The Symphony Concert in Nazi Germany

by Neil Gregor

A new history of how the musical worlds of German towns and cities were transformed during the Nazi era.

In the years after the Nazis came to power in January 1933 and throughout the Second World War, all aspects of life in Germany changed. Despite the social and political upheaval, gentile citizens continued to attend concerts. In this book, historian Neil Gregor surveys how the classical concert scene was impacted in Nazi Germany. Taking the perspective of the audience, rather than institutions or performers, Gregor delves into the cultural lives of ordinary Germans under conditions of dictatorship. Did the ways in which Germans heard music in the period change? Did a Nazi way of listening emerge?

For audiences, Gregor shows, changes to the concert experience were small and often took place around the edges. This, combined with the preserved idea of the concert hall as a space of imagined civility and cultivation, led many concertgoers and music lovers to claim after the war that their field and their practice had been innocent—a place to retreat from the vicious violence and racism of the Nazi regime. Drawing on untapped archival sources, The Symphony Concert in Nazi Germany reveals that the true history was one of disruption but also of near seamless adaptation. Through countless small acts, the symphony concert was reframed within the languages of strident nationalism, racism, and militarism to ensure its place inside the cultural cosmos of National Socialist Germany.

384 pages, Hardcover

Published May 30, 2025

Reviews

[Alan Schuetze]

Neil Gregor researched this book by finding programs, tickets, posters and reviews of classical music concerts during the Third Reich. He also discusses diaries and photographs. Noticeably absent are any interviews. He includes amusing observations about changing social norms, such as the attention paid to clothes worn by concert goers. I found his writing style mealy mouthed and verbose. Nevertheless, this book will be of interest to most people interested in classical music and the Third Reich.

[Nikolas Mavreas]

Gregor’s gallery of details from the archives and his studied, unconventional analysis make for an absorbing read.

Catch my complete review on Open Letters: https://openlettersreview.com/posts/t...