Presented by THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA as part of Southbank Centre’s THE REST IS NOISE ISSUE 2 OF 4
FREE
F E BRU ARY— M AY 2 0 1 3
MAKERS OF ‘DEGENERATE MUSIC’ FORCED UNDERGROUND
CULTURE OF FEAR
ET AGA IN ST A B ACK -
INS IDE THIS IS S U E
drop of political instability, hyperinflation, advances in technology and influences from America, musical life in Germany in the 1920s and 30s was teeming with precocious talent and cross-artform collaborations. While the political situation in Germany fluctuated and made its fateful turn towards the far right, composers themselves formed a battlefield of polemic, with debates raging about the various different schools of musical thought — from Expressionism to Schoenberg’s strict 12-tone compositions, Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) to Zeitoper (Now Opera, opera of its time). Kurt Weill, possibly the Weimar Republic’s most famous composer, made his name across the world with The Threepenny Opera, an opera set in the CON TINU ED ON PAG E 6
THE JAZZ AGE: AMERICA FINDS ITS VOICE The American musical phenomenon • PAGE 4
SONGS OF SUBVERSION AND SUBMISSION The use and abuse of music during the Third Reich • PAGE 6
VALIUM AND KETTLEDRUMS Drugs empire funds modern masterpieces by musicians in exile • PAGE 8
SEPTEMBER 1939: THE STORM BREAKS MARLENE DIETRICH – in the Blue Angel, 1930. After the rise of the Nazi party, many cabaret artists were exiled, imprisoned or forced into hiding, although several continued to protest through their art, even from within concentration camps.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra continues its 2013 concert series, as part of Southbank Centre’s year-long festival The Rest Is Noise, inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest Is Noise (SEE PAGE 2 FOR DETAILS) lpo.org.uk/therestisnoise
Two great composers search for hope • PAGE 10