Part I

Please note that this is an incredibly BROAD question and one that would necessitate at least a book (or several!) to fully answer. So I will be painting culture in the Third Reich with a very broad brush.

The relationship of culture and National Socialism was often quite ambiguous and fraught with multiple contradictions. Both the NSDAP's propaganda and public figures attacked the degeneracy of Weimar's cultural scene and presented themselves as the champions of proper and traditional German arts. But, often acting in parallel to these impulses was the state's presentation of National Socialism as a clear break from the past. In this formulation, National Socialist art was to be representative of a new modern era, but also one that enshrined German traditions and the spirit of the Volk. As in other parts of German society, the state sought to coordinate like-minded individuals within the arts scene while simultaneously purging it of racial and political undesirables. The result of these contradictory cultural policies was a cultural scene that was bombastic and suffered from a stifling sterility.

Orchestral music was one of the areas in which Germany enjoyed a well-deserved international reputation and the Third Reich took great pains to ensure that Germany remained at the forefront of for reasons of propaganda and national prestige. Prominent conductors like Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, Richard Strauss, and Wilhelm Furtwangler enjoyed generous salaries and a degree of state protection if they somehow transgressed National Socialist ideology. The state presented the figures of the German classical canon as precursors of National Socialism and framed their musical motifs in National Socialist terms. Aside from Hitler's favorite composer Wagner, the state celebrated composers as archetypes of National Socialist Germandom. Musicologists highlighted Handel and Beethoven's heroism and martial notes, Mozart and Bach's struggle and resolution, Schubert's connection to the Volk, and Brahms's profoundness. Aspects of these artists' careers that did not fit into a National Socialist paradigm were either ignored, explained as a byproduct of their time, or even twisted to suit National Socialist ideas. German musicologists would often present Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, with its peons to universal brotherhood, as an example of the profoundness of the German soul while ignoring its wider implications. Such a celebration included a pruning of the canon of ideologically suspect and Jewish composers. The musicologists often derided both Mahler and Mendelssohn's music as a doomed attempt by Jews to incorporate German traditions resulting either in meaningless kitsch (Mendelssohn) or a tortured "negative expressionism and narcotic Nirvana" (Mahler).

Beyond orchestral music, the state also sponsored considerable attention to Hausmusik (home chamber music) and German folk music. There was a strong attention paid to folk music revival in this period and National Socialist festivals and organizations often featured singing traditional folk songs, modified front songs of the First World War like Wacht am Rhein, or new compositions. The importance the state placed in German song was not accidental, but rather a deliberate attempt to cultivate a Volksgemeinschaft through culture. The folk music repertoires favored by the state were often martial in nature or otherwise celebrated the Germanic spirit. The idea of collective singing helped buttress the collective spirit of the German people and lyrics stressed both loyalty and willingness to sacrifice on the part of the Volk. Not surprisingly, the repertoire and programs sought to divorce German music from their religious or other problematic origins and from the mid-1930s onward, the state often promoted its own secular musical festivals around Christian holidays to further disassociate German music from any of its Christian roots. These tendencies of using music as an instrument of state policy grew with the war. The musical pause between radio news bulletins featured Mozart's "Üb’ immer Treu und Redlichkeit" (Always practice loyalty and honesty) and the state celebration of the German canon likewise increased. One feature of wartime propaganda films was that their protagonists frequently burst into song, such as this scene in Stukas, or feature German music at their denouement like Kolberg and Der Große König.

Counter-intuitively, the German music scene greatly suffered despite the lavish attention paid to it by the Third Reich. While famous conductors managed to garnish state support, such support often did not filter down into less famous ensembles and musicians. Despite promises made between 1929-1933, the income for musicians who were not part of the elite tended to be stagnant, although joining the NSDAP did help matters. The NSDAP’s policy of self-coordination of professionals also inhibited the growth of a truly National Socialist musical style. Although musical professionals, like all other cultural figures, were required to join the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Culture Chamber- RKK), such “coordinated” individuals found a good deal of professional latitude and operated in their own cultural bubble provided they did not rock the boat too much. Although Carl Orff would present his friction with RKK officials postwar as brushes with state censorship, he actually managed to work on his own attempts at modern music without much state interference. More stalwart believers in National Socialism also found it difficult to craft a truly National Socialist musical style in the maze of competing bureaucracies and fuzzy state direction. Paul Graener, a firm believer in the new order, sought to use his position as the vice-president of the Reichsmusikkammer ( Reich Chamber of Music, RMK) to promote the composition of serious music over light music, but Goebbels overrode him. Members of rival state cultural organizations undercut Graener as a fossil and he largely served as figurehead to the RMK.