Wilhelm Furtwängler:
Art and the Politics of the Unpolitical
Roger Allen
Boydell Press ISBN 978-1-78327-283-9 286pp (hb) £45.00
Furtwängler’s recorded legacy is one of the most venerated of all conductors, yet he remains controversial for his position as principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic during the Third Reich. This impeccably researched and engagingly written study tackles the emotive subject from a cultural perspective, shedding fresh light on how Furtwängler remained (at least in his own mind) apolitical during a period of extreme politicisation.
His cultural instincts were certainly honed during what
Allen describes as a ‘privileged upbringing in the traditions of Bildung,’ a term that encapsulates an idealistic view of Germanic culture. By instinct and education, Furtwängler viewed Austro-german music as a paradigm unmatched by any other tradition. This fused with his early contact with music analyst Heinrich Schenker to create an overview of the finest masterpieces as unified organisms. His convictions chimed almost exactly with Nazi musical propaganda. Allen makes no attempt to let Furtwängler ‘off the hook’, yet deepens considerably our understanding of his ‘unpolitical’ views. Julian Haylock ★★★★★