The reconstruction of post-war West German new music during the early allied occupation (1945-46), and its roots in the Weimar Republic and Third Reich (1918-45)

This thesis is an analysis of the development of new music in occupied Germany from the end of World War Two, on 8 May 1945, until the end of 1946, in terms of the creation of institutions for the propagation of new music, in the form of festivals, concert series, radio stations, educational institutions and journals focusing on such a field, alongside an investigation into technical and aesthetic aspects of music being composed during this period. I argue that a large number of the key decisions which would affect quite fundamentally the later trajectory of new music in West Germany for some decades were made during this period of a little over eighteen months. I also argue that subsequent developments up to the year 1951, by which time the infrastructure was essentially complete, were primarily an extension and expansion of the early period, when many of the key appointments were made, and institutions created. I also consider the role of new music in mainstream programming of orchestras, opera houses, chamber music societies, and consider all of these factors in terms of the occupation policies of the three Western powers – the USA, the UK and France. Furthermore, I compare these developments to those which occurred in during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, of which I give an overview, and argue as a result that the post-war developments, rather than being radically new, constituted in many ways a continuation and sometimes distillation of what was in place especially in the Weimar years. I conclude that the short period at the centre of my thesis is of fundamental importance not only for the course of German new music, but that in Europe in general