Music and International History in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

For several decades, musicologists have dealt with the role of music in international relations using their own tools. They have focused on musical change in the context of modernity, especially how traditional music and folk music interact with music from other localities. Paradoxically, musicologists have contributed more to the field of international relations than historians or political scientists. Fortunately, those in history and political science have initiated an acoustic turn which aims to fill the gap. Jessica Gienow-Hecht is one historian who has promoted this movement thanks to her well-known monography dedicated to cultural American-German relations in early twentieth century (Gienow- Hecht, 2009). Music and International History in the Twentieth Century extends earlier work by building a bridge between musicologists and historians. It echoes research programs that aim at the cross-fertilization of various disciplines (Ahrendt, Ferrugatto, and Mahiet, 2014; Urbain, 2008). According to the eight contributors to this work, music must not be isolated from other social facts because it is a part of history. Defined as a sounding activity, music embodies “a measuring stick for the quantity as well as for the quality of an international relation” (2). As commerce or science, it helps to unify but also to divide at the global level.

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