Antisemitism in Classical Music: from Wagner to Shostakovich

Abstract

hroughout history, fine arts -specifically music -have played an important social, economic, and cultural role in forming and altering Western civilization.As described in Joseph Auner's Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries, most revolutions, rebellions, and major shifts in politics, economics, or sociology have used music as a prime accelerant for change, primarily to communicate propaganda to people quickly, efficiently, and often subconsciously (Auner 2013).The 19 th and 20 th centuries proved to be some of the most turbulent and rapidly shifting eras in modern history, and these shifts in mentality stemmed from some of the most influential leaders of the 20 th century (Zarycki 2003, 852).Throughout this paper, the usage of music as antisemitic propaganda by leaders such as Hitler and Stalin will be examined critically, while also being compared to the usage of music as pro-Jewish propaganda by various composers such as Gustav Mahler and Dmitri Shostakovich.Furthermore, a comparative will also be drawn between the way music was used to oppress Jewish people and Black people within a twenty-year time frame.Two of the most infamous leaders to emerge during World War II are Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.Their rise to power was no accident -as educated men in politics and sociology, they skillfully used everything in their power to not only conquer multiple countries throughout Europe, but disseminate racist -primarily antisemitic -ideologies (Prager and Telushkin 2003, 140; Auner 2013, 181).As an enthusiast of the fine arts (Spotts 2003), Hitler understood the power music had on the public, as many European and North American cultures had music as a prominent cultural aspect.Hitler skillfully used music -as well as composers and their cultural influence -to propagate his ideology and sway many people to believe in his cause.One major composer Hitler turned his attention towards was already a German icon -Richard Wagner (Botstein 2009, 97).Wagner had been celebrated as one of the most important influential and innovative composers in Germany's history, being compared to people such as Mozart and Beethoven (Auner 2013, 195).Wagner, despite predating Hitler by 50 years, maintained antisemitic ideologies as outlined in his major essay, Das Judenthum in der Musik (roughly translated to Judaism in Music or Jewishness in Music).In this essay, Wagner attacks Judaism and specifically Jewish composer Felix Mendelssohn for "not allowing the expansion of pure [German] music" (Wagner 1850).Wagner before this essay never demonstrated antisemitic notions, however further musicological study has shown that many of his characters resemble racist perceptions of Jewish people (Auner 2013, 183).For example, in the second instalment of his most popular set of operas Der Ring des Nibelungen or The Ring Cycle, Wagner creates an unnamed character that plays pentatonic music slightly out of key and sings about his need for money.Pentatonic scales at the time were heavily associated with Eastern Europe and Asia for their exotic departure from the traditional Western major/minor scale sets (Burkholder et al. 2019(Burkholder et al. , 1134)), and capitalist ideologies were still being associated with Jewish peoples due to their systemic means of reducing poverty within their own communities (Prager and Telushkin 2003, 36-37).

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