Going all yearround. Thank you for going deep into the december before the holidays. Its a pleasure to have you. If you are curious about our membership programs, feel free to talk to me or any of our volunteers. You can also pick up a copy of the magazine if you dont have it already and find us online at smithsonianassociates. Org. Just as a quick reminder, please take a moment to please silence any mobile devices or your cell phones, whatever you have with you. Always good to double or triple check, especially because we have cspan in the house tonight. Your ring tone will be saved in perpetuity. [laughter] thank you. Just an additional note. Generally we have exits in the back and one to your right. Today, please just use the right side door. You may have noticed we have a lot going on in the Ripley Center tonight and the backdoor is blocked. For your safety and others, use this door to your right as you exit. I think thats all the announcements i have for you, and again, thank you to cspan for being here today. Finally, let me tell you about our guest today, jonathan rosenberg. Jonathan rosenberg teaches 20th century u. S. History at the Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the university of new york. His research focuses on the history of the United States in a global context. Before receiving his phd in history from harvard, rosenberg, a graduate of julliard, worked as a Classical Musician. He is also the author of dangerous minds Classical Music in america from the great war to the cold war and it is available for sale and signing at the conclusion of the program. Please, without further ado, join me in welcoming jonathan rosenberg. [applause] dr. Rosenberg thanks. All right. Ok, is my microphone on . I think it is. Very good. Well, thank you all for coming out this afternoon. It is a pleasure to see you here. Its nice to be here in washington, and heartening to see that there is a group of people who are interested in Classical Music and want to hear someone discuss a book on the subject. I would like to begin by asking you to ponder a couple of questions does art matter . What about artists . As we reflect upon American Society today, it can seem that art and the artist have very little impact on our lives, but i would like to tell you about a time, and it was not all that long ago, when art and artists were extraordinarily important. Im thinking specifically about Classical Music in the United States. I would like to take you back to the streets of new york city in the spring of 1958, may of that year. 100,000 new yorkers turned up to watch a tickertape parade honoring pianist dan clyburn, van clyburn, who had recently won a tchaikovsky competition that was held in moscow a few weeks earlier. Cheers cascaded down on clyburn as the parade snaked its way up broadway. Americas newest celebrity was sitting in the backseat of an open car waving to people, blowing kisses to the crowd. Women were reaching out to try to touch him. In moscow, a few weeks earlier, premier Nikita Khrushchev saw what was to be an enthusiastic participant in this emerging clyburn affair. Millions of americans saw the way he playfully chatted. Pianist. Young they developed a nice relationship. The russian leader even famously gave clyburn a bear hug. When the pianist got back to the United States, clyburn mania swept the country. He was invited to the white house to meet with Dwight Eisenhower. It must be said, Dwight Eisenhower had no interest in Classical Music. When his press secretary was asked whether clyburn would play during the visit, he said, i dont think so, and he did not. People read accounts of clyburns every move in newspapers and magazines. There were portraits, opinion pieces, discussions of his baptist roots, articles on if his victory in moscow would somehow transform the u. S. Soviet relationship. Can one imagine such a thing today . Would the overseas accomplishments of a Classical Musician capture the attention of americas political leaders or the countrys newspapers and magazines . Would we have a tickertape parade that would attract 100,000 delirious fans held for an artist with a gift for playing tchaikovsky . I think we know the answer to that is no, but in an earlier time, a pianists triumph could mesmerize the American People. Few would question the notion that Classical Music has little relevance in contemporary america. Its connection to the larger culture is tenuous at best, leading magazines offer very little coverings of the goingson in the world of Classical Music. Newspapers supply little more than short reviews of concerts and recitals. For nearly all americans, the Classical Music landscape in the United States is alien terrain. Perhaps this group is an exception to that. But this was not always so. Dangerous melodies tells the story of an age when Classical Music occupied a permanent place, not only in the nations cultural life, but in its political life as well. Id to tell that story, explore the connection between the world of Classical Music in the u. S. And some of the crucial International Developments of the 20th century. Over many decades, i argue in the book, Classical Music achieved a degree of significance that the music had never known before and which it surely lacks today. But of course, the question is , why did Classical Music once command such attention . From world war i to the cold war, the Classical Music community in the United States became entangled in international affairs. It was bound up in the two world wars that the United States fought against germany with the soviet union, an important ally in world war ii. It was entwined in emergence of italian and german fascism between the wars, and it would be caught up in americas struggle with the soviet union after 1945, a long, seemingly unending, cold war. These three countries germany, italy, and the soviet union were wellsprings of rich musical traditions and the birthplaces of distinguished musical figures, and americans had long admired both those traditions and the musicians who embodied them. It was difficult, therefore, for people in the United States to separate americas relations with germany, italy, and the soviet union from the music and musicians of those three lands. As a result, the Classical Musical community in the United States was drawn into the swirl of International Politics and the intersection between the Music Community and unfolding overseas events supplied Classical Music with a degree of political significance that i think is now difficult to comprehend. Dangerous melodies is filled with stories about instrumentalists, singers, conductors, and composers along with a tale of the work of important musical institutions in the United States, symphony orchestras and Opera Companies. Importantly, it also looks at how listeners understood and responded to Classical Music. A key point in the book is that over many decades, americans imbued the music with political and ideological meaning. The world of Classical Music helped americans grapple with critical questions in the life of the country. It helped them decide what was worth fighting for and why. It helped elucidate the meaning of democracy, freedom, and patriotism. It supplied insight into the nature of tyranny and oppression, and Classical Music in the work of Classical Musicians helped americans reflect upon the countrys purpose in what was a dangerous century. What role will the United States play in the world . Musicologist,ne music is not just something nice to listen to. Instead, he writes, it is what we may get and what we make of it. He rights that people think through music and use it to decide who they are. I would suggest to you that for many decades, the American People did a great deal of thinking through music, and their reflections on Classical Music and on the birth of musicians and performing work of musicians and performing institutions allowed them to achieve a deeper understanding of americas place in the world. As i conducted research for this across striking things i did not expect to find, which is almost inevitable when you are doing research on a book, but i was struck by some things that were utterly unexpected. The first concerns an enduring debate on the relationship between art and politics in the United States. It was a bitter debate. It pitted those who viewed Classical Music in highly nationalistic terms against those possessing a more idealistic perspective. I call them the musical nationalists and the musical universalists. The musical nationalists saw the world is a perilous place. They were convinced that the act of listening to pieces by certain composers or attending performances by particular singers, instrumentalists, or conductors could somehow contaminate the country or even perhaps endanger the American People. Those moments when the country felt particularly vulnerable, the musical nationalists favored banning the music of certain composers or preventing certain artists from performing in the nations concert halls and opera houses. Unlike musical nationalists, universalists were convinced that art transcended politics and national rivalries. They believed music could act as a unifier, a force for uplift, perhaps even a catalyst for global cooperation. The musical universalists, not surprisingly saw Classical Music as a universal language, which could speak to all of humanitys hopes and dreams. For many years, the debate between the musical nationalists and musical universalists roiled in newspapers, magazines, and competing public pronouncements. And the passion that characterized this public wrangling heightened Classical Musics political significance across the country. A couple of other things i did not expect to find as i researched dangerous melodies after all, it is a book about the history of Classical Music. What i in a sense uncovered were two vital aspects of history thes. Countrys growing activism around the world, and its increasing anxiety over antidemo attic regimes democratic regimes. Consequently, dangerous melodies is not just a history of Classical Music in the United States. It also reveals how the United States became more assertive in World Politics in the 20th century. And how the American People experienced a growing sense of distress over the threat posed by antidemocratic rulers. Kaiser wilhelm, benito adolf hitler of , stalin and his soviet successors. I would like to turn to the meat of the book and look at a couple of important episodes in this history. I would like to begin by turning to the First World War, which began in the summer of 1914. In u. S. Entered the war 1917. Wars can do peculiar things to societies. World war i was no exception. It caused unsavory attitudes to bubble to the surface of american life. The german state and its people were portrayed in barbaric terms. Germanamericans and all things german ultimately would be scorned in this country. The german language was no longer taught in schools. German books were removed from library shelves. There were book burnings in america of german language books. Trivially, sauerkraut became liberty cabbage, hamburgers were liberty steak, german measles, yes liberty , measles. But more seriously, germans were tarred and feathered. They were beaten. A drunken mob lynched a german laborer in a small town in illinois. German musicians did not escape the fury. The concert hall became a battleground upon which ethnic animosity and patriotic aspirations would be contested. It is worth keeping in mind that in this period, late 19th and into the 20th century, the of musicculture in the United States was really quite teutonic. It was dramatic. Rehearsal of u. S. Orchestras in this period took place in germany. The majority of orchestral repertoire that was performed was german. Most conductors were german, a a large number of musicians were german. Into all thisrawn antigerman sentiment in the country, music did. Many believed the american war effort could be fortified by dictating who could conduct, who could perform, and what could be played. I would like to turn to boston, which was a home at that time to one of the finest symphony orchestras in the United States. It still is one of the great orchestras in the country. The music director at that time was german born. He was one of the worlds most celebrated conductors. His problems began when it was alleged that he had refused to play the starspangled banner at a concert in providence, rhode island, in october of 1917. The fact was that he had not been informed of the request to play the piece that evening. The orchestra did not have the music with them. They were not prepared to play it, and it was not played. Things quickly spiraled downward. The affair became a national phenomenon. It was widely covered in the press for a considerable amount of time. In philadelphia, Theodore Roosevelt said, any man who refuses to play the starspangled banner in this time of crisis should be forced to pack up and return to the country he came from. In baltimore, a boston symphony concert they were on the road doing a little tour a boston symphony concert was canceled when it was feared a riot might erupt. There was no concert. A large rally was held anyway. It was led by a former politician over there. Cries of kill muck rang out at the rally. It was a vicious scene. I describe it in some detail in the book. In new york, karl muck became the target of a Toxic Campaign to keep him off the stage. The effort failed. He performed a few concerts there. They were well reviewed. There were Police Officers stationed in the concert hall. Mucks fate was hardly secure. Back in boston on the night of karl muck was, arrested. He was not charged with any crime. He was hauled off to the local jail and a few weeks later, he would be shipped off to a place called Fort Oglethorpe in georgia, which was a place that held german prisoners. Not necessarily war prisoners but germans who lived in the United States. The u. S. Government labeled muck a dangerous enemy alien, and he would spend the rest of the war in this prison camp along with several thousand other german aliens, many of whom were musicians. The book has much more on the karl muck saga, including his love affair with a young singer, which became public after his arrest and further inflamed the situation. Still more troubling, the authorities accused him of espionage. There are a number of allegations against him. He was said to have signaled german vessels at sea from a summer see said cottage he had on the maine coast. Theres no credible evidence to support any of these allegations. Karl muck was no spy. He was a faithless husband, but he was not a spy. Several months after the war, he was deported, never to return to the United States. Throughout the country, german music and german musicians were the object of antigerman hatred. In new york city, in the 19171918 concert season, no german opera would be performed. German singers were fired. The opera house had become an extension of the battlefield. A band was also placed on orchestral pieces by living german composers. There were some who opposed the decision. They thought it was completely foolish. These were mainly the musical universalists. One publication said this notion of banning the music by all living german composers was absurd. After all, the publication claimed, if strauss were to die tomorrow, his music would suddenly become acceptable. How silly is that . These sorts of bands, though, were nationwide. The music of living german composers was a special target. Wagner operas were also banned. In the city of pittsburgh, all german music completely was proscribed. Cincinnati had a very distinguished conductor, an austrian. He was arrested and imprisoned, sent to the same prison camp as muck. He committed no crime. It was vaguely reported he had said some antiamerican things at social gatherings. In chicago, several german musicians in the orchestra were dismissed. Again, they were charged with no crimes. The chicago symphony had a very distinguished printable cellist. Principal cellist. He was