The baton under the jackboot

Too much has been written about the perceived right and wrong of music under the Third Reich. So, for a change, I am letting the music speak for itself. These two pages are taken from a catalogue of all the Berlin Philharmonic concerts Wilhelm Furtwängler conducted between 1922 and 1954. The concert on 12th January 1944 was the last one in the original Philharmonie. Two weeks later the hall was destroyed by Allied bombing on the eleventh anniversary of Hitler becoming Chancellor. Forgotten composers featured in the concerts are Gerhard Frommel, Heinz Schubert, and Ernst Pepping. Berta Geissmar's memoir of working with Furtwängler The Baton and the Jackboot sits alongside the programme catalogue in my library, and a paraphrase of that title provides this post's headline.

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