The Political Orchestra by Fritz Trmpi;

Author:Fritz Trmpi; [Trümpi, Fritz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780226251424
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2016-10-06T05:00:00+00:00

DEPARTURES FROM THE USUAL: BALDUR VON SCHIRACH’S PORTRAYAL OF THE VIENNA PHILHARMONIC

Baldur von Schirach’s speech on the occasion of the orchestra’s centennial is astonishing given what we have seen from Wolfram, Furtwängler, and Jerger. It is utterly devoid of “music city” rhetoric and references to the past.85 Instead, Schirach went on at great length about the musical practices of the “German Volk,” about the relationship between “light” and “high” music, and about the opportunities and risks associated with the various means of technical reproduction and distribution. He addressed the Philharmonic only at the end of his speech, and then only briefly, uttering a few comments of praise. In quantitative terms, of the 279 manuscript lines that made up his speech, only 34 were about the Vienna Philharmonic.86 Direct references to the Reich were at the center of Schirach’s remarks, and they had clearly militaristic overtones: “In the Greater German Reich of music there is not a name worthy of eternity that is not bound up with its history. Wherever you have played, you have served the Reich. The creative reproduction of masterworks of our musical art was for centuries the banner, which you as brave soldiers of the German genius followed. I thank you in the name of the Reich for what you have been for the Reich and what you are for the Reich!”87

Nonetheless, he did permit himself one small remembrance of Vienna: “In the name of Vienna, however, I thank you because you have always increased the renown and greatness of this most beautiful of cities!”88 In addition, he asserted that it brought honor to the city “that its citizens clung to the great musical tradition of Vienna with unparalleled fanaticism,” and he himself would consider it outrageous if ever an attempt were made to stray from it.89 Other than that, he expressly avoided focusing on Vienna: “I had intended to give a birthday speech for the Vienna Philharmonic. However the occasion is such that a local, quasi-personal tribute to this unique institution seems inadequate.”90

But Schirach’s emphasis on the importance of the orchestra in the reproduction of contemporary music was an equally peculiar departure from the terms in which the Philharmonic was usually discussed. Rather than talking about the orchestra’s great musical past, he cast it as an ensemble of special importance for the creation of contemporary music. In so doing, he may have been addressing the State Opera Orchestra, which, as noted earlier, had in April 1941 premiered Wagner-Régeny’s opera Johanna Balk. Schirach had responded to the ensuing heated controversy in a speech titled “Das Wiener Kulturprogramm” (The Vienna Culture Program),91 and it is possible that by bringing it up on this occasion he was using the opportunity to legitimize that premiere all over again. It is also possible that Schirach was thinking of the Week of Contemporary Music that was to follow in May 1942, which the Vienna Philharmonic had helped to plan.92 Be that as it may, Schirach described the orchestra’s engagement with contemporary music

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