Book description
For decades the relationship between the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra and National Socialist regime has been shrouded in mystery.
In 1933, the world-renowned orchestra came under the control of
Hitler's Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels; the musicians became
civil servants of the Reich and until the end of World War Two, the
orchestra served as Germany's flagship cultural ambassador, touring
internationally, and performing at the Nuremberg Rallies, the opening
of the 1936 Olympic Games and each year on Hitler's birthday.
While benefiting from this patronage, the orchestra musicians
were ambivalent about
their position - some colleagues joined the
Nazi Party while others were of Jewish
ancestry - and attempted
to balance their political status with artistic independence.
At the heart of this story is the iconic conductor, Wilhelm
Furtwängler, a figure who continues to arouse fierce debate, not the
least due to his close relationship with
Goebbels. Furtwängler
promised that "the name Wilhelm Furtwängler should
always
remain inseparable from that of the Philharmonic" and
the consequences of this pact
are explored comprehensively. For
decades, Furtwängler's successor as Chief Conductor of the Berlin
Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, a former Party member whose
meteoric rise was intimately tied to the intrigues of the Third Reich,
discouraged investigation of this disturbing history.
Now bringing together documents culled from the orchestra and
State archives, as well as private letters and testimony from the
orchestra's musicians, Misha Aster tells this remarkable story for the
first time. He portrays how German society
first came to be
seduced and then morally compromised by Nazism. Though the Berlin
Philharmonic enjoyed exceptional privilege during the years 1933-45,
The Reich's Orchestra vividly captures how ordinary Germans
experienced the Nazi regime, and how their normal lives were stretched
between desperation, fear, reticence and opportunism.
The Reich's Orchestra is a remarkable depiction of the moral
ambiguities of living under the Nazis told through the story of one of
the world's great orchestras.
