Music and Ideology in Cold War Europe

by Mark Carroll

Overview

This study analyzes the radicalization of art music in early post-war France in its broader socio-cultural and political context, pursuing two lines of inquiry. The first details the attitudes towards musical conservatism and innovation adopted by cultural strategists representing Western and Soviet ideological interests at the onset of the Cold War. The second, which draws upon the commentaries of Adorno and Sartre, recognizes that the Cold War generated a heightened political awareness among French musicians precisely when the social relevance of avant-garde music had become the subject of widespread debate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521031134
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Series:	Music in the Twentieth Century , #18
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.61(w) x 9.57(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Mark Carroll is Lecturer in Music at the Australian National University, Canberra.

Table of Contents

List of figures; Acknowledgements; Introduction: issues and perspectives; 1. Back to the future: Nabokov's selection criteria for L'Oeuvre du XXe siècle; 2. Nabokov, Shostakovich and the view from the bridge; 3. Articles of war: the Prague Manifesto and the Progressistes; 4. Creative freedom or political obligation? Serialism and Stalinism in France; 5. Culture and confrontation at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; 6. Neither you nor they: the avant-garde and neutralité; 7. Music and Sartrean commitment; 8. René Leibowitz and the musician's conscience; 9. A forlorn hope: Sartre's 'virtual' audience; 10. Serialism, scientism and the post-war world view; Epilogue: the aftermath of L'Oeuvre du XXe siècle; Appendix: the musical programme L'Oeuvre du XXe siècle; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

Carroll...has written a fascinating book in which arguments about the meanings of music are shown to have political dimensions and in which the interests of political establishments in exploiting music for their own purposes are revealed to be never entirely successful. This is, in short, a brilliant book, wonderful to read!
Journal of Cold War Studies

From the Publisher