Degenerata, Musica

Abstract

The expression Degenerate Music (in German Entartete Musik) was probably coined by the journalist, theater organizer, and member of the National Socialist party Hans Severus Ziegler, who curated an exhibition with this title in Düsseldorf in 1938. The term refers to the music banned by the Nazis for being considered anti-German or based on a racial principle applied retroactively, as demonstrated by the prohibition of performing the works of Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, and Mahler, or certain oratorios by Handel (including "Judas Maccabaeus"). Such a criterion disregarded assessments of an artistic nature and involved musicians of the most diverse expressive orientations. The text is divided into two paragraphs: 1. The war against the Jews and modernism; 2. Art and degeneration - The exhibitions of 1937-38