Mozart and the Nazis: How the Third Reich Abused a Cultural Icon

Despite the apparent incompatibility between Mozart’s humanitarian and cosmopolitan outlook and Nazi ideology, the Third Reich tenaciously promoted the great composer’s music to further the goals of the fascist regime. In this revelatory book, Erik Levi draws on period articles, diaries, speeches, and other archival materials to provide a new understanding of how the Nazis shamelessly manipulated Mozart for their own political advantage. The book also explores the continued Jewish veneration of the composer during this period while also highlighting some of the disturbing legacies of Mozart reception that resulted from Nazi appropriation of his work. Augmented by rare contemporary illustrations, Mozart and the Nazis will be widely welcomed by readers with interests in music, German history, Holocaust studies, propaganda, and politics in the twentieth century.