarchy in I9I8.53 As early as I930, the Viennese musicologist Robert Lach advocated the musical and political unity of Germany and Austria by arguing that the two countries belonged together as did Bach, Handel, Schubert, Haydn, and Mozart, with Beethoven serving as a "symbol of the unification of the

August 1941; Einsatzstab to Commander of Waffen-SS, 29 November 1941; Boet- ticher to Verwaltungsamt, 22 January 1942; Gerigk to Boetticher, 9 February 1942).

s3 Propaganda organizations promoting the Anschluss arose in Vienna in the I920s, some with prominent professors at their helm. Alfred D. Low, The Anschluss Movement, 1931-1938, and the Great Powers (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985), 14-20, 24-26, 35-36. My thanks to Daniel Mattern for referring me to this work.


German and Austrian souls."54 The realization of the Anschluss in 1938 fulfilled the wishes of Lach, who reiterated his sentiments in the Allgemeine Musikzeitung in September of that year,55 and of several German colleagues. Joseph Miiller-Blattau highlighted the history of "Austria's share of the German musical heritage" in the Hitler-Youth journal Musik in Jugend und Volk one month after the Anschluss, attempting to demonstrate German-Austrian spiritual unity with an analysis of Haydn's Deutschlandlied.s6 Moser celebrated the event in several publications, including two issued by the SS-"Ahnenerbe,"57 regarding the Anschluss as the political realization of a musical relationship stretching back to the sixteenth century, when "the idea of a Greater Germany had already found its musical realization, which can serve as a model for us today."s8 Rudolf Gerber used the pages of an interdisciplinary journal to assess the musical importance of the Anschluss, and both he and Moser drew anti-Semitic observations into their discussions. Gerber blamed Mahler, the "Czech ghetto Jew" and representative of "international Jewry," for initiating a period of decline, 59 while Moser asserted that strong German-Austrian musical

54 Robert Lach, "Die grof6deutsche Kultureinheit," Die Anschlufifrage in ibrer kulturellen, politischen und wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung als europaisches Problem (Vienna: Universitits-Verlags Buchhandlung, 1930), 286-95; and idem, "Die gro6deutsche Kultureinheit in der Musik," Deutsche Welt. Monatshefte des Vereins fir das Deutschtum im Ausland 8 (1931): 27-31.

ss Robert Lach, "Das Osterreichertum in der Musik," Allgemeine Musikzeitung 65 (1938): 529-31. Other contributors to this literature appearing in 1938 and not discussed here include Andreas Liess, "Das deutsch-6sterreichische Musikschaffen der Gegenwart," Allgemeine Musikzeitung 65 (1938): 532; H. Strobel, "Osterreichs Beitrag zur deutschen Musik," Neues Musikblatt (1938): I; and Hans Joachim Therstappen, "Die Musik im grof6deutschen Raum," Deutsche Musikkultur 3 (1938-39): 425-28.

6 Joseph Miiller-Blattau, "Vom Anteil Osterreichs am Erbe deutscher Musik," Musik in Jugend und Volk i (1937-38): 218-26.

s7 One of Moser's articles appeared in the SS-"Ahnenerbe" periodical Germanien and was reprinted in a special publication dedicated to the "homecoming" of Austria and the Sudetenland: Hans Joachim Moser, "Osterreichs Musik und Musiker," Germanien i (1939): i61-68, reprinted in Deutsches Land kehrt heim: Ostmark und Sudetenland als germanischer Volksboden, ed. J. O. Pla6mann and G. Trathnigg, Deutsches Ahnenerbe Series C: Volkstiimliche Schriften, vol. 3 (Berlin: Ahnenerbe- Stiftung, [1939]), 84-91. He also authored "Das deutsche weltliche Chorlied Alt- osterreichs," Die Musikpflege 9 (I938): 143-48, and "Dreiviertel Jahrtausend 6ster- reichischer Musik," Velhagen und Klasings Monatshefte 52, no. 2 (1937-38): 276-80.

s8s ,... so dafB der gro6deutsche Gedanke schon einmal eine gerade fiir heut wieder beispielhafte musikalische Verwirklichung gefunden hat." Moser, "Osterreichs Musik und Musiker," in Deutsches Land kehrt heim, ed. Pla6mann and Trathnigg, 86.

s9 "Eine andere Generation bekam am Ende des vergangenen Jahrhunderts das Heft in die Hand, deren Wortfiihrer nicht mehr Menschen der Ostmark waren, sondern das internationale Judentum, dessen erster Hauptvertreter, der tschechische


bonds could never be damaged by Jews such as Mahler, Schreker, and Schoenberg, because the Germanic racial solidarity of other leading figures in Viennese musical life formed a bulwark against Jewish encroachments.60

In June 1938, after Hitler had begun to exert pressure on Czechoslovakia to cede its German-populated provinces, the Zeitschrift fiir Musik produced the first of two issues dedicated to Sudeten-German music, opening with Gustav Becking's plea to enhance the production of German musical culture in this region.6' Once the area was annexed as a result of the Munich agreement in September, the homecoming theme resounded as loudly as it had in the celebration of the Anschluss.6' Moser contributed to a special "Deutsches Sudetenland" issue of an SS-"Ahnenerbe" journal in November 1938,63 and shortly after the Germans advanced on the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he published another testimo- nial welcoming the musical achievements of both the estranged Germans and the (albeit "less productive") Czechs into the German protectorate. He relished the opportunity to undo damage caused by "boasting armchair politicians" who insisted on the non-German origins of Sudeten-German composers.64 Contributions to the second issue of the Zeitschriftfiir Musik dedicated to Sudeten-German music, appearing in January 1939, similarly emphasized the German, rather than the Bohemian, lineage of eighteenth-century composers born in

Ghetto-Jude Gustav Mahler, eine Ara des aiuferen und inneren Zerfalls einleitete." Rudolf Gerber, "Die Musik der Ostmark," Zeitschriftfiir deutsche Geisteswissenschaft 2 (1939-40): 77-7.8

6o Moser, "Osterreichs Musik und Musiker," in Deutsches Land kebrt heim, ed. PlaBmann and Trathnigg, 9o.

61 Gustav Becking, "Die Lage der sudetendeutsche Musik," Zeitschrift fir Musik 105 (1938): 574-76.

62 Additional publications by musicologists appearing in 1938 and not discussed here include Gustav Becking, "Kleiner Beitrag zur musikalischen Kultur- und Stammeskunde der Sudetendeutschen," Ackermann aus Bohmen 6 (1938): 457-62; Karl Blessinger, "Die Musik im sudetendeutschen Raum," Musik-Woche 6 (1938): 629; Ernst Biicken, "Sudetendeutsche Musiker und die deutsche Klassik," Rheinische Blitter 15 (I938): 765; and Guido Waldmann, "Volkslieder der Sudetendeutschen," Volks- deutsche Forschung 2 (1938): 415-

63 Hans Joachim Moser, "Sudetendeutsche Musik," Germanien 10 (1938): 361-68. This article was also reprinted in Deutsches Land kehrt heim, ed. Plafmann and Trathnigg, 128-35.

64 Hans Joachim Moser, "B6hmen-Maihren in der deutschen Musikgeschichte," Allgemeine Musikzeitung 66 (1939): 383-85-


the Sudeten region, in the hopes of characterizing the Classical style as a purely German phenomenon with no traces of Bohemian

influences. s After Germany invaded and quickly overran Poland in September

1939, Gotthold Frotscher, Georg Schiinemann, and, once again, Moser pointed out the music-historical ramifications of both the "homecoming" of the free city of Danzig66 and the longstanding influence of German musicians in Poland. Moser's January 1940 article on Danzig's musical past rejoiced in the city's return, since "Danzig, in music-historical terms, has always been a core of Ger- manness. And may it remain so forevermore."67 One particularly sharp attack on the integrity of a Polish music tradition invoked Hugo Riemann's name to discredit Polish musical creativity, since Riemann had allegedly determined the polonaise to have been imported from Spain via Germany.68 Studies in folk song also attempted to find German musical dominance through comparative studies of German

65 Oskar Kaul, "Von alten sudetendeutschen Komponisten," Zeitschrift fir Musik io6 (1939): 9-13; and Karl Michael Komma, "Die Sudetendeutschen in der 'Mannheimer Schule,' " 13-16. Komma's article, like his dissertation (Johann Zach und die tschechische Musiker im deutschen Umbruch des i8. Jahrhunderts, Studien zur Heidelberger Musikwissenschaft 7 [Kassel: Birenreiter, 1938], see especially pp. 6-7), frames Bohemian music through the nineteenth century as a component of German music history and relegates the Czechs to the status of ineffectual spectators. Komma's work attracted immediate attention owing to political circumstances in 1938, and his dissertation was considered for a prize endowed by the Reich Education Ministry in 1937. His advisor Heinrich Besseler, identifying himself as the only party member on the selection committee, complained to the Ministry that this work by a Sudeten- German on a politically provocative subject had been overlooked despite its service to the new direction of the discipline in the National Socialist spirit ("Den Preis erhilt nicht der junge Nationalsozialist, der etwas wagt und neue Wege sucht, sondern der Mann mit gutem Sitzfleisch und methodisch geschulter Schlaue. Ich zweifle, ob das der Absicht des Herrn Ministers war.... Bei der gegenwirtigen Zusammensetzung dieses Gremiums geniigt es offenbar nicht, daB nur ein Parteigenosse, der zufdillig dabei ist, fiir seine Person die geschilderte Ansicht vertritt." Besseler to Miederer, 13 April I939, BDC Besseler).

66Gotthold Frotscher, "Stitten deutscher Musikkultur: Danzig," Deutsche Musikkultur 4 (I939-40): 152-55; Georg Schiinemann, "Danziger StraSenrufe," Die Musik 32 (1940): 77-80; and Hans Joachim Moser, "Aus Danzigs musikalischer Vergangenheit," Germanien (I940): I8-23- 7 "Danzig, die Stadt der vertriumten Beischliige in der Jopengasse, der Eichen- dorff eines seiner schbnsten Gedichte und Hans Pfitzner die bedeutenste Vertonung desselben geweiht hat, Danzig ist auch musikgeschichtlich allezeit ein Herzstiick an Deutschheit gewesen. Und soil es auf immerdar bleiben." Moser, "Aus Danzigs musikalischer Vergangenheit," 23.

68 Kurt Hennemeyer, "Vom deutschen Geist in der polnischen Musik," Die Musik 31 (1939): 796.


and Polish practices. 69 Going beyond purely musicological musings, both Moser and Frotscher used their essays to indicate a willingness to serve as consultants on matters of music policy in the occupied East. In the November 1939 issue of Deutsche Musikkultur, each suggested measures for Germanizing musical life in Poland and incorporating music education into Hitler's proposed resettlement of Germans in newly acquired Polish territories.70

Germany's advances into Norway, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and France in 194o received some attention from Moser, folk-music scholar Werner Danckert (who published his findings in the cultural monthly of the Nazi party), and later Karl Gustav Fellerer,7' although these events inspired far less celebration than the conquests of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. With the war in full force and a growing need to rally support for the military effort, it seemed that Germany's allies and enemies should take priority as subjects for propagandistic literature. Germany's musical connections with Italy and Japan (allied with Germany since September 1940 as a result of the Tripartite Pact) attracted attention from 1941 on, although the remote and relatively unknown musical culture of Japan inspired little commentary beyond reports about cultural exchanges and the prevalence of German music in Japanese concerts.7' The history of Italian music, a more familiar research area, could offer fertile ground for suggesting music-historical connections between Germany and Italy. But unlike the literature which made claims for Germany's long-standing musical superiority

69 Walter Wiora, "Die Molltonart im Volkslied der Deutschen in Polen und im polnischen Volkslied," Die Musik 32 (I940): 158-62; idem, "Das Fortleben altdeutsch- er Volksweisen bei den Deutschen in Polen und im polnischen Lied," Deutsche Musikkultur 4 (1939-40): 182-89; Gotthold Frotscher, "Volksbrauche und Volks- lieder der Deutschen in Polen," Musik in Jugend und Volk 2 (0939): 399-415; and Guido Waldmann, "Das deutsche Volkslied im polnischen Staat der Jahre 1919- 1939," Deutschtum im Ausland 22 (1939): 537-41. 70 Hans Joachim Moser, "Deutsche Musik im polnischen Raum," Deutsche Musikkultur 4 (I939-40): I55-57; Frotscher, "Stitten deutscher Musikkultur: Dan- zig," 152-55-

7' Hans Joachim Moser, "Musiklandschaft Vlandern," Niederdeutsche Welt I6 (1941): 71; Werner Danckert, "Deutsches Lehngut im Lied der skandinavischen V61ker," Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte 12 (i 94i): 575-96; and idem, "Deutsches Lehngut im norwegischen Volkslied," Deutsche Monatshefte in Norwegen 3 (1942): 2. A 1943 article by Fellerer provided a glimpse of nineteenth-century Dutch music as an outgrowth of German Romanticism (Karl Gustav Fellerer, "Holland in der europiischen Musik des 19. Jahrhunderts," Musik im Kriege I [I943]: 49-50).

7' E. Limmert, "Von der Musik der Japaner," Neues Musikblatt 21 (1942): 3; Friedrich-Heinz Beyer, "Deutsche Musik in Japan," Zeitschrififiir Musik io8 (1940): 393-96. Georg Schiinemann attempted to introduce the rudiments ofJapanese music in his article "Japanische Musik," Die Musik 33 (1941): 237-40.


in occupied and annexed territories, discussions of German and Italian music had to reflect the equal partnership of the two allies. It would be inappropriate to present Germany's musical heritage as superior to that of the musically-and politically-potent Italians.

Political circumstance may have demanded a respectful treatment of Italian music, yet the nationalistic desire to argue Germany's musical superiority proved difficult to suppress. Wartime publications on Italian music illustrate this dilemma.73 In his 1944 book Deutschland und Italien in ihren musikgeschichtlichen Beziehungen, Hans Engel tried to emphasize the notion of mutual respect (citing Italians' attraction to the German "Nordic depth" and Germany's attraction to Italian "euphony") and even claimed to demonstrate racial affinities that could explain similarities in the musical styles of those dwelling in southern Germany and northern Italy.74 But while Engel politely acknowledged the profound influences of Italian music on German composers throughout the centuries, his deep resentment occasionally surfaced,7s especially in long digressions on the decadence and destructive eroticism of Italian opera. According to Engel, the per-

73 Fellerer handled Italian music history somewhat objectively (Karl Gustav Fellerer, "Die italienische Oper," Vdlkische Musikerziehung [I94I]: 153-56), but in his study of German-Italian musical exchange in the late Renaissance and Baroque, he extended his list of "Germans" to include Dufay, Ciconia, Tinctoris, Ockeghem, Obrecht, Willaert, Lasso, and all the other noteworthy members of the "tribe of the German Volk" ("ein Stamm deutsches Volkstums"). Karl Gustav Fellerer, "Deutsch- italienische Musikbeziehungen im 6./I 7. Jahrhundert," Die Musik 33 (I94I): 125-26. Hans Engel presented his feelings about Italian music in brief in "Italiens Musikge- schichte," Geistige Arbeit: Zeitung aus der wissenschaftlichen Welt 9, no. i i (June 1942): 1-3, and at length in Deutschland und Italien in ihren musikgeschichtlichen Beziehungen (Regensburg: Bosse, I944).

74 Engel, Deutschland und Italien, 9-30. To illustrate the striking similarities within the middle range in physical appearance, temperament, and aesthetics, Engel devised a chart of skin complexion, eye color, physiognomy, temperament, and musical style of leading composers stretching from southern Italy to northeastern Germany. The author conceded that more similarities prevail among German and Italian contem- poraries than among compatriots of different eras, potentially weakening his assertion of musical traits inherited through race over generations, but he held on to the notion of an eternal, inexplicable capacity to feel the music of one's own nation (p. 17). Apparently he felt no further explanation was necessary. For a translated rendition of this chart, see Harvey Sachs, Music in Fascist Italy (New York: W. W. Norton, 1987), 192-93.

75 For example, he states that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Italian influences were either not entirely Italian in origin-such as the madrigal, which, he claims, was essentially developed by the Netherlandish composers (pp. 72-73), and monody, for which one can find early German examples in the Chorlied (p. ioi)-or they failed to suppress the "true German endearing disposition" ("Trotz des italienischen Stiles klingt schon ein echt deutsches, liebenswertes Gemiit durch," p. 90), and "true German feeling" ("trotz aller aiuBerlicher Anlehnung echt deutsches

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER 93 verse emasculation of the castrati proved disastrous for German culture ("Our feeling for healthy art and healthy art policy goes against just about everything we know about this Italian opera in Germany!")76 until the German public began to see through the "spiritual poverty" of the ever-popular Italian opera, as revealed in nineteenth-century criticisms by composers, writers, and philoso- phers.77 For political reasons, Engel acknowledged Italian strengths and rationalized these good points with dubious evidence of "racial kinship" with Germans, but he could not dispel the air of moral superiority, nor could he compromise his firm belief in German cultural purity.

When it came to discussing Germany's enemies, musicologists such as Fellerer, Frotscher, and Blessinger used their knowledge of music history to glean evidence of cultural depravity, musical degen- eracy, and racial inferiority in England and the United States. England attracted substantially more attention,78 probably because German musicologists had more experience with English music and its history. Nevertheless Frotscher found a way to launch an attack on "Ameri- canism" as primitive, degenerate, and even harmful, and he urged its eradication from German musical life.79 The Soviet Union was a more elusive target for musicologists, owing to its complex political and cultural relationship with Germany. After Hitler invaded the territory of his former ally in 1941, however, a wartime order banning the music of enemy nations formally proscribed the performance of Russian music, even though it had been a mainstay of the German concert repertory. Musicologists simply avoided the subject.8,

Empfinden, deutsches Fiihlen, deutsche Stimmung," p. ioi), which persisted "despite" Italian stylistic influences. Engel, Deutschland und Italien.

76 "Unserem Gefiihl fiir gesunde Kunst und gesunde Kunstpolitik widerspricht zu ziemlich alles, was wir von dieser italienischen Oper in Deutschland wissen!" Ibid., 127.

77Ibid., 2 0-34. 78 Karl Gustav Fellerer, "England und die Musik," Volkische Musikerziehung 7

(1941): 186-90; and Karl Blessinger, "Englands rassischer Niedergang im Spiegel seiner Musik," Die Musik 32 (1939): 37-4I. 79 Gotthold Frotscher, "Amerikanismus in der Musik," Musik in Jugend und Volk

6 (1943): 94-97- o One rather obscure attempt to deal with Soviet music, written by a nonmusi-

cologist and published in an entertainment music journal, drew a sharp distinction between the richness of Russia's musical heritage and the detrimental Soviet policies that stifled that creativity. Hans Duffner, "Gibt es eine sowjetrussische Musik?" Das deutsche Podium 9, no. 28 (I94I): I-2.


Lebensraum Propaganda as Career

Musicologists' commitment to publicizing the Lebensraum doctrine not only attracted the attention of the authorities but also could lead to government appointments. Hans Joachim Moser stands out as probably the most prolific and versatile contributor to Lebensraum propaganda, for he produced at least one article at almost every stage of German military action. One reason for his productivity may have been his precarious professional standing. In 1933, he was forced to retire as director of the Staatliche Akademie fiir Kirchen- und Schulmusik because of its merger with the Hochschule fiir Musik,8' an outcome of section 6 of the April 1933 civil service act that allowed for the retirement of individuals "for the purpose of rationalizing the administration even if they are not yet unfit for service.""' The Education Ministry also invoked this clause, stating the necessity of setting aside funds for junior faculty, to effect his dismissal from the University of Berlin, where he had held a part-time teaching position since 1927.83 Thereafter, Moser maintained a complex relationship with Nazi officials. At times they suspected him of having Jewish ancestry84 and criticized his mild treatment of Jews in his writings,8s and in 1936 they reduced his pension by 40 percent after reviewing complaints by former students that dated back to 1930-31.86

From then on, Moser appears to have relied on his journalistic skills to supplement his pension and provide for his large family. He became a regular contributor to the SS-"Ahnenerbe" journal Ger- manien from 1938 to 1940, supplying articles on the history of military music, on folk songs, and on fundamental elements of German music, as well as the timely essays on the music history of recently annexed and occupied lands discussed above. A substantial correspondence between Moser and Joseph Otto Pla6mann, editor of Germanien, documents Moser's skill and impeccable timing in keeping up with Germany's military advances. In September 1938, Pla6fmann accepted Moser's offer to write an article on Sudeten-German music, and by

8 Moser to Sandberger, 25 September 1933, Sandberger Papers. 82 Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham, eds., Nazism: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts, 19z9-1945 (New York: Schocken, I990), 1:225.

s3 PreuBischer Minister fiir Wissenschaft, Kunst und Volksbildung to Moser, 4 June 1933, UAB PA Moser; and to Wolf, same date, UAB PA Wolf.

84 Correspondence concerning Moser's admission into the Reichsschrifttums- kammer, May 1939 through December 1940, BDC Moser (RSK files). 85 File memo, 22 May 1940, BDC Moser ("Ahnenerbe" files).

86 Correspondence, August 1934 through April 1936, BDC Moser (Staatliche Akademie files).


October 1939 Moser had submitted his article on Danzig, earning Plai3mann's admiration for his treatment of such a timely subject.87 In the spring of 1939, Platimann had encouraged Moser to write a series of articles on the history of German military songs. In 1940, however, in the middle of this series, Germany's military gains rapidly increased, and Moser suggested to Platimann: "Or would you rather have in the meantime a more politically topical essay on the Flemish-Dutch- German musical connection? Also one on the musical culture-bridge to Scandinavia would certainly be feasible" (emphases are Moser's).88 Moser penned these remarks on 2 May 1940, shortly after the occupation of Denmark in April and five days before the offensive on Belgium and Holland.

Moser would have liked to continue this mutually beneficial collaboration, and he attempted to secure permanent employment from the "Ahnenerbe"; but the secret police discovered positive representations of Jewish composers in the 1934 edition of his Musiklexikon, rendering him an unfavorable contributor.89 In May 1940, the "Ahnenerbe" ordered Plafmann to end Moser's collaboration. Since Moser had provided so many important articles to Germanien, Plafmann asked him to continue contributing even after the "Ahnenerbe" had officially banned his work, suggesting that he use the pseudonym Heinz Hagebruch.90

Despite these setbacks, Moser's participation in the propaganda for Lebensraum and the war effort did not escape the notice of higher authorities, and permanent employment immediately came his way in the form of a newly created position. Heinz Drewes, head of the music division in the Propaganda Ministry, established the Reichsstelle fiir Musikbearbeitungen in May 1940, appointing Moser as deputy director with virtual control over its operation. As described in an essay by Moser in the Propaganda Ministry's publication Jahrbuch der deutschen Musik 1943 and in a speech by Drewes delivered to journalists in Berlin, the Reichsstelle's mission was to replenish the repertory of

87 Plafimann to Moser, 22 September I938 and 21 October 1939, BDC Moser ("Ahnenerbe" files).

88 "Oder wollen Sie dazwischen einen politisch aktuelleren Aufsatz iiber die vliimisch- niederldndiscb-deutschen Musikbeziehungen haben? Auch einer iiber die musikalische Kulturbriicke zu Skandinavien wire durchaus m6glich." Moser to Plaimann, 2 May 1940, BDC Moser ("Ahnenerbe" files).

89 Plaimann to Moser, 20 June 1939; Moser to Plaimann, 20 March 1940; and file memo, 22 May 1940, BDC Moser ("Ahnenerbe" files).

90 "Ahnenerbe" secretary to Plaimann, 20 May and 22 May 1940; Plaimann to Moser, 27 May I940 and 29 June 1940; file memo written by Plaimann, I June 1940, BDC Moser ("Ahnenerbe" files).


opera houses and concert halls.9' The prohibition of certain Jewish and foreign works, combined with the increased number of "German" musical establishments resulting from military expansion, had caused the supply of acceptable works to lag behind the demand. The Reichsstelle planned to commission new works, especially operettas, and to rework old compositions to render them more "appropriate."

By 1943 it had already commissioned the revision of operettas set in Poland; the setting of the librettos was to be changed to German or German-occupied locations (e.g., the setting of Mill6cker's Bettelstu- dent was moved from Cracow to Breslau, and Nedbal's Polenblut was renamed Erntebraut and set in Bohemia). Further plans included reworkings of Handel oratorios that had become "undesirable" because of their Old Testament subjects92 and of Bach cantatas rendered "intolerable" (unleidlich) by their Pietist texts.93 Drewes's speech also outlined plans for a scholarly work:

Furthermore the Reichsstelle has arranged for the editing of a collaborative work suggested by me that will soon appear from Max Hesse- Verlag and which summarizes the influence of German music on neighboring lands; finally giving honor to the truth, it will thus pick out the facts and present quite a different picture of European music history.94

The scholarly work in question was never published, but Moser's papers, preserved in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, include an item that fits Drewes's description: an uncatalogued box containing a large

9' Moser, "Von der Tiitigkeit der Reichsstelle foir Musikbearbeitungen," Jahrbuch der deutschen Musik .943, ed. Hellmuth von Hase (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hirtel; and Berlin: Max Hesse ['9431), 78-82; and Heinz Drewes, "Die Reichsstelle fiir Musik- bearbeitungen," Allgemeine Musikzeitung 70 (1943): 2 5-27.

92 On attempts of Nazi theologians to eradicate the Old Testament from the Christian liturgy and church music, see Doris L. Bergen, Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, forthcoming). I am grateful to the author for providing me with copies of the page proofs.

93 Moser, "Von der Titigkeit," 80, 82. 94 "Weiter wird fiir die Reichsstelle die Redaktion eines von mir angeregten

Mehrminnerbuches besorgt, das demnichst im Max [H]esse Verlag erscheinen wird und den Einfluf der deutschen [M]usik auf die Nachbarlinder zusammenfassend schildert; es wird sich so-der Wahrheit endlich die Ehre gebend--ein vielfach anderes Bild der europiischen Musikgeschichte als ehedem herausschilen." Drewes, "Reichsstelle," 26. Moser's essay must have been written before Drewes's speech, for it fails to mention the project at all, referring only to plans for "a whole series of important, more musicological works," on which he planned to report in a later volume of the Jahrbuch. Moser, "Von der Taitigkeit," 82.

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER 97 folder of publication proofs for eight essays by various authors, a manuscript introduction by Drewes, and a manuscript overview by Moser. Moser wrote on the folder the title "Die deutsche Musik und ihre Nachbarn" and the phrase "unveriffentl[icht] 1943 Reichs- stelle."95 In the introduction, Drewes outlined the purpose of the work: to demonstrate Germany's profound influence on the musical cultures of its neighbors throughout the centuries. The essays, penned by Moser, Fellerer, Engel, and others, trace centuries-long ties between German music and the music of those neighboring countries either occupied by German troops or allied with Germany at the time of the writing. Bearing titles such as "German Influences in Magyar Music," "German Music in the French-Speaking Region," and "The Exchange of German and Italian Music," the essays attempt to highlight aspects of the music-historical relationships of Germany to its neighbors that paralleled the political reality: Germany's "influence" in Hungary, "presence" in France, and "reciprocity" with Italy.96

The arguments in these essays brought the technique of musicological justification of foreign policy and military expansion to new heights. The essays are generally much longer and more thoroughly researched than most of the published articles discussed above. The work as a whole also considers countries not yet examined in other literature, with separate essays on France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, as well as shorter discussions of Spain, Portugal, and the Baltic states. This work also surpasses earlier literature by making direct references to the current situation of

9s "Die deutsche Musik und ihre Nachbarn," [ed. H. J. Moser], unpublished, in an uncatalogued box in the Moser Papers. Although the poor quality of the paper and the abundance of typographical errors indicate that these were proofs for a publication, they cannot, as a unit, be traced to any existing published volume. Only two subsequent publications, Fellerer's essay "Holland in der europiischen Musik des 19. Jahrhunderts" and Engel's I944 book Deutschland und Italien, cited above, bear any resemblance to the material in this unpublished collection. Engel's lengthy contribution, entitled "Deutsche und italienische Musik im Austausch," is incomplete in this version but uses much of the same material as the I944 book.

96 The contributions were as follows: Heinz Drewes, "Zum Geleit" (typescript); HansJoachim Moser, "Zusammenschau" (typescript); Karl Gustav Fellerer, "Deutsch- Vlimische Musikbeziehungen" (proofs); "Deutsche Einfliisse in der magyarischen Musik" (proofs); Karl Gustav Fellerer, "Holland und Deutschland in der Musik- geschichte" (proofs); Bernhard Engelke, "Deutsche und danische Musikbeziehungen" (proofs); "Die deutsche Tonkunst in Siidslawien" (proofs); Reinhold Zimmermann, "Deutsche Musik im franzosischen Sprachbereich" (proofs); Theodor Veidl, "Die Musik im Bohmisch-Mahrischen Raum" (proofs); and Hans Engel, "Deutsche und italienische Musik im Austausch" (proofs, incomplete).


musical life under German occupation, praising the efforts of occu- pying forces to raise the standards of these otherwise culturally deprived regions. With the exception of Engel's characteristically ambivalent treatment of Italy, the collection as a whole proclaims Germany's musical superiority in the strongest terms, embracing long periods of history and covering most of western and central Europe.

Drewes's introduction praised the work for examining the musical connections among nations, especially where Germany influenced other musical cultures. Germans were always respectful of indigenous cultures, and German influence, always welcomed and never forced upon the host country, came to radiate over the centuries in the "power and warmth of our Volkstum."97 This theme would resurface in some of the essays as a metaphor for the "welcome" entry of the invading German troops. Taking up some of Drewes's themes, Moser's overview traced the influence of German music in foreign lands that would not be covered in other essays. In his discussion on Spain, he drew attention to the similarity of voice-crossing techniques in the organ compositions of Paul Hofhaimer and his younger Spanish contemporary Antonio Cabez6n, attributing it either to an indirect teacher-student relationship via a student of Hofhaimer who died in Spain, or to "a blood tie" going back to the Visigoths which then manifested itself in the use of "related structural principles."98 He described the transformation of England from a musically rich "export" nation to an impoverished "import" nation, with Germany serving as the largest supplier, especially during the "reign" of Handel. Contrary to popular belief, Handel never lost his German identity, and the alleged English influences on his works were more likely Handel's own influence on a musical style later identified as English. "Rule Britannia" and "God Save the King," Moser claimed, were the creations of two of Handel's pupils. In the nineteenth century, a desire

97"Die 'Geschichte der deutschen Musik', wie sie H. J. Moser seit 1920 dreibaindig, seit 1938 einbindig dargestellt hat und nun auch als 'Musikleistung der deutschen Stimme' kulturgeographisch bearbeitet, galt es als gegeben vorauszu- setzen, um jetzt ihre Aus- wie Einstrahlungen auf dem Beziehungssektor zu jedem Nachbarvolk von den besten Kennern darstellen zu lassen. Dass dabei die Protuber- anzen zahlreicher sind als die Fremdeinbriiche, liegt im Wesen jeder Sonne, so hier der ein hellstes Licht durch viele Jahrhunderte hinaussendenden Kraft- und Wiirme- quelle unseres Volkstums." Drewes, "Zum Geleit."

98 ,,... ob da (etwa iiber Hofhaimers venezianischem Schiiler Dioniso Memmo, der in Spanien gestorben ist), eine Schiilerschaft konstruierbar ist, oder ob nicht weit eher eine Blutsgemeinschaft aus alten westgotischen Stamm zu verwandten Gestalt- ungsprinzipien gefiihrt hat, wird kaum zu entscheiden sein." Moser, "Zusammen- schau," 25.

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER 99 to be "Germanic" prevailed in England: Beethoven and Goethe enjoyed great popularity, and the presence of German musicians was so strong that even Jews were mistakenly welcomed as Germans (e.g., Joachim and Moscheles). Moser criticized the modern English public for exercising no independent judgment or understanding of art music and striving to be fashionable and "smart," and their musical culture had become so "strongly influenced by Negroes" ("stark vernegert") that it could hardly be considered European anymore.99

The essays that were to follow Moser's introduction place occupied countries roughly into two categories: (i) those with "Germanic" populations (parts of Belgium, Holland, and to some extent Denmark) and (2) those with non-Germanic populations that attempted to pass off a derivative of German music as their own native product (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and France). Fellerer's contributions on Flanders and Holland both rest on the assumption that these regions are populated by "Germanic tribes."'"' Fellerer clearly endorsed the current German occupation of both regions with euphemistic allusions to the recent activity of German troops: the

99 "Aber unter den Musiknationen des Erdteils nimmt England gleichwohl seit rund 300 Jahren einen im Verhiltnis zu seinen vierzig Millionen sehr geringen Rang ein-sein Unterhaltungsmusikstil wird zwar von den 'mondinen' Verehrern seines Smokingsitzes fiir besonders 'smart' gehalten, ist aber bereits so stark vernegert dass er als 'europiisch' kaum mehr gerechnet werden kann." Ibid., 37-

"oo Medieval Flanders, in his view, was not only "spiritually" Germanic, it also stood as a "bulwark against the invasion of western neighbors" (Fellerer, "Deutsch- Vlamische Musikbeziehungen," 1-2). Holland had an even closer relationship to Germany, having been a part of the "Reich" (presumably the Holy Roman Empire) throughout the Middle Ages, and having musically "resisted" non-German influences by adhering to the germanische Fassung of Gregorian chant, even into the eighteenth century (Fellerer, "Holland und Deutschland in der Musikgeschichte," 48, 50-52). This "Germanic version" of chant probably refers to Peter Wagner's identification of "Germanic dialect" in chant, which was discovered to have spread to Eastern Europe and Scandinavia in the Middle Ages (see Alexander Blachly, "Some Observations on the 'Germanic' Plainchant Tradition," Studies in Medieval Music: Festschrift for Ernest H. Sanders, special issue of Current Musicology 45-47 [I1990]: 85-1 I7). It was also a manifestation of what Fellerer defined as basic "Germanic" musical tendencies, e.g., striving toward clear distinctions between individual pitches and showing a preference for syllabic text setting. By identifying the importance of individual tones of a scale as a feature of the "Germanic feeling," Fellerer is echoing the popular theory of the time that the roots of tonality lay in early forms of Germanic expression and stemmed from an inherited musical taste. Fellerer had elaborated on these and other distinct qualities of Germanic chant in his Deutsche Gregorianik im Frankenreich (Regensburg: Bosse, 1941). On the diatonic implications of the Germanic dialect, see Jainos Mezei, "Zur Problematik des 'germanischen' Chordialekts," in Cantus Planus: Papers Read at the Third Meeting, Tihany, Hungary, 19-24 September 1988 (Budapest: Hungarian Acad- emy of Sciences, I990), 57. My thanks to PeterJeffery for calling my attention to this and the Blachly citation.

I 00 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

increase in the "reception" of German music in Holland since 1940 was "supported" as consistent with preserving a "Germanic cultural unit.",OI

Bernhard Engelke's essay on Danish music relied on the common Nordic roots of Germanic and Danish tribes to explain the musical ties between Denmark and Germany. Engelke noted a striking resemblance between Danish and German folk music and cited Denmark's long history of political instability as the cause of its failure to develop an independent art music tradition. Occasionally vulnerable to French and Italian "superficial taste" (Geschmdckerei), Danish musical life remained for most of its history in German hands. Scheibe worked there for many years, the Singspiel flourished,'o2 the "Ger- man-blooded" master I. P. Hartmann inspired a Nordic revival in the nineteenth century, and the most important Danish composer, Niels Gade, exhibited in his symphonies an "intellectual" and "tribal kinship" with Schumann and Brahms.'03

Hungary falls into the second category of "neighbor," namely one that lacked an indigenous musical culture and claimed German music practiced within its borders as its own native product. In the anony- mous essay on Magyar music, the author maintained that true Magyar folk music disappeared with the influx of Christianity, and Hungary gratefully "soaked up" foreign, especially German, musical culture like "dry sand."'04 When German cities arose in Hungary, the educated public showed an unwavering preference for the German product over the attempts to revive an indigenous musical art.'15 More recently

"o' "So wird auch die gesteigerte Aufnahme deutscher Musik und deutscher Opern seit I940 in germanischer Kultureinheit gefordert." Fellerer, "Holland und Deutschland in der Musikgeschichte," 85.

2"' Engelke, "Deutsche und dinische Musikbeziehungen," 91-103, 106-9, 124- The author cites Claus Schall's Chinafabrer as an especially popular and "realistic" example of a Danish Singspiel which displays anti-Semitic elements.

0o3 Engelke, "Deutsche und dinische Musikbeziehungen," 128-30. o04 "Als das christliche K6nigreich Ungarn durch Fiden der Politik mit den

Lindern des Abendlandes, vor allem mit den deutschen Gebieten enger verbunden wurde, begann die westliche Musik sich iiberraschend schnell iiber Ungarn zu ergieBen. Wie trockener Sand sog das Land gierig die fremde Musik ein." "Deutsche Einfliisse in der magyarischen Musik," 35.

o05 Ibid., 35, 37, 40-41. In the nineteenth century, the strong desire to have a national art led to the development of the Verbunkos, but this was, in the author's opinion, nothing more than a mixture of Italian, Slavic, Viennese, and German dance styles which were nevertheless promulgated as indigenous creations. The attempts to transform the Verbunkos into art music revealed its German essence: the author claims that Brahms could set the Verbunkos in his Hungarian Dances as well as any Hungarian composer could, thus yielding solid proof of its German origins. The midpoint of the

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER IOI

Hungary's best musicians went to Germany to study and to pursue careers, while at home ambitious Jews conspired to dominate the musical scene.Io6

The Czechs (not to be confused with the Germans/Bohemians concentrated in the Sudetenland) also allegedly lacked any indigenous musical tradition. Theodor Veidl's essay "Die Musik im B6hmisch- Mdihrischen Raum" admitted difficulty in distinguishing between Czechs and Germans living side by side, but nevertheless he managed to detect strong German influences and minimal Czech influences in the dominant musical practices. The polka bore a striking resemblance to the older Rheinliinder, and other typically "Czech" dances proved to have Bavarian origins. Even Smetana, the hero of Czech national music, used Haydn's "Kaiser hymn" in the first and last movements of his Triumph Symphony, and one could classify The Bartered Bride as a great achievement in German Spieloper.'?7 Bohe- mian music history belonged unequivocally to German music history; on the other hand the Czechs, a small, ambitious people, served as catalysts for Panslavism but possessed neither originality nor a native musical style..o8

The unnamed author of the essay on Yugoslavia ("Die deutsche Tonkunst in Siidslawien") claimed that a heavy German influence on art music and music education persisted from the tenth century to the present, even when this German influence emanated from Jews. The author also strove to dismiss the claims of Yugoslavian scholars that Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven borrowed motives from Croatian melodies.'`9 Further promoting the theme of host countries "welcoming" German "influence," the author noted that a "strong prolif- eration of German concert activity" since the occupation by German troops in i941 was "winning over many grateful friends of German music."• "o

nineteenth century saw a brief flowering of Hungarian romantic art music with Liszt, but this was cut short by the "victory" of Richard Wagner over a weak and vulnerable Hungarian musical tradition.

x06 Ibid., 45-46. 107 Theodor Veidl, "Die Musik im B6hmisch-MAhrischen Raum," 319, 320-21,

332, 337-41. According to Veidl, the alleged Slavic melody of the opening chorus was reminiscent of the theme in the rondo of Mozart's A-minor sonata.

"o8 Veidl, "Die Musik im B6hmisch-MAhrischen Raum," 346-47. ,09 "Die deutsche Tonkunst in Siidslawien," 131-34, 141-52, 155-I67a. o. "Eine starke Ausweitung deutscher Konzerttitigkeit ergab sich mit der 1941

erforderlichen Besetzung des ehemaligen Jugoslawien, besonders des serbischen Raumes. Im Gefolge des deutschen Soldaten schritt auch der deutsche Kiinstler und


Arguably the most ruthless attack in this collection comes forth in Reinhold Zimmermann's "Deutsche Musik im franz6sischen Sprach- bereich." Choosing the title "German Music in the French-Speaking Area" rather than "German Music in France," Zimmermann focused his study on areas in France that had allegedly been cut off from their Germanic origins. These essentially Germanic regions notably produced most of the greatest "so-called French" composers of early music: Ldonin and Perotin, Philippe de Vitry, and the Franco-Flemish masters of the Renaissance, all of whom possessed in their blood a particular "Germanic" way of approaching composition. Later "French" composers were either foreigners or natives of these Ger- manic regions: Lully, Viotti, and Cherubini (Italy); Gr&try (Liege); Gossec (Hainault); Monsigny and Lesueur (West Flanders); and M6hul (Southern Ardennes). Rameau was a follower of the Italian Lully, Berlioz was "three-quarters German," and Cesar Franck was Belgian."'

Questioning the very existence of a "French music," Zimmermann blamed Jews for France's musical poverty. He attributed the lack of a definitive French musical style to extensive racial mixing in the thirteenth century and the eradication of the "bearer of culture," the Nordic race (Franks, Visigoths, Alemannics, etc.). This racial mixing allowed Jews to assume a leading role in defining the "Frenchness" of such composers as the "slippery eel" Saint-Saens. Given the lack of substance and depth resulting from racial dilution, one could understand how the richness of Germany's musical heritage could be so welcome and so influential in France."' Zimmermann questioned the French origins of the keyboard suite, claiming that its actual creator was Froberger, and he designated French opera as the domain of the Jews, graphically recounting how "the poison of Judaism" spread into all the "pores and arteries" of the French population ("in allen Poren und Adern des franz6sischen Volksleibes eindringenden Gift des Judentums")."3 Closing with a pernicious if somewhat euphemistic commentary on the fate of French Jewry, he described how the

hat seither eine Fiille von Veranstaltungen bewirkt, die der deutschen Tonkunst viele dankbare Freunde zufiihrten." Ibid., I67a. .. Zimmermann, "Deutsche Musik im franz6sischen Sprachbereich," 169-71, 177, 182.

,.2 Ibid., 171-75. Zimmerman showed an early interest in the "Jewish question" in music, having published an article "Das Wesen der jiidischen Musik" in I925 in the nationalistic periodical Deutschlands Erneuerung.

"13 Zimmermann, "Deutsche Musik im franzosischen Sprachbereich," 184, 222-

24, 231, 239.

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER I03

German occupation of France in 1940 "aggressively held back" the spread of the "Jewish musical spirit," giving way to a thriving cultivation of German music. "4

Although the genesis of "Die deutsche Musik und ihre Nachbarn" can be pieced together from only a handful of sources, the work nevertheless reveals a musicologist's desire to demonstrate his qualifications for and interest in taking on more important cultural and political tasks. The earliest documented discussion of plans for "Die deutsche Musik und ihre Nachbarn," a draft of a letter dated 21 March 1941, reveals far-reaching ambitions to apply musicological expertise to the Germanization of the East (see Appendix B). The document, addressed from "Leiter M" ("Director M," i.e., head of the Music Division of the Propaganda Ministry, Heinz Drewes) to "the Minis- ter" (Goebbels), with minor corrections in Moser's hand, outlines the purpose for undertaking the unnamed project that would become "Die deutsche Musik und ihre Nachbarn." The letter emphasizes the need for "musical-cultural reforestation" of the German East, a goal which could not be attained merely through financial means but rather by securing a scholarly foundation of musicological research on the historical evidence of German influence in these regions. The author (Drewes and/or Moser) expresses disappointment about the lack of German musicological activity in the East, attributing the situation in part to the influence of Viennese musicology, which had been in "Jewish hands" (Hanslick and Adler) for half a century. The letter then includes some evidence of German musical hegemony dating as far back as the thirteenth century and suggests a number of historical topics focusing on German musical influence in Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Baltic countries.

The concerns of the author went well beyond the publication of historical essays, however. The letter goes on to emphasize the need for the study "in order that out of this cultural-geographic picture of music history it will be possible to develop the cultural-political tasks and possibilities for the present and the future in these vast regions that are once again entrusted to us.""5 It is clear that the author had

14 "Die Besetzung Frankreichs durch die deutsche Truppen 1940 dimmte die weitere Ausbreitung jiidischen Musikgeistes kriftig ein. Dafiir hat eine verstirkte Pflege deutscher Musik planmissig eingesetzt." Ibid., 239.

" s "Leiter M" (Drewes, with corrections by Moser) to "Herrn Minister" (Goeb- bels), 21 March 1941, Moser Papers. This letter, dated 2 March 1941, is one of only three extant letters written prior to I945 in the catalogued portions of the Moser papers. There is one other dated 1941 and one from i932, followed by letters from 1946 on.


practical, far-reaching political applications in mind for which this project would lay the groundwork; he foresaw, moreover, an opportunity for scholars to assume an influential role in the building of German musical life in the expanded Reich.

Such were musicologists' motivations for launching the project. The fact that Goebbels would support such a large-scale scholarly undertaking suggests that he, too, saw special merit in it, and the project's political relevance inspired others to follow suit. A memo from Gerigk dated February 1942 refers to "a large, comprehensive presentation of European music history," financed by the Propaganda Ministry, the "goal" of which would be "to demonstrate German influence in all European lands in a faultless scientific manner.""'6 Drewes had asked Gerigk to contribute a chapter on the Baltic states and mentioned that Moser would write substantial portions of the work, but Gerigk declined because he believed that a lack of prior research would render such a project unmanageable. The suggestion apparently alerted Gerigk that such an approach to European music history was in vogue, for three months later he invited Rudolf Gerber to join him in exploiting this interest in German musical influence with a trip to France. Under Rosenberg's sponsorship, the two traveled to Paris in late October 1942, allegedly to investigate "the influence of German musicians on the musical culture of France.""7 The research trip was deemed kriegswichtig, that is, worthy of contin- uation during the war, because the material they were viewing-- unique prints of works by Germans from 1750 to I83O--would not be accessible under normal peacetime circumstances."`8

"6"Am I8.2.1942 hatte ich eine lingere Unterredung mit dem Leiter des Reichspropagandaministeriums, Dr. Drewes. Im Verlaufe der Unterredung erzahlte er, dass unter seiner Leitung und finanziert aus Mitteln des Propagandaministeriums eine umfassende grosse Darstellung der europaischen Musikgeschichte vorbereitet wird.... Das Ziel der Musikgeschichte soil sein, den deutschen Einfluss in allen europaischen Ldndern wissenschaftlich einwandfrei darzulegen." File memo by Gerigk, 21 February 1942, BA NS 15/99.

"7 "Prof. Dr. Gerber, Giessen war von Ende Oktober bis Anfang November im Auftrage der Hohen Schule in Paris, um dort Materialarbeiten ftir eine gr6ssere Untersuchung iiber den Einfluss deutscher Musiker auf die Musikkultur Frankreichs durchzufiihren." Gerigk to Hohe Schule planning office, 16 December 1942, BA NS 15/25

I1 8 "Die Durchftihrung dieser Arbeit ist kriegswichtig, weil wir an die fur unsere

Arbeit erforderlichen Bibliotheksbestande in normalen Zeiten sicher nicht heran- kommen. Die uns interessierenden Werke waren ja auch bezeichnenderweise simtlich nicht katalogisiert und infolgedessen fiir die Forschung bisher praktisch nicht vorhanden." Gerigk to Gerber, 8 May 1942, BA NS 15/25.


Conclusions

A broad examination of musicology under Hitler suggests that musicologists found pragmatic reasons to work for the Nazi regime that ranged from career advancement and financial gain even to the desire to have access to rare musicological resources. As Hitler came to power with an agenda of economic and structural reforms, artists and intellectuals frustrated with the Weimar Republic's inertia welcomed the Nazis' blueprints for cultural revitalization."9 Musicolo- gists had already shown an inclination in nonscholarly literature to prove their potential usefulness to society, and they continued to pursue this aim after 1933, responding favorably to the regime's invitation for those with a sympathetic world view to branch out beyond the academy. Since one of Hitler's main objectives was to renew national pride, and since full rehabilitation of German identity would have to draw on the rich history of German music, musicologists were in an optimal position finally to prove the value of their profession to the Volk and to gain influence with a new regime.

Nevertheless, the diligence and zeal evident from published writings and unpublished correspondence implies that more than ambi- tion alone motivated their actions, especially as the war progressed. The prospect of firmly establishing German music as the predominant music of Europe may have provided the most important intersection of beliefs between German musicologists and Nazi policy-makers. The centrality of music to German Volk-identity and the belief in German musical superiority were by no means Nazi inventions; even in J. S. Bach's time, one can find statements attesting to Germany's musical strength,2o and Forkel's I802 biography of Bach exclaimed that "this man, the greatest musical poet and the greatest musical orator that ever existed, and probably ever will exist, was a German.

"9 Alan E. Steinweis, Art, Ideology, and Economics in Nazi Germany (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993).

•o Scheibe asserted in a language surprisingly similar to Hans Engel's that "the so-called Italian music as we now know it in the works of our greatest German composers" could even be of German origin ("Und wer weis nicht, dai die sogenannte italienische Musik, so wie wir sie itzo in den Werken unseren gro6ten deutschen Componisten erblicken, selbst deutscher Abkunft ist; und daf sie also niemals das Ansehen wiirde erlanget haben, in welchem sie sich itzo befindet"). Johann Adolph Scheibe, Critischer Musicus (Leipzig: Breitkopf, 1745; reprint, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, I970], i5th issue [17 September I737], I48).


Let his country be proud of him; let it be proud, but at the same time, worthy of him!""'

Throughout most of the nineteenth century, the notion of Ger- man musical superiority was important in developing a sense of German nationhood."' Nationalist convictions had become so deeply ingrained by the end of the century that some music historians tended to frame the history of Western music as an uninterrupted process leading to German hegemony."3 Hugo Riemann, in an otherwise balanced treatment, devoted many pages to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, designated as the age of the "great German masters," and admitted almost apologetically that he, too, lived in an age still dominated by the memory of Beethoven.'24

After Riemann's death in 1919, postwar nationalism pervaded general surveys of music history to the extent that some authors not only focused more attention on Germany than any other country but also tried to find traces of special German talents throughout history. Alfred Einstein, in his popular short survey, went back to the earliest historical evidence to isolate a particular German musical spirit that withstood periods of foreign domination, only to express itself freely in Bach, in Haydn's "great deeds of the German spirit" ("GroBtaten des deutschen Geistes"), and in Weber's "purest expression of the German essence" ("eine Seite deutschen Wesens am reinsten ausge- prdigt").'2s Einstein, too, was and continued to be a German musicol-

"' Quoted in Celia Applegate, "What is German Music? Reflections on the Role of Art in the Creation of a Nation," German Studies Review: Special Issue, German Identity (Winter 1992): 28.

'. Ibid., 21-32; and Sanna Pedersen, "On the Task of the Music Historian: The Myth of the Symphony after Beethoven," Repercussions 2 (1993): 5-30.

123 E.g., Karl Storck, Geschichte der Musik (Stuttgart: Muthsche Verlagshandlung, I904).

124 "Da0 wir die Kunst Beethovens noch nicht hinter uns haben, sondern noch mitten in der Epoche leben, deren HJhepunkt sie bildet, dariiber kann sich wohl eine ernste historische Betrachtung nicht tiuschen." Hugo Riemann, Das Zeitalter der Renaissance, 2d ed., vol. 2, pt. i of Handbuch der Musikgeschichte (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hirtel, 1920), 15-

x25 Alfred Einstein, Geschichte der Musik (Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, 1922), 62, 79, 94-95. Einstein further identifies polyphony as "der Keim nordischen Musikempfin- dens" (p. 9) and reiterates that "die Freude am harmonischen Zusammenklang gehort zur volkischen Eigenart der Nordminner" (p. 14). Accounting for the apparent lull in German musical production during the sixteenth century, he maintains that Germans pursued quality in their music making "durch den reinen Ton der Melodik, das Streben nach organischer Erfindung und instrumentaler Klangfiille, die Abneigung gegen blofe Satzspiele um ihrer selbst willen" (p. 21 ). Other surveys with a heavy concentration on German music history include Joseph Miiller-Blattau, Einfiihrung in die Musikgeschichte (Berlin: Vieweg, [1932]), and Hans Joachim Moser, Lehrbuch der


ogist with nationalist convictions, even after colleagues in the 1930s severed ties with him and stripped him of his duties in an attempt to convince him that a Jew could never be a German.,26

Germany's musical potency proved invincible in the survival of musical institutions through the First World War and subsequent periods of economic instability. Moser proudly reported in 1928 that Germany had managed to maintain approximately fifty opera houses and "perhaps 150 orchestras of rank" through the vicissitudes of war and inflation, a clear indication of music's position among the nation's priorities.27 Racial explanations of German musical talent had also predated Hitler, and those musicologists who chose to engage, even skeptically, in racial studies after 1933 directed their interests toward proving German superiority rather than "Jewish inferiority."'I8 By 1938, much of the enthusiastic language in musicological Lebensraum writings represented more than just conformity to popular jingoistic rhetoric; rather it revealed a belief that German music was one of the nation's most valuable assets, a conviction which would find sympathy with authorities praising music as "the most German of the arts."

The defeat of Germany in the Second World War forced German scholars in 1945 to purge their field of overt nationalism, of pseudo- scientific methodologies, and above all of any traces of racist senti- ment. The revelations of the horrors of genocide made it especially crucial to qualify or eradicate any methodologies or research interests that might imply sympathy with Nazi ideology. Yet certain elements of Germanocentrism were so firmly established in musicology that they not only survived the "denazification" of the discipline but also migrated to the United States with the victims of National Socialism, becoming an essential part of our own intellectual history. Refugees arrived to find not only room for growth in American musicology, but also a concert life supportive of European and particularly German art music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Emigre musicolo-

Musikgeschichte (Berlin: Hesse, 1936), the latter intended to replace Riemann's Handbuch as a comprehensive overview for musicology students.

16 See Potter, "Die Lage der jiidischen Musikwissenschaftler," and "From Jewish Exile in Germany to German Scholar in America: Alfred Einstein's Emigration," in The Musical Migration from Germany and Austria to the United States, ed. Reinhold Brinkmann and Christoph Wolff (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, forthcoming).

127 , s. . so kann man daraus ablesen, was die Musik im geistigen Haushalt der Nation bedeutet." Hans Joachim Moser, Geschichte der deutschen Musik, 2d ed. (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1928), 3:467.

12 The application of racial studies is discussed in chapter 6 of Potter, German Musicology and Society.


gists like Einstein, Geiringer, and Schrade, whose research intersected with the concert repertory, could continue to contribute to a Ger- manocentric concept of music history that still persists in such basic venues as textbooks, particularly in their coverage of the last two centuries.

While American musicology is by no means a direct descendant of the musicological manifestations of Nazi ideology, the two do share common roots in the German intellectual tradition that gave rise to the discipline of musicology. German musicology came to America via a very different route, but even victims of National Socialism had no reason to abandon their German identity, which they chose to distinguish from the barbaric, so-called Germanism they had left behind."9 They, too, had internalized a belief in German musical superiority at a time when German identity needed to be shaped and reinforced, and they inevitably passed that ideology on to their students in the process of disseminating their knowledge and methodologies. It is logical that German nationalism should have had a strong tradition in German musicology, not the least because the discipline itself was born in an atmosphere of campaigning for unification and promoting the idea of a German nation that persisted to the end of the Second World War. But American musicologists today do not work in the political climate in which these ideas were shaped. American scholarship benefited from the influx of refugee scholars and musicians and owes a great debt to German methodolog- ical foundations, but Germanocentric elements have lost the relevance they possessed in the political climate of Germany in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The impetus to preserve the German musical legacy does not, on its own, explain the full range of motivations behind the writings and actions discussed here and leaves many disturbing questions unan- swered. First, how could musicologists collaborate with an anti- intellectual regime so focused on indoctrinating an entire nation? In attempting to answer this question it is important to distinguish between the early years of the Nazi regime and the period leading up to and including the war. From 1937 on, as musicologists wrote Lebensraum propaganda and took orders from Rosenberg, Goebbels, and Himmler, Goebbels was in the midst of a campaign to downplay the Nazis' anti-intellectual program. He gave high priority to book production throughout the war and promoted scholarly works on

"9 See Potter, "From Jewish Exile in Germany to German Scholar in America."


war-related subjects well into I944.13' Simultaneously, German public opinion generally gravitated toward an ever-growing wartime enthusiasm, such that even after severe military setbacks crowds could respond to Goebbels's call for total war with a resounding "Ja!" Hitler reached the height of his popularity with Germany's swift overrun of the west, as the country looked ahead to a European continent under their domination.'3' He even won a renewed vote of confidence after successfully thwarting an assassination attempt in July of I944. Meanwhile Goebbels used all resources available to him to sustain optimism long after it should have collapsed, encouraging extensive looting in occupied territories in order to guarantee a higher standard of living in Germany than in all other war-torn countries in Eu- rope.'32

Second, how could musicologists ignore the wholesale eradication of Jewish colleagues? When the Deutsche Musikgesellschaft voted to terminate Alfred Einstein's seventeen-year tenure as editor of the Zeitschrift fir Musikwissenschaft in order to maximize its chances of receiving support from the new government, only one prominent scholar, Johannes Wolf, protested Einstein's dismissal and withdrew from the board of directors.133 These leading representatives of German musicology, while not completely indifferent, evidently re- garded the potential benefits of collaboration as far outweighing the loss of one valued colleague. Studies of German popular opinion show that they were not alone: intellectuals in general saw the expulsion of Jews as an opportunity for advancement. Moreover, the German population at large remained passive as acts of terror against the Jews went on around them, opposing anti-Jewish policy only when it

130 Robert Herzstein, The War that Hitler Won: The Most Infamous Propaganda Campaign in History (New York: Putnam, I978), I87-94.

13' Gerhard Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 170-205.

132 Gordon Craig, Germany 1866-1945 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 758-62; Herzstein, The War That Hitler Won, 391-400; and Weinberg, A World At Arms, 782-83.

'33 "Was Sie gefiirchtet haben und was ich in meiner Naivitiit fiir unm6glich gehalten habe, ist gekommen: man verlangt Ihre Abberufung als Schriftleiter der Zeitschrift. Der Vorstand hat sich vor einigen Tagen mit der Frage beschiftigen miissen und ist zu dem Ergebnis gelangt, daB es unm6glich ist, gegen die Zeitstr6m- ungen anzurennen, zumal das Unternehmen vom Staat Subvention verlangen muf3." Wolf to Einstein, 25 June 1933, folder 1038, Alfred Einstein Memorabilia, Coll. No. I, Music Library, University of California at Berkeley. In the same letter, Wolf announced that he was resigning from his seat on the executive board. One other member of the DMG, Annelise Landau, also withdrew from the society out of solidarity with Einstein (Landau to Breitkopf und Hiirtel, 28 August 1938, folder 58 1).

I I0 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

threatened to turn Jews into martyrs or to incite anti-German repercussions abroad.'34 The national pogrom in 1938 known as Kristallnacht prompted initial outrage, with the educated bourgeoisie condemning it as an affront to German Kultur,'35 but in the course of the war, the majority of Germans felt increasingly indifferent to the fate of the Jews, allowing Goebbels to continue to focus his war propaganda against Jews and Bolshevists.'36

The postwar silence on the subject of musicology under Hitler caused later generations to distance themselves from the writings and activities of their predecessors, and the initial tendency to pass judgment on individuals hindered a critical examination of the manner in which musicologists in Nazi Germany chose to relate their scholarship to other aspects of their lives. In the spring of 1983, a brief notice in I9th-Century Music summarized the events of the North Carolina conference and its consequences, closing with the comment, "As of this writing, the final results on the affaire Boetticher are probably not yet in."'37 Perhaps such matters are best left unresolved; for any resolution that seeks to pass judgment on select individuals and their actions risks further isolating this problematic chapter in the history of the discipline. A contextual investigation of musicology in the Third Reich, beyond highlighting the links between German and Amer- ican scholarship, should provide insights into the motivations of those working under Hitler and remind scholars of the often unexpected ramifications of their work and the not so obvious links between scholarship and politics.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

134 David Bankier, The Germans and the Final Solution: Public Opinion under Nazism (Oxford and Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992), 69-75-

135 Ibid., 87-88. 136 Herzstein, The War That Hitler Won, 388-89. '37 9th-Century Music 6 (1982-83): 278-

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER I I I

APPENDIX A

9.2.1942 Oranienburgerstr. 79

Einsatzstab der Dienststellen des Reichsleiter Rosenberg

Sonderstab Musik

An den Reichsstellenleiter Pg. Dr. Wolfgang Boetticher

Berlin-Charlottenburg Bismarckstr. I

Dr. Gk/Lu

VereinbarungsgemdiB reisen Sie am 8. Februar 1942 im Auftrage des Sonderstabes Musik als wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter in die baltischen Staaten. Sie haben den Auftrag, die informatorischen Arbeiten der Pgg. Dr. Killer und Dr. Sachse weiter zu fiihren und einen vorliiufigen Abschluss der Fahndungen zu erreichen. Zu den vordringlichen Aufgaben rechnen:

i. Feststellung der in 6ffentlichen und wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken vorhan- denen Musikhandschriften und Musikdrucken. Es kommt hauptsichlich auf solche Dokumente an, die deutscher Herkunft sind und die politische Bedeutung des Ostraumes zeigen. Die Stiicke miissen in einer Kartothek erfasst werden, die wertvollsten Dokumente sind fotografisch festzuhalten.

2. Laut Fiihrerbefehl haben Sie alle musikalischen Dokumente einschliesslich Musikinstrumente aus jiidischem Privatbesitz sofort vor der Vernichtung, Beschid- igung, oder Verschleppung sicherzustellen. Eine Zusammenarbeit mit den Aussen- stellen des SD ist zweckmissig. Geeignetes Material wird, wie in bisherigen Faillen der Hohen Schule zugefiihrt.

3. Die mittelalterlichen Musikdokumente sind auch in Klostern und anderen Bibliotheken zu erfassen, die sonst nicht allgemein zugainglich sind. Es wird gerade auf solche Sammlungen, die bisher der deutschen Wissenschaft nicht bekannt werden konnten, Wert gelegt.

4. Die Lager einzelner Schallplattenfirmen sind zu ermitteln und auf feindliches bzw. jiidisches Material durchzukiimmen. Bei der Auswahl dieser Platten ist durchweg ein strenger Ma[f]stab anzulegen. Das bedeutet, dass auch solche Platten, bei denen jiidische Kiinstler nur zu einem Teil mitgewirkt haben, unbedingt auch zu erfassen sind. Da erfahrungsgemAss Schallplatten[ ]fremden Zugriffen am leichtesten aus- gegetzt sind, hat sofort nach der Durchsuchung eine Versiegelung der BestAnde zu erfolgen.

5. Die Rundfunksender sind auf ihren Noten- und Plattenbestand zu iiberpriifen. Bei der Bearbeitung dieser Dokumente ist wie unter 4. zu verfahren.

6. Die Akten der Konzertdirektionen und Agenturen sind genau durchzusehen. Es kommt hier besonders die Uberpriifung des deutschen Schriftverkehrs mit diesen auslAndischen Agenturen in Betracht.

7. SAmtliche Juden, die als Musiker im dortigen Raum hervorgetreten sind, sind bibliographisch genau aufzunehmen, da diese Unterlagen des parteiamtlichen Lex- ikons der Juden in der Musik dringend erforderlich sind. Auch hier diirfte sich die kameradschaftliche Zusammanarbeit mit den Aufenstellen des SD bewihren. Dar- iiberhinaus ist auch eine Fiihlungnahme mit den dortigen arischen Komponisten und nachschaffenden Kiinstlern wiinschenswert. Es geht darum, die augenblickliche und friihere politische Einstellung dieser nichtjiidischen Musiker festzustellen. In ge-

11 2 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

eigneten Fillen soill der Versuch gemacht werden, diese Kiinstler fiir die Kulturauf- gaben des Deutschen Reiches zu gewinnen. Es k6nnen auf diesem Wege die Voraussetzungen fiir Kulturinstitute und kunstwissenschaftliche Vereinigungen ge- schaffen werden, die kiinftig zu griinden sind. UJber den Umfang der Ermittlungen und insbesondere iiber Ihre Zusammenarbeit mit den dortigen verantwortlichen Dienststellen des Reiches haben Sie schriftliche Meldung zu erstatten.

Heil Hitler!

(Dr. Gerigk) Leiter des Amtes Musik

zugleich Leiter des Sonderstabes Musik

APPENDIX B

Leiter M Berlin, den 21. Mirz 1941

An den Herrn Minister

Betr. musikkulturelle Ostfragen

Unter dem Eindruck der Posener Reise m6chte ich dem Herrn Minister folgendes unterbreiten. Die musikkulturelle Neuaufforstung der deutschen Ostge- biete kann nicht nur aus einer Summe finanzieller Einzelhilfen bestehen, sondern bedarf vor allem auch einer einheitlichen geistigen Ausrichtung, die auf gesicherten musikgeschichtlichen Grundlagen ruht. Leider haben die ffir die wissenschaftliche Untermauerung dieser Belange zustindigen Zentralbehorden hierfiir seitJahrzehnetn nichts Wesentliches getan; ein kleiner musikwissenschaftlicher Lehrstuhl an der Universitit K6nigsberg, dessen Doktorarbeiten sich auf die Erforschung ostpreuB- ischer Kunstvergangenheit beschranken mu8te, war ungefihr der einzige positive Faktor--die Erforschung des mittleren Ostraumes lag in polnischer Hand, das betr. Ordinariat der Wiener Universitat befand sich seit einem halben Jahrhundert in jiidischer Hand (Ed. Hanslick, Guido Adler) und wirkte mehr als Einbruchsstelle, denn als Abwehrbastion gegeniiber dem Galiziertum. Hier tut eine grundlegend zusammenfassende Darstellung not, die z.B. fiir das 13. Jahrhundert die Musikpflege des deutschen Ordens und die deutsche Volksliedwanderung aus Innerdeutschland nach Oberungarn und Siebenbiirgen verfolgt. Fiir die Zeit um 1500-1525 steht eine miachtige Ostfront deutscher Tonmeister aufgebaut: in K6nigsberg unter Herzog Albrecht die Augsburger Briider Kugelmann als Vertreter der Schule Ludwig Senfls, in Krakau am polnischen Konigshof als Seitenstiick zu Veit StoB der Meister Heinrich Finck, nach ihm Arnold v. Bruck und Ulrich Britel, in Ofen (Budapest) der Schlesier Thomas Stoltzer, der hier die ersten Luthertexte komponierte und sie nach Konigs- berg sandte, schlief3lich in Kronstadt die Komponisten Anr. Ostermaier und Valentin Greff. Hinter dieser vordersten Ostfront erhebt sich eine zweite durch die reiche, rein deutsche Musikpflege in Danzig, Breslau, Wien, Niederungarn [,] dahinter eine dritte in Stettin, Frankfurt a.O., Torgau, Prag, Graz, Klagenfurt. Es gilt, ffir das I7./i8. Jahrhundert den gewaltigen Einstrom deutschen Musikgutes in den baltischen, polnischen, bohmisch-mahrischen und ungarischen Raum einmal zusammenhangend in seiner vollen Eindringlichkeit darzustellen, um dann aus diesem kulturgeograph- ischen Musikgeschichtsbild die kulturpolitischen Aufgaben und Moglichkeiten fiir Gegenwart und Zukunft in diesen weiten, uns wieder anvertrauten Gebieten zu entwickeln.

MUSICOLOGY UNDER HITLER I 13

Ich habe kiirzlich aus Anlaf des bevorstehenden ioo. Geburtstages von Dvorak eine Darstellung der betr. Verhsiltnisse im b6hmischen Raum angeregt, der Herr Minister hat zugestimmt - hiermit m6chte ich eine Erweiterung auf den ganzen Osten in Vorschlag bringen.

Ich bitte um Einverstindnis. Heil Hitler!

ABSTRACT

Recognizing musicology's demonstrated potential to contribute to its ideological aims, the Nazi government took immediate steps to centralize music scholarship and, along with the SS, to subsidize relevant research projects. Alfred Rosenberg's ideological watchdog organization recruited musicologists for a variety of tasks, including the plundering of musical treasures in occupied territories and the assessment of the receptivity of occupied populations to Germany's eventual takeover of cultural life. Mean- while, many scholars contributed to the press with music historical justifica- tions for all of Germany's current military and diplomatic actions. Born in an era preoccupied with the creation of the German nation-state, musicology had embraced a Germanocentric focus, dating back to Forkel, that the Nazi propaganda machine fully exploited. This nationalism also infiltrated Amer- ican musicology with the arrival of German 6migr6 scholars.

Musicology Under Hitler

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