Dangerous Melodies
Dangerous Melodies:
Classical Music in America from the Great War through the Cold War (W.W. Norton, 2020)
Jonathan Rosenberg
Introduction
6. For studies that consider classical music in nineteenth-century America, several of which I cite in this introduction, see Michael Broyles, Beethoven in America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2011); Gilbert Chase, America's Music: From the Pilgrims to the Present (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987); Richard Crawford, America's Musical Life: A History (New York: W.W. Norton, 2001); John Dizikes, Opera in America: A Cultural History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993); Jessica C.E. Gienow-Hecht, Sound Diplomacy: Music and Emotions in Transatlantic Relations, 1850-1920 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009); Charles Hamm, Music in the New World (New York: Norton, 1983); Joseph Horowitz, Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall (New York: W.W. Norton, 2005); Joseph Horowitz, Moral Fire: Musical Portraits from the America's Fin de Siecle (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012); Joseph Horowitz, Wagner Nights: An American History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994); Lawrence W. Levine, Highbrow Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988); Nancy Newman, Good Music for a Free People: The Germania Music Society in Nineteenth-Century America (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2010); American Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century, John Spitzer, ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012); Barbara L. Tischler, An American Music: The Search for an American Musical Identity (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).
137. For such reflections, see the following: "Will War Play Havoc with Potential American Genius?" Musical America (September 15, 1917): 28; "Will the War Produce a New Music?" Ibid. (October 20, 1917): 3-4; "After the War-What?" Ibid., 37; "The War and Music," Ibid., 88; "The Musical World of the United States is About to Rise and Assert Itself," Ibid. (October 27, 1917): 1; "America Coming Into Its Own, Musically," Ibid. (October 19, 1918): 4-5; "Music After the War," Musical Courier (March 7, 1918): 46; "War Will Open New Avenues for Musical Growth," Ibid. (October 17, 1918): 34; "The Effect of the Great War on the Development of American Music," Ibid. (October 24, 1918): 6. Note, too, Walter R. Spalding, "The War in Its Relation to American Music," The Musical Quarterly (January 1918): 1-11.
31. See the Baltimore Sun's coverage of the episode: "Musical Chauvinism," May 16, 1931; "Toscanini Cancels Dates After Beating by Fascists; "Toscanini to Quit Italy After Bologna Incident, June 4, 1931. Note the San Francisco Chronicle's coverage: "Toscanini Given Milan Welcome," May 20, 1931; "Toscanini Guarded Against Fascists' Ire," May 23, 1931; "Toscanini Free to Leave Italy Despite Rumpus," May 31, 1931. See also "Toscanini's Arm Hurt by Fascist Attacker," Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 1931. "Toscanini's Arm is Injured," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 16, 1931; "Toscanini Not 'Ordered' But 'Advised' to Leave Bologna," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 21, 1931; "Arturo Toscanini Guarded," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 22, 1931; "Fascist Italy Combines Economics and Politics," Boston Globe, May 23, 1931. For an especially complete account of the events in Bologna, see "L'Affaire Toscanini," New York Times, May 31, 1931. The Times called this account, taken from a Bologna newspaper, "necessarily sympathetic to the [Italian] government."
65. For New York, see also "Furtwaengler Now Heads 'Pet Puppy' Philharmonic," New York World Telegram, February 29, 1936. For out-of-town coverage, see "Furtwaengler Chosen by Philharmonic," Philadelphia Inquirer, February 29, 1936; "Noted German Opera Maestro Wins Old Post," Chicago Tribune, March 1, 1936; "Furtwängler Choice Meets Protest in N.Y.," Baltimore Sun, March 1, 1936; "Furtwaengler Chosen to Lead Philharmonic," Washington Post, March 1, 1936. See also "Prussian Disciplinarian Will Rule the N.Y. Philharmonic," News-week (March 7, 1936): 28; "Philharmonic's Choice," Time (March 9, 1936): 55; and "Furtwängler Agrees to Conduct in Berlin," Baltimore Sun, March 4, 1936.
34. On Madame Butterfly's return to New York, see "Butterfly Returns," New York Herald Tribune, January 27, 1946. The piece described Lt. Pinkerton of the U.S. Navy, the key male character, as "plainly a cad." According to the archival link on the website of the San Francisco Opera, Madame Butterfly was also banned there during the war. It was last performed in October 1941, and returned in October 1946. See <sfopera.com>.
47. See "Ring Operas Sung at Metropolitan," Musical America (March 10, 1943): 8; "'Parsifal' Given Twice at Opera in Holy Week," Ibid. (April 25, 1943): 8; "Wagner Operas are Highlights of Span," Ibid. (December 10, 1943): 9; "Szell Conducts 'Ring' Cycle," Ibid. (March 10, 1944): 5; "Musical Events," The New Yorker (May 1, 1943): 68-9.
50. See Thomas S. Grey, "Wagner's Die Meistersinger as National Opera (1868-1945)" in Music and German National Identity, Celia Applegate and Pamela Potter, eds. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), 78-104; Stephen McClatchie, "Performing Germany in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg," in The Cambridge Companion to Wagner, Thomas S. Grey, ed. (Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 134-50; and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in The Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia, Nicholas Vazsonyi, ed. (Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 287-93.
61. See "Wagner and Hitler," New York Times, February 26, 1940; and two letters to the New York Times on March 3, 1940: "Wagner and Hitler" and "Wagner Placed on High Plane." See also "On Misrepresenting Wagner," New York Times, March 3, 1940. Note Olin Downes's remarks to a national radio audience during intermission of a New York Philharmonic concert given at Madison Square Garden on October 1, 1944. Downes discussed the performance of the finale to Götterdämmerung, which the orchestra had just played, calling the music a hymn to "the destruction of falsehood, evil, [and] autocracy." He emphasized that Hitler did not comprehend that Wagner's music served as a prophecy of the dictator's destruction. "An Unforgettable Demonstration of the Power of Music in a Democracy," Clipping file, NY Philharmonic, 1944-45, NYPLPA. Note the following essays, the first by the conductor and educator Sir Ernest MacMillan, published in a Canadian journal: "Hitler and Wagnerism," Queen's Quarterly (Summer 1941): 97-105; and "Richard Wagner: Oracle of National Socialism," The American Scholar (Spring 1942): 228-42.
112. "Imperfect Workmanship," New York Herald Tribune, October 15, 1942; "Shostakovich 7th Wins Ovation Here," New York Times, October 15, 1942; "Essence of a Score," Ibid., October 18, 1942; "Shostakovich Seventh Has Concert Premiere," Brooklyn Eagle, October 15, 1942; "Toscanini Leads Seventh Symphony of Shostakovich," New York Post, October 15, 1942; "Toscanini Leads Shostakovich 7th," New York Sun, October 15, 1942; "Shostakovich Vogue," New York Sun, October 17, 1942.
124. "D.C. Concert Pays Tribute to Russia, Baltimore News-Post, March 31, 1942; "Notables Attend Concert," Baltimore Morning Sun, April 5, 1942; "After Many Years," Tacoma Times, April 2, 1942; "Revolution," Dayton News Week, April 13, 1942.
11. Note the following concerts: Rodzinski led the New York Philharmonic in performances of Beethoven's Third and Copland's suite from Appalachian Spring. The New York Times noted the Beethoven would be played "in tribute to the heroes of the war." See "Philharmonic, Oct. 4," New York Times, September 6, 1945. Reviewing the Beethoven, Olin Downes said the "spirit was heroic and the manner virile and direct." See "Rodzinski Offers Music of Copland," New York Times, October 5, 1945. Toscanini led the NBC in Beethoven's Ninth, a Carnegie Hall concert given on behalf of Italian war orphans. See "Toscanini Offers Beethoven Ninth," New York Times, September 26, 1945; and "Toscanini Leads NBC Symphony To Aid Italians," Herald Tribune, Ibid. In Los Angeles, Stokowski conducted Beethoven's Ninth at the Hollywood Bowl. See "Hollywood Bowl Ends Successful Season," Musical America (September 28, 1945): 3. Philadelphians heard Eugene Ormandy open the season with Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, among other works. See "Phila. Orchestra Launches Season With 2 New Works," Philadelphia Inquirer, September 29, 1945.
31. See "Furtwaengler Advised," New York Times, February 14, 1946; "Furtwaengler Case to Cite Nazi Threat, Ibid., February 15, 1946; "Furtwaengler 'Shelved'," Ibid., February 26, 1946; "Furtwaengler Asks U.S. How He Can Appeal Ban," Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1946; "Furtwaengler Files Appeal On His Ban," New York Times, March 17, 1946; "Move on Furtwaengler," Ibid., June 17, 1946; "Furtwaengler Denies He Worked for Nazis," New York Herald Tribune, March 8, 1946; "Furtwaengler Flies to Berlin Red Zone," Ibid., March 12, 1946; "Furtwaengler Cleared of Collaboration Charge," Ibid., May 27, 1946; "Commission Decides for Dr. Furtwaengler," Washington Post, May 27, 1946; "Barred by Allies, Furtwaengler Is Heard in Berlin," Chicago Tribune, June 15, 1946; "Allies to Let Furtwaengler Conduct Again," New York Herald Tribune, June 19, 1946.
33. See "Furtwaengler on Trial," New York Times, December 11, 1946; "Furtwaengler to Plead Right to Conduct," Chicago Tribune, December 11, 1946; "Furtwaengler Says He Urged Fight on Nazis," Chicago Tribune, December 12, 1946; "Furtwaengler Says He Tried to Flee Nazis," Washington Post, December 12, 1946; "Hearing Delayed on Furtwaengler," Los Angeles Times, December 12, 1946.
36. See "German Court Finds Furtwaengler Not Guilty of Nazism," Chicago Tribune, December 18, 1946; "German Artists' Court Acquits Furtwaengler of Nazism Count," Washington Post, December 18, 1946; "German Tribunal Clears Furtwaengler," Los Angeles Times, December 18, 1946; "Acquittal," Time (December 30, 1946): 56. For a detailed overview of Furtwängler's postwar situation and the tribunal's findings, see "Court Clears Furtwängler: Test Case for Nazi Artists?," Christian Science Monitor, December 20, 1946.
39. On the London concerts, see "A Visit from Furtwängler," Musical America (April 1948): 8. On his first appearance in Rome, see "Furtwaengler Conducts in Rome," Boston Globe, April 7, 1947; in Salzburg, see "A Run of Half Notes," Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1947. For a description of a mob attempt to attack the conductor as he entered the Vienna Music Hall to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic on November 16, 1947, see "Mob Attacks Furtwaengler," Washington Post, November 17, 1947; "Furtwaengler Threatened at Vienna Concert," Chicago Tribune, November 17, 1947; and "Furtwaengler Threatened by Vienna Mob," Los Angeles Times, Ibid. The mob of fifty to sixty persons allegedly comprised former Austrian concentration camp prisoners.
125. For additional coverage in the Nation of the Gieseking story, see "Was Gieseking's Defender 'Technically Correct?'" (December 18, 1948): 707; "Are Gieseking's Critics Biased and Prejudiced?" (January 15, 1949): 83; "Mr. Clark to Mr. Snowdon" (January 22, 1949): 111; "Mr. Snowdon to Mr. Clark" (January 22, 1949): 111-12; "Mr. Clark to All, And to All a Good Night" (January 22, 1949): 112-13. For letters to the editor in the New York Herald Tribune, see "Opposed to Vindictiveness," January 27, 1949; "Grotesque and Shabby," January 27, 1949; "Un-American and Unjust," January 27, 1949; "Politics Before Music?," January 27, 1949; "A Comparison," February 11, 1949. For letters to the New York Times, see "Gieseking Letters," January 9, 1949; "Gieseking Ban Protested," January 29, 1949; "Gieseking Incident Discussed," February 2, 1949; "Gieseking Ban Upheld," February 2, 1949. Note "Gieseking Ban Burns Up Van," Variety, February 1, 1949, which considers newscaster Lyle Van's verbal attack on Walter Winchell, who had supported the Gieseking ban.
214. For additional assessments, see "Words and Music," New York Post, March 2, 1955; "Berlin Philharmonic Is a Success at Carnegie," New York Daily News, Ibid.; "Bravos Greet Von Karajan and Orchestra," Chicago Tribune, Ibid.; "Berlin Orchestra Makes Debut," Musical America (March 1955): 32. "The Berliners," Time (March 14, 1955): 90.
231. "U.S. Debut By London Orchestra," Washington Post, October 24, 1955; "2nd Concert Given By Philharmonia," Ibid., October 30, 1955; "Philharmonia Orchestra," New York Herald Tribune, October 26, 1955; "2nd Philharmonia Concert Directed by Von Karajan," Ibid., October 27, 1955; "Von Karajan's Program Wins Highest Praise," Chicago Tribune, November 6, 1955.
237. Note the following, all from December 1, 1954: "Wilhelm Furtwaengler Dies at 68 in Germany," New York Herald Tribune; "Furtwaengler Dies, Center of Chicago Furor," Chicago Tribune; "Furtwaengler, Noted German Conductor, Dies," Los Angeles Times; "Conductor Furtwaengler Dies at 68, Washington Post. On the burial in Heidelberg, see "Furtwaengler Buried," New York Times, December 5, 1954.
243. See these obituaries, published January 17, 1957: "Toscanini, Conductor, Dies In His Sleep at Age of 89," Baltimore Sun; "Toscanini, King of Fine Music, Succumbs at 89," Los Angeles Times; "Toscanini, 89, Dies in His Sleep; Music Career Spanned 70 Years," Washington Post. Note "A Sweet Tyrant," Boston Globe, January 20, 1957.
1. "N.Y. 'Peace' Rally Protest Planned," Baltimore Sun, March 24, 1949; "Reds Arrive for Parley, Big N.Y. Protests Planned," Boston Globe, March 24, 1949; "Pickets, Prayer to Greet 3 Day 'Peace' Parley," Chicago Tribune, March 24, 1949; "Thousands Plan Prayers for Enslaved Russians," Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1949. "Soviet Delegates Here for Parley," Daily Worker, March 24, 1949. "4 Sponsors Deny Quitting 'World Peace' Conference," Boston Globe, March 25, 1949; "Police Ban Mass Picketing at N.Y. 'World Peace' Rally," Baltimore Sun, March 25, 1949. On the Soviets' travel to New York, see "Shostakovich Gets 'Headache' Meeting Press," New York Herald Tribune, March 22, 1949; and "Soviet Intellectuals Leave for U.S. to Attend Conference," Boston Globe, March 23, 1949.
6. On the emergence of the national security state, see Michael J. Hogan, A Cross of Iron: Harry S. Truman and the Origins of the National Security State, 1947-1954 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998). On the domestic front, see Stephen J. Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991). Additional studies on the intersection between international and domestic matters include Mary L. Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000); Jonathan Rosenberg, How Far the Promised Land?: World Affairs and the American Civil Rights Movement from the First World War to Vietnam (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006); Gretchen Heefner, The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012); David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004); and Rethinking Cold War Culture, Peter J. Kuznick and James Gilbert, eds. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Press, 2001).
14. Some of the more important works are cited here: Walter LaFeber, America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2006 (New York: McGraw Hill, 2008; orig. 1967); Lloyd Gardner, Architects of Illusion: Men and Ideas in American Foreign Policy, 1941-1949 (Chicago: Quadrangle, 1970); John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972); Thomas G. Paterson, On Every Front: The Making and Unmaking of the Cold War (New York: Norton, 1979); Melvyn P. Leffler, A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992); John Lewis Gaddis, George F. Kennan: An American Life (New York: Penguin Press, 2011); Frank Costigliola, Roosevelt's Lost Alliances: How Personal Politics Helped Start the Cold War (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).
16. See David M. Oshinsky, A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005); and Ellen Schrecker, Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998). On the ideological threat of communism, see Benjamin L. Alpers, Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture: Envisioning the Totalitarian Enemy, 1920s-1950s (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003).
48. See "Shostakovich and 21 Get Visas for Parley Here," New York Herald Tribune, March 17, 1949; "U.S. Granting Parley Visas To 22 From Russia, Satellites," Washington Post, Ibid.; "U.S. Lets in 22 Reds for 'Peace' Parley," Los Angeles Times, Ibid.
55. Among Hook's supporters were Daniel Aaron, George Balanchine, Adolph Berle, Crane Brinton, Bernard DeVoto, David Dubinsky, Max Eastman, Horace Kallen, Perry Miller, Reinhold Neibuhr, Philip Rahv, A. Philip Randolph, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Delmore Schwartz, Norman Thomas, Lionel and Diana Trilling, and Edmund Wilson. See "200 Sponsors Join Culture Unit Foes," New York Times, March 25, 1949.
57. See the following from the Daily Worker, all from March 25, 1949: "Do They Crave Atomic Warfare?"; "Protest Iron Curtain on Peace Meet"; and "Dinner Tonight to Launch Parley for World Peace."
114. See "Where There Is No Peace," Christian Science Monitor, March 29, 1949; "Magnificent Uproar," New York Herald Tribune, March 28, 1949; "Sprightly Doings At That 'Peace Conference,'" Baltimore Sun, March 27, 1949; and "Class Enemy," Washington Post, March 27, 1949. For a provocative look at what was described as the disingenuous reporting on the conference by the New York press, in which only the Times emerged unscathed, see "News Tailored to Fit," The Nation (April 16, 1949): 438-40.
3. See David Caute, The Dancer Defects: The Struggle for Cultural Supremacy during the Cold War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003); Walter L. Hixson, Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War, 1945-1961 (New York: St. Martin's, 1997); Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters (New York: New Press, 1999); Stephen J. Whitfield, The Culture of the Cold War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991). Note, too, Michael Krenn, Fall-out Shelters for the Human Spirit: American Art and the Cold War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005); Naima Prevots, Dance for Export: Cultural Diplomacy and the Cold War (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1998); Penny Von Eschen, Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004).
16. See U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, International Cultural Exchange and Trade Fair Participation Act of 1956: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, 84th Cong., 2nd sess., February 21, 1956, passim; U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, International Cultural Exchange and Trade Fair Participation Act of 1956, report submitted by Mr. Humphrey, 84th Cong., 2nd sess., 1956, passim; and U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Strengthening International Relations through Cultural and Athletic Exchanges and Participation in International Fairs and Festivals, report submitted by Mr. Richards, 84th Cong., 2nd sess., 1956, passim. This material relates to the International Cultural Exchange and Trade Fair Participation Act of 1956, which was passed in the summer of 1956. Note, too, "U.S. Helps Out," New York Times, August 5, 1956. On the roots of American public diplomacy, see Justin Hart, Empire of Ideas: The Origins of Public Diplomacy and the Transformation of U.S. Foreign Policy (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).
72. See "U.S. Pianist Wins Top Prize in Moscow," Hartford Courant, April 14, 1958; "Texas Pianist Winner in Moscow Contest; L.A. Musician Eighth," Los Angeles Times, Ibid. Note "Texan in Moscow," Time (April 21, 1958): 63; "Crescendo in Moscow," Newsweek (Ibid.): 84; "American Sputnik," Time (April 28, 1958): 57; "The Fruits of Victory," Newsweek (Ibid.): 56. On Cliburn's post-victory concerts, see "Cliburn Gets Another Big Moscow Ovation," Chicago Tribune, April 19, 1958; "Moscow Again Hails Cliburn," New York Times, April 19, 1958; "Texan Ends Triumphant Tour" (photo), Los Angeles Times, May 15, 1958; "Texan Pianist Cliburn Given Moscow Ovation," Boston Globe, May 15, 1958.
101. On Bernstein's career and his influence as a conductor and cultural figure, see Humphrey Burton, Leonard Bernstein (New York: Doubleday, 1994); Meryle Secrest, Leonard Bernstein: A Life (New York: Knopf, 1994); Barry Seldes, Leonard Bernstein: The Political Life of an American Musician (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009); Leonard Bernstein: American Original, Burton Bernstein and Barbara Haws, eds. (New York: Harper Collins, 2008). On Bernstein's years at the New York Philharmonic, see Howard Shanet, Philharmonic: A History of New York's Orchestra (New York: Doubleday, 1975), 333-66.
54. See "Concert without Strings," New York Times, October 28, 2007; "Philharmonic Plays in North Korea," Ibid., February 27, 2008; "Out of Tune," New York Sun," February 7, 2008; "Maazel Raises Ire on North Korea," Washington Times, February 7, 2008. Note a letter to the editor from Ambassador Donald Gregg, a former diplomat, written at the time of Maazel's death: "Lorin Maazel in North Korea," New York Times, July 15, 2014.