The Nazi Appropriation of Mozart

In 1938, following the Anschluss and Hitler’s triumphant entry into Vienna, Nazi propaganda found a perfect symbol in Mozart to justify their political aims. Adolph Meuer, writing for Signale für die musikalische Welt (The Musical World Gazette), proclaimed that the union of Austria and Germany had been inspired by Mozart himself. According to Meuer, the Salzburg Festival, now finally “international,” would honour the greatest of musicians, one who, “speaking purely German in music,” felt “fiercely German,” so much so that he suffered when abroad and “prayed daily to honour himself and the entire German nation.” Thanks to Mozart, Germany’s national forces had reunited, and Austria had at last reconciled with its motherland.

Reinventing Mozart’s Identity

To prove Mozart was truly German, despite Salzburg in the mid-18th century being neither Austrian nor German but an independent principality, the Nazis had to dig up late 19th-century arguments. In preparation for the 1941 celebrations, they emphasised similarities between Mozart and the greatest German composers. The task was personally handled by writer and director Alfred Weidemann (1916-2000), who, in a small booklet, revived an old thesis by musicologist Ludwig Nohl, detailing the influence of Mozart on Wagner.

The 1941 Mozart Week and Nazi Ideology

Exactly 150 years after Mozart’s death, the commemorative book for the Mozartwoche des deutschen Reiches (German Reich’s Mozart Week) in 1941, co-authored by Schenk, Schiedermair, and Orel, celebrated the Germanic spirit of Mozart’s work. It highlighted the Germanic qualities of the composer and glorified the superiority of German art. That same year, Joseph Goebbels attended a performance of The Marriage of Figaro at the Berlin Opera, noting in his diary his annoyance at the excessive presence of Jews in the audience.

A Façade of Respectability

The Nazis cloaked the celebratory concerts held in Germany and the occupied territories in a façade of respectability, but their intention remained to elevate compatriots and undermine foreigners. While Damisch led the Wiener Mozart-Gemeinde, he also presided over the German Reich’s Mozart Week, where, under his control, regime musicologists like Schiedermair, Haas, Müller von Asow, Gregor, Orel, Engel, Steglich, and Valentin delivered lectures.

Racism and Propaganda

The Mozartwoche was governed by racist criteria. The speeches by Baldur von Schirach and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels during the Mozart celebrations bear witness to their disdain for foreigners. The supposed “international” aspect of these events was a mere illusion. Outwardly, they presented a cultured, peaceful image, while Hitler and his generals constantly contemplated war, and thousands of Jews were being incinerated in crematoriums.

Musicology and Nazi Ideals

The SS were tasked not only with protecting the Nazi elite and exterminating those deemed “racially and biologically inferior,” but also with advancing the study of race. Heinrich Himmler funded Joseph Müller-Blattau’s musicological studies on Aryan music, tracing it to folk traditions, and Karl Gustav Fellerer’s efforts to demonstrate the Germanic roots of Gregorian chant with substantial financial backing.

The Lasting Legacy of Nazi Musicology

An authoritative legacy from these “research” efforts was Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, conceived during the Nazi era. It remained recommended reading during our university days. Friedrich Blume, then editor-in-chief, continued his role unchallenged until 1968, writing further “essential” contributions to modern musicology on Mozart and the “Viennese classicism.”