The War on Music: Reclaiming the Twentieth Century - Hardcover

Mauceri, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300233701 ISBN 13: 9780300233704

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2022

Synopsis

 A fascinating journey into global politics that made classical music a proxy for power, inadvertently creating the “sound of Hollywood,” and excluding hundreds of composers

“[Mauceri’s] writing is more exhilarating than any helicopter ride we have been on.”—Air Mail

“Fluently written and often cogent.”—Barton Swaim, Wall Street Journal

John Mauceri offers a lively and passionate reassessment of classical music in the twentieth century, in which he argues that the history of music during the last century was shaped by its three major conflicts: World War I, World War II, and the Cold War.

The War on Music unlocks the mystery of why classical music seemingly produced so few eternal works after 1950, whereas other arts—popular music, Broadway, literature, painting, architecture, theater, cinema—have given the world myriad beloved and highly regarded masterpieces; why the composers considered the future of classical music in the 1920s disappeared from being performed after World War II; why the most heard symphonic scores of the century—music for Hollywood films—became the subject of brutal denigration and dismissal; why the avant-garde of the pre-World War I became the new lingua franca of the Cold War period in the West, and any music that veered from its requirements removed from being performed.

Mauceri follows the data to demonstrate how the politics of global wars used an artform that many might consider unimportant—classical music—as a potent and effective symbol, target, and weapon. Based on more than a half-century of music making and discovery, The War on Music is a plea to return the suppressed repertory—beautiful and unique expressions of humanity—to our concert halls and opera houses, much as the artwork stolen by the Nazis continues to be returned to its rightful owners.

About this title

About the Author

John Mauceri is a world-renowned conductor and musical scholar. He has conducted most of the world’s greatest orchestras and opera companies and served on the Yale University faculty for fifteen years, and is the former chancellor of the UNC School of the Arts.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300233701
• ISBN 13: 9780300233704
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 248