Proof through the Night

Carols floating across no-man's-land on Christmas Eve 1914; solemn choruses, marches, and popular songs responding to the call of propaganda ministries and war charities; opera, keyboard suites, ragtime, and concertos for the left hand—all provided testimony to the unique power of music to chronicle the Great War and to memorialize its battles and fallen heroes in the first post-Armistice decade. In this striking book, Glenn Watkins investigates these variable roles of music primarily from the angle of the Entente nations' perceived threat of German hegemony in matters of intellectual and artistic accomplishment—a principal concern not only for Europe but also for the United States, whose late entrance into the fray prompted a renewed interest in defining America as an emergent world power as well as a fledgling musical culture. He shows that each nation gave "proof through the night"—ringing evidence during the dark hours of the war—not only of its nationalist resolve in the singing of national airs but also of its power to recall home and hearth on distant battlefields and to reflect upon loss long after the guns had been silenced.

Watkins's eloquent narrative argues that twentieth-century Modernism was not launched full force with the advent of the Great War but rather was challenged by a new set of alternatives to the prewar avant-garde. His central focus on music as a cultural marker during the First World War of necessity exposes its relationship to the other arts, national institutions, and international politics. From wartime scores by Debussy and Stravinsky to telling retrospective works by Berg, Ravel, and Britten; from "La Marseillaise" to "The Star-Spangled Banner," from "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to "Over There," music reflected society's profoundest doubts and aspirations. By turns it challenged or supported the legitimacy of war, chronicled misgivings in miniature and grandiose formats alike, and inevitably expressed its sorrow at the final price exacted by the Great War.Proof through the Night concludes with a consideration of the post-Armistice period when, on the classical music front, memory and distance forged a musical response that was frequently more powerful than in wartime.

Carols floating across no-man's-land on Christmas Eve 1914; solemn choruses, marches, and popular songs responding to the call of propaganda ministries and war charities; opera, keyboard suites, ragtime, and concertos for the left hand—all provided testimony to the unique power of music to chronicle the Great War and to memorialize its battles and fallen heroes in the first post-Armistice decade. In this striking book, Glenn Watkins investigates these variable roles of music primarily from the angle of the Entente nations' perceived threat of German hegemony in matters of intellectual and artistic accomplishment—a principal concern not only for Europe but also for the United States, whose late entrance into the fray prompted a renewed interest in defining America as an emergent world power as well as a fledgling musical culture. He shows that each nation gave "proof through the night"—ringing evidence during the dark hours of the war—not only of its nationalist resolve in the singing of national airs but also of its power to recall home and hearth on distant battlefields and to reflect upon loss long after the guns had been silenced.

Watkins's eloquent narrative argues that twentieth-century Modernism was not launched full force with the advent of the Great War but rather was challenged by a new set of alternatives to the prewar avant-garde. His central focus on music as a cultural marker during the First World War of necessity exposes its relationship to the other arts, national institutions, and international politics. From wartime scores by Debussy and Stravinsky to telling retrospective works by Berg, Ravel, and Britten; from "La Marseillaise" to "The Star-Spangled Banner," from "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to "Over There," music reflected society's profoundest doubts and aspirations. By turns it challenged or supported the legitimacy of war, chronicled misgivings in miniature and grandiose formats alike, and inevitably expressed its sorrow at the final price exacted by the Great War.Proof through the Night concludes with a consideration of the post-Armistice period when, on the classical music front, memory and distance forged a musical response that was frequently more powerful than in wartime.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Prologue

Chapter 1. In Search ofKultur
The Strasbourg Olympic Games in Music—Beethoven andJean-Christophe—Romain Rolland and Richard Strauss—Above the Battle?

Great Britain
Chapter 2. Pomp and Circumstance
Defining Poland and Belgium—Countering Charges from Home and Abroad
Chapter 3. The Old Lie
Elgar’s Women and Fallen Heroes—Other War Requiems
Chapter 4. The Symphony of the Front
Christmas 1914—Concerts and Soldier Songs—National Airs and Popular and Retexted Tunes

France
Chapter 5. Mobilization and the Call to History
The Silent Muse and War Pages—En blanc et noir—Neoclassicism and National Identity
Chapter 6. War and the Children
Noël of The Children Who No Longer Have a Home—War in a Toy Box—Joan of Arc
Chapter 7. War Games, 1914–1915
A March, a Dedication, and a Drawing—Game Theory, War, and the Lively Arts
Chapter 8. Charades and Masquerades
Beethoven and Doggerel—Renard and a Soldier’s Tale—National Anthems
Chapter 9. Church, State, and Schola
Veteran, Monarchist, Classicist—The Legend of St. Christopher—Problems with Beethoven, Protestants, and Jews
Chapter 10. Neoclassicism, Aviation, and the Great War
"Trois beaux oiseaux du Paradis"—The Wounded Muse—The "Toccata" and the War in the Air—Flights of Fancy

Italy
Chapter 11. The World of the Future, the Future of the World
Futurism and Music—Visionary Classicist

Germany-Austria
Chapter 12. "Dance of Death"
The Lost Brigade—Jacob’s Ladder—A Vision for the Future
Chapter 13. "The Last Days of Mankind"
A March and a Soldier’s Tale—Momentary Fraternité

The United States of America
Chapter 14. "The Yanks Are Coming"
War Song as Interventionist Propaganda—Women and the War—Troop Entertainments Abroad
Chapter 15. "Onward Christian Soldiers"
Church, State, and Moral Reciprocity—Billy Sunday—Hymns, Sentimental and Militant
Chapter 16. The 100% American
"The Star-Spangled Banner"—The Four-Minute Men and the Movies
Chapter 17. "Proof Through the Night"
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra—The Boston Symphony Orchestra and "L’affaire Muck"—Good Citizenship—Opera and Ballet in New York
Chapter 18. "On Patrol in No Man’s Land"
The "Hellfighters" of the 369th Regiment—From the Tuileries to the Recording Studio—The "Damnable Dilemma"—Birth of an American Conservatory in Fontainebleau
Chapter 19. Coming of Age in America
John Alden Carpenter—Coming to Terms with the Avant-garde—Leo Ornstein: America’s Futurist—Charles Ives: Private Witness to the Great War

Post-Armistice
Chapter 20. "Goin’ Home"
Armistice and Celebration—"Goin’ Home"—"My Buddy"
Chapter 21. Ceremonials and the War of Nerves
Nerves, Jazz, and the "Lost Generation"—Antheil and the Suppression of Sentiment
Chapter 22. The Persistence of Memory
Twilight in Belgrade: Ravel’sFrontispice—Twilight in Vienna:La valse—Re-evaluating National Histories—A Concerto for the Left Hand
Chapter 23. Prophecies and Alarms
Triptychs: Grünewald, Dix, and Hindemith—Gershwin’sStrike Up the Band!

Epilogue
Chapter 24. Unfinished Business
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of CD Contents