The Symphony Concert in Nazi Germany

Much of a culture or society is revealed through the artistic lens. Therefore, the analysis of the orchestra immediately prior to and during National Socialist Germany provides a fresh analysis of cultural life in the era. The focus of this work is on the audience of musical events, largely using photographs and concert posters from 1933 to 1945, a glimpse of the auditory through the visual, to illustrate how social engineering through the arts was successfully done. Gregor (modern European history, Univ. of Southampton; coeditor, Dreams of Germany: Musical Imaginaries from the Concert Hall to the Dance Floor) builds on previous scholarship, which largely focused on Nazi party ideological influence behind music choices. Here, readers are encouraged to view the broader orchestral experience through the viewpoint of the audience, as it happens at a historical flashpoint. Exactingly researched, the topic is musically dense. It targets informed readers of musical history, students, and scholars.