Composing the Canon: Narratives of Romanticism in the German Democratic Republic

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The political scientist John Keane notes that 'crises are times during which the living do battle for the hearts, minds and souls of the dead' (Keane, 1988), an observation that is pertinent to the reception of the canon in Cold War Germany. In the 1950s the musical canon emerged as a focal point for pan-Germanic tensions, and anniversaries of Germany's illustrious musical figures were seized upon in both the Federal Republic and the GDR as nation-building and propaganda opportunities. Constructs of the canon in the GDR reflected the ideals of collective socialism and reinforced official narratives of the state as the true successor to the heritage of the German Enlightenment. By the 1970s in contrast, as the promised socialist utopia failed to materialise, the canon emerged as a vehicle for the GDR's discontented to express their disillusionment and to criticize the state. Artists no longer identified with portrayals of figures such as Beethoven and Schumann as revolutionary heroes; far more relevant were interpretations that focused on their isolation and alienation from nineteenth-century society. Focusing on the reception of romanticism and the wider nineteenth-century musical heritage, this project explores constructs of the canon in the GDR. I examine official and academic narratives and analyse a range of creative responses to the romantic tradition, including compositions, opera productions, and films. At the heart of the project is the premise that canons serve as a site for contemporary political, social, and cultural discourse. I am interested in determining how external factors such as major political crisis points shaped canonic reception, and in turn explore the extent to which this reception can serve as a lens through which to explore the heterogeneity of musical culture in the state. My project aims to challenge the current literature on music in the GDR, which adheres firmly to paradigms of dictatorship that have come under harsh scrutiny in other disciplines. Recent studies of canonic reception focus solely on government appropriation of the canon. They portray the state as a monolithic top-down regime and East German musicians simply as an extension of the party (Thacker, 2007; Janik, 2005; Potter, 2003; Klingberg, 1997). My research seeks to move musicology beyond these ideological and methodological constraints in order to construct a more accurate picture of musical culture in the GDR. The project is based on extensive research in state archives, opera archives and in the archive of the Akademie der Künste. This work is complemented by studies of newspapers, journals and monographs on nineteenth-century music that were published in the state, and by analyses of musical scores and audio-visual materials. This diverse range of sources allows for a much more nuanced picture of musical practices in the GDR to emerge. I contest the prevailing notion that a single official construct of the canon permeated all aspects of musical life, and explore how the various responses to romanticism reveal not only the complexity of the relationships between artists and politicians, but also the spaces for creativity that existed in discourses of power and censorship. Ultimately this raises questions about the artistic legacy of the GDR, and undermines current tendencies to deny the legitimacy of art produced in the state.