Reviews for The politics of music in the Third Reich

The average rating for The politics of music in the Third Reich based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-01-11 00:00:00 Darnell Haynes After a useful preface the book is divided into 7 parts, comprising 13 essays or stand alone chapters, as follows: PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS 1. Aesthetics and National Socialism THE POLITICS OF THE BODY 2. The Body and the Body Politic as Symptom and Metaphor in the Transition of German Culture to National Socialism 3. The Nazification of Women in Art NATIONAL SOCIALIST ART INSTITUTIONS 4. The National Chamber of Culture 5. Artists and Art Institutions of Germany 1933-45 ATTITUDES TO MODERNISM 6. Modernism and Archaism in Design in the Third Reich 7. Post Modernism in the Third Reich ARCHITECTURE MUSIC AND THE POSTER 8. Bridges: Paul Bonatz's search for a contemporary monumental style 9. Music and National Socialism: The politicisation of Criticism, Composition and Performance 10. The Political Poster and the Third Reich FILM AND NAZISM 11. Fascinating Fascism 12. The Reconceptualisation of Women's Roles in War-Time NATIONAL SOCIALISM AND CONTEMPORARY ART 13. The De-Nazification of Nazi Art: Arno Breker and Albert Speer today The book was first published in 1990, 45 years after the end of the war in Europe. Until then it was infra dig to consider the Art of the Third Reich as serious. It was dismissed as non art. Policy evolved from being that of a collective guilty conscience to a partial rehabilitation of some work, almost its De-Nazification. This book is very thought provoking and generally a balanced evaluation. There are some superb illustrations throughout. It is not always an easy read: the print is small and the lines are closely packed onto the page - value for money! Some of the contributions are exceptionally readable in my view - the chapter on Post Modernism, particularly so. Here the writer explores the ongoing conflict between Modernism and Traditionalism/Classicism and the divergent opinions within the NS Party, Goebbels on the left and Rosenberg on the right. The chapter on Bonatz's bridges was interesting, that on music too. The chapter on the Political Poster was fascinating and well illustrated. The comparisons with British propaganda was interesting. The chapter headed Fascinating Fascism I found totally compelling and well written. It seeks to explain the attraction/fetishism of Fascism today. Some parts of the book I found turgid. The subject matter for the last chapter is interesting but I found the writer's elitist attitude sneering and patronising. It is clear that much of the "official" art work of the Third Reich was popular with the German public, hence some partial De-Nazification. I suspect Fritz Public might react as I did to this chapter (I must look up the german equivalent of "bollocks").

Review # 2 was written on 2014-01-25 00:00:00 Leonard Hoffman I'm a new woman! Very helpful, practical tips.