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Type of Submission
Podium Presentation
Keywords
Nationalism, German opera, Romantic Era, nineteenth century ideology, high art, Richard Wagner
Proposal
Before Richard Wagner amassed his cult following, and before Adolf Hitler used music to create a German identity, the foundations of nationalism in the German state had to be cultivated. German nationalism found its prominence in opera, taking advantage of the social sphere of influence the art form possessed. From the late 1700's to Hitler’s Germany, nationalism in music, specifically opera, created an identity for the German people rooted in their rich history, mythology, and nineteenth-century ideology. Opera and nationalism behaved in a cyclical relationship of influence in Germany that is evidenced by the thematic material of opera, the promotion of German values in opera, and the use of German opera as a tool of propaganda.
Start Date
4-8-2020 1:00 PM
End Date
4-22-2020 6:00 PM
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Publication Date
April 2020
Opera, Nationalism, and the German Ideal
Before Richard Wagner amassed his cult following, and before Adolf Hitler used music to create a German identity, the foundations of nationalism in the German state had to be cultivated. German nationalism found its prominence in opera, taking advantage of the social sphere of influence the art form possessed. From the late 1700's to Hitler’s Germany, nationalism in music, specifically opera, created an identity for the German people rooted in their rich history, mythology, and nineteenth-century ideology. Opera and nationalism behaved in a cyclical relationship of influence in Germany that is evidenced by the thematic material of opera, the promotion of German values in opera, and the use of German opera as a tool of propaganda.
