Musical constructions of nationalism: a comparative study of Bartók and Stravinsky

Abstract

This article argues that music, and in particular the history of music, can make a considerable contribution to the study of nations and nationalism and illustrates it by analysing Be´la Barto´k and Igor Stravinsky, relating these analyses to significant debates within theories of nations and nationalism. Within studies of nations and nationalism the article concentrates on the different interpretations of the term 'construction' expressed in the works of Eric Hobsbawm and Anthony D. Smith. National music is bad. Good music is national.

Anthony D. Smith and the role of art, architecture and music in the growth of modern nations: a comparative study of national parliaments and classical music in Britain and Denmark

“…Instead, it was considered a classical vocal polyphony. By the same token, the Bach style was not considered German or even central European but the culmination of the linear counterpoint (Brincker and Brincker, : 580). However, this reading of the history of classical music is challenged in the second part of the twentieth century when the American musicologist Richard Taruskin embarked upon the endeavour to uncover national elements of the very same music that European musicology had traditionally considered universal and beyond national differences (Taruskin , ).…”

“…Hence, while Williams and Nielsen underline that they are part of, and embedded in a wider cultural community, they stress that they cannot be held accountable for the ways in which their work is received and interpreted by that community. Hence, it is never quite clear who assigns national significance to music and its creators (Brincker and Brincker, ).…”

The role of classical music in the construction of nationalism: a cross‐national perspective

“…Traditionally, scientific musicology has considered national music as a divergence from the universal norm, addressing it in the context of less prestigious genres such as rhapsodies or suites and dances. Hence, there has been a tendency to approach the national element as the particular juxtaposing it to the general, regardless of whether the general was seen as universal or as the centre in a concentric musical picture of the world (Brincker ; Brincker and Brincker ). This changed in the mid‐twentieth century when American musicology began to consider ‘universal music’ a national, and more specifically, German tradition.…”

“…Taking its point of departure in the first half of the twentieth century, this paper starts out with an analysis of the Danish composer Carl Nielsen's oeuvre, exploring the tension between the modernist and local/authentic musical styles. Here it draws upon research carried out into the life, work and reception of Carl Nielsen published in past volumes of Nations and Nationalism (Brincker ; Brincker and Brincker ). Since this tension was in no way limited to Denmark – in fact, one may speak of a general phenomenon characteristic of the period – the paper adds a cross‐national perspective to the analysis by including three additional cases: the Soviet composer Dimitry Shostacovich (particularly the reception of his 5th Symphony); the position of Paul Hindemith in the Third Reich; and finally the development in Aron Copland's oeuvre.…”

Introduction to themed section on classical music and nationalism: studies into the political function of art

“…This changed, however, in the post‐war years when American musicologists advanced the view that universal music should in fact be considered a national, and more precisely, a German phenomenon. In this perspective, the national schools that had often been addressed in the context of peripheral nationalisms were seen as national musical expressions seeking to distance themselves from a dominant German musical tradition (Brincker and Brincker ). This opened up the possibility for a greater interest in the relationship between classical music and nationalism – at least within the realm of musicology – and several musicologists have carried out significant research into particular individual national cases.…”