I am looking for some good recommendations on books dealing with musicians during the Nazi regime. Who left the country, who kept silent and who supported, who wrote music against and who wrote for, repercussions against supporters and dead composers used for propaganda. One book dealing with all of this would be ideal if there is one.
Books? No clue.
But have you heard Messaen’s Quartet for the End of Time ? He wrote it while he was in a concentration camp.
There are a number of books on Furtwangler. One that I read and thought was pretty good was The Devil’s Music Master. You should be able to find a lot of material regarding Furtwangler on the web as well. There is a recent biography of Herbert vonKarajan, which I have not read. He, unlike Furtwangler, joined the Nazi party, not once but twice.
There are also many books on Richard Strauss. Other names to look for are Karl Bohm, Eugen Jochum, Hans Knappertsbusch, Karl Orff, Hans Pfitzner, and in Amsterdam, Willem Mengelburg. Another area of research is the Bayreuth Festival- and also another conductor named Tietjen (IIRC).
The treatment of German musicians after the war was very arbitrary. Furtwangler had immense problems, although he had never been a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer. Bohm, OTOH, had little problem.
Here is info and reviews of another book about Furtwangler.
And, while googling, I found this page. I don’t know anything about the book.
JDM
The movie Taking Sides starring Harvey Keitel and Stellan Skarsgård has just opened in Australia to glowing reviews. It is the story of the post-war investigation of Wilhelm Furtwängler. Strangely, according to IMDB it hasn’t been released in the US yet.