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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting; 3.5 Stars, May 9, 2009
This interesting book is a set of essays about the impact of the Nazi regime on the lives of 8 German composers. Kater studies a spectrum of composers from major figures like Schoenberg and Richard Strauss to the now largely forgotten Hans Pfitzner. Each essay contains the necessary biographical background and detailed narrative of each composer's life during the Nazi regime. These essays have a number of interesting features. They show well how the Nazi state intruded itself into many, many aspects of German life. It shows well also the opportunism that characterized the reaction of many, many Germans to the Nazi accession to power. Kater shows well how Strauss, Orff, Pfitzner, and even Paul Hindemith attempted accommodation with the Nazis and how some of them tried to use the Nazi regime for their own ends. Only the relatively obscure Karl Hartmann maintained a principled distance from the Nazis, though this meant writing for the drawer. The major exceptions, of course, were Jews like Weill and Schoenberg, who had no choice but to go into exile. Some of the essays, notably those on Pfitzner and Strauss, show well the ambiguous relationship between the Nazis and more traditional conservatives, even relatively radical ones like Pfitzner.
The defect of this book is that these interesting points emerge implicitly rather than explicitly. Kater devotes more text to details about his subjects' personalities and private life than to broader historical context. Kater fails also to provide some of the more important historical background. Germany, with its network of state supported orchestras, opera houses, theaters, and conservatories, was unique in the world in providing opportunities for composers. Serious music also had unusual prestige in Germany. This accounts partially for the opportunism of German composers. The prestige of serious music accounts partially also for the attention the Nazi leadership paid to serious music.
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5 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good information, but hard to read, March 26, 2006
The book is divided into 8 chapters, one for each composer (Egk, Hindemith, Weill, Hartmann, Orff, Pfitzner, Schoenberg, and Strauss). To help with a research project, I only read the chapter on Strauss.
There is a lot of information, but it's a lot of work to read this book. The writing style is very dense, and it's not pleasurable to read. I gave the book only 3 stars because of the difficulty with the writing style. The information would have rated 4 or 5 stars.
Thinks of this as a good reference book, but not something to enjoy. If you're interested in Strauss, I would recommend two books. One is "Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma" by Michael Kennedy, music critic for the Daily Telegraph and author of many composer biographies. This book is pure pleasure, and full of very detailed information. A second book is "Richard Strauss An Intimate Portrait" by Kurt Wilhelm. This book focuses on his personal, daily life, and can be considered an illustrated biography as it contains many, many wonderful photographs.
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11 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Questions? some fascinating data on neglected composers, August 14, 2000
This review is from: Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits (Hardcover)
I don't think knowing whether a composer or an artist had deep affiliations with the Nazi regime or the Italian Fascist Party has done anything to clarify what this means today concerning the issues of race and culture,it is fairly inconsequential. Knowing all these deep,dark secrets hasn't hurt in any way the successes of Richard Wagner or Richard Strauss,or Martin Heidegger for that matter. Since the time of the War all have had glorious posthumous careers with entire cadres of devoted writers,scholars,conductors and musicians surveying and performing their work. The Wagner Ring is continuously done,so are Strauss Operas,and there are countless books on Heidegger. So what are the issues? it seems to be idle curiosity for historical fact without explanation(as fascinating as that seems to be), but what Kater does furnish here is actually interesting profiles and historical data on some composers long neglected. The marvelously powerful "Symphonies" of Karl Amadeus Hartmann for one, to this day remain in a state of neglect,and the chapter here is the only material on his life you will find in English. There is another picture-filled book with Henze,Hartmann and Hindemith published in a series. In focusing on composers lives during the political times of the Nazi era is like looking at history wrongfully from the inside out,with a focus on an individual's life nuances without the larger perspective that created how he/she must act. Artists and composers for the most part only care about their careers and recognition, where is the next performance of their?, and as Kater frequently identifies,he reveals the dirty dealing with Nazi party hacks in order to obtain performances. Much of the material is fairly redundant as the chapter on Richard Struass or the chapter on Kurt Weill,being Jewish we know he had no chance for successes in an Anti-Semitic country growing more racist by the day, from 1933 forward. I think there is a danger in reviewing history from this narrow perspective of the individual,especially artists(composers) who are hardly ever power brokers within the state of culture.Frequently the ones that are jettisoned to the top have little artistic genius. First it erases the sense of historical context and the inherent danger of the times. This issue has been well discussed and documented with the "collaborationist" theories during the Nazi Era,yet I doubt if it has been answered with any degree of vigor, and we frequently overlook the fact that the situation in war times is never a "us against them"one's enemies are only revealed after the fact,there are gradations of affiliation between individuals when speaking of betrayel,corruption and greed. It still remains an open question for us who sit here in a retrospective position, that given a situation of politically dangerous times,not necessarily times of War,which is obvious, but would we have collaborated with a Nazi party hack,when our survival,or demise was a phone call away? That will always be a question we can never answer,but Kater's book certainly makes this question all the more a reality,especially when the focus is on another's creative life.
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