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This chapter investigates the ambivalent role of the concept of Neue Sachlichkeit in Nazi music politics. While commonly believed to have been suppressed after 1933, Neue Sachlichkeit was in fact both defamed and appropriated by National Socialist cultural authorities. Through a critical analysis of writings by key figures, the study reveals how the Nazis rejected Neue Sachlichkeit as a label while strategically exploiting its aesthetic tools—such as utility music and applied music—for propaganda and mass mobilization. The chapter argues for a revised historiography that traces the transformation and instrumentalization of Neue Sachlichkeit beyond the Weimar Republic, extending into the Nazi period, suggesting that this complex interplay calls for an interdisciplinary historiography that bridges musicology, contemporary history, and the study of mass culture.

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Defamed but Seized: Contradictory Approaches of Nazi Music Politics to Neue Sachlichkeit

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • Fritz Trümpi

摘要

This chapter investigates the ambivalent role of the concept of Neue Sachlichkeit in Nazi music politics. While commonly believed to have been suppressed after 1933, Neue Sachlichkeit was in fact both defamed and appropriated by National Socialist cultural authorities. Through a critical analysis of writings by key figures, the study reveals how the Nazis rejected Neue Sachlichkeit as a label while strategically exploiting its aesthetic tools—such as utility music and applied music—for propaganda and mass mobilization. The chapter argues for a revised historiography that traces the transformation and instrumentalization of Neue Sachlichkeit beyond the Weimar Republic, extending into the Nazi period, suggesting that this complex interplay calls for an interdisciplinary historiography that bridges musicology, contemporary history, and the study of mass culture.