Until now, the subject of Nazi cultural policy and its effect upon German musical life has been relatively ignored. The reasons are obvious: there have been international reputations to protect, and there has been a general reluctance to endanger the high regard in which German musical life has been held for two hundred and more years. But recently a German musicologist has published a book that attempts to correct this historical amnesia. In Musik im NS-Staat,[1] Fred K. Prieberg has brought into focus both the methods and the results of the Nazis’ attempt to wed music to totalitarian politics.
Prieberg, who is the author of several publications dealing with the theme of Musikpolitik, is no stranger to the consideration of musical life under totalitarianism. Among his past works are studies entitled Musik in der Sowjetunion (1965) and Musik im anderen Deutschland (1967). His new work, the product of twenty years of source gathering, is based on 329 interviews and letters and research in 192 archives. It has received considerable attention in Germany and Austria.
The Nazis came to power at a time when German musical life was particularly rich. Interwar Germany enjoyed the talents of such native composers as Richard Strauss, Paul Hindemith, Kurt Weill, Carl Orff, and Hans Pfitzner; and it attracted such Austrians as Arnold Schoenberg and Franz Schreker. German concert life, graced by such performers as Otto von Klemperer, Bruno Walter, and Erich Kleiber, was the most envied in Europe,
