The politics of music in the Third Reich

Music, the most beloved of the arts in Germany, began to be ideologized in Wagner's time. During the Nazi period, both music and musicology were adapted to the needs of the new regime, including "de-Judaization". The official Nazi policy in the first stage was segregation of Jewish musicians from Aryans. Jews were eliminated from the all-German musical scene, and the Jüdischer Kulturbund was established. In the struggle of the Nazi cultural establishment against "degenerative music", jazz and atonal music were ascribed to Jewish influence. German musicology also underwent "nazification". One of its tasks was to demonstrate that the composers of Jewish extraction had not contributed to German music. Ch. 4 (pp. 329-393) discusses Wilhelm Furtwaengler and argues that despite his good relations with the Nazi state, the conductor boldly defended Jewish musicians. Includes index. xiv, 416 pages, [13] of plates : illustrations, pls., music ; 24 cm.