| Contents |
Terrorized by the Kaiser. "We must hate the Germans": tormented by Wagner and Straus -- "It would be a gross mistake to play patriotic airs": locking up the maestros -- "There is no visible relationship between a Wagner opera and a submarine": from Manhattan riots to Wagner's piano -- Hitler's speech. "I want to teach a lesson to those ill-bred Nazis": Toscanini, Furtwangler, and Hitler -- "Let us conquer darkness with the burning light of art": Shostakovich and Toscanini confront the dictators -- "I come here as a musician": Furtwangler, Gieseking, Flagstad, Karajan-and Hitler's ghost -- Confronting communism. "The obedient instrument of the state": Shostakovich and Copland in the age of McCarthy -- "Khrushchev wouldn't know a b-flat if he heard one": symphony orchestras fight the Cold War -- "The baton is mightier than the sword": Berliners, Ohioans, and Chinese communists. |
| Abstract |
A Juilliard-trained musician and professor of history explores the fascinating entanglement of classical music with American foreign relations. This book vividly evokes a time when classical music stood at the center of American life, occupying a prominent place in the nation's culture and politics. The work of renowned conductors, instrumentalists, and singers-and the activities of orchestras and opera companies-were intertwined with momentous international events: two world wars, the rise of fascism, and the Cold War. The author recovers the politics behind classical music, showing how German musicians were dismissed or imprisoned as the country's music was swept from American auditoriums during World War I-yet, twenty years later, those same compositions could inspire Americans in the fight against Nazism while Russian music was deployed to strengthen the U.S.-Soviet alliance. During the Cold War, Van Cliburn's triumph in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow became cause for America to celebrate. This book delves into the singular decades-long relationship of classical music and political ideology in America. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 387-461) and index. |
| LCCN | 2019026009 |
| ISBN | 9780393608427 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 0393608425 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | electronic publication |
