Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 6-10-2020 The Concurrent Prevalence of Modernism and Romanticism as seen in the Operas Performed between the World Wars and Exemplified in Ernst Krenek’s Jonny Spielt Auf Nicole Fassold Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Fassold, Nicole, "The Concurrent Prevalence of Modernism and Romanticism as seen in the Operas Performed between the World Wars and Exemplified in Ernst Krenek’s Jonny Spielt Auf" (2020). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5301. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5301 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE CONCURRENT PREVALENCE OF MODERNISM AND ROMANTICISM AS SEEN IN THE OPERAS PERFORMED BETWEEN THE WORLD WARS AND EXEMPLIFIED IN ERNST KRENEK’S JONNY SPIELT AUF A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in The College of Music and Dramatic Arts by Nicole Fassold B.M., Colorado State University, 2015 M.M., University of Delaware, 2017 August 2020 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the professors and panel members that have guided me throughout my Doctoral studies as well as to my parents and sister, my family all over the world, my friends, and my incredible husband for their unending support and encouragement. Thank you with all my heart. Special thanks to my committee members for their review of this dissertation: Dr. Lin He, Professor Dennis Parker, Professor Espen Lilleslatten, and Dr. Adelaide Russo. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................... ii Table .......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ iv Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... v Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1. A History of Interwar Europe in the 1920s and its Operas .......................................... 3 Chapter 2. Music and Opera during the Weimar Republic the Stark Contrast of Romanticism and Modernism .................................................................................................... 8 Lehár’s Paganini ................................................................................................ 20 Entartete Musik and the Meaning Behind its Symbolic Poster ............................ 23 Chapter 3. Jonny Spielt Auf ....................................................................................................... 29 Krenek, His Music and Inspirations .................................................................... 29 An Underlying Plot ............................................................................................ 31 Jonny verses Daniello: Themes and Character Study .......................................... 37 Tango................................................................................................................. 43 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 45 Appendix. Permission Information ............................................................................................ 47 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................. 48 Vita ........................................................................................................................................... 53 iii Table Table 3.1. Influential Violin Works from the 1920s……....………………………..………….…30 List of Figures Figure 3.2. Act 1, Scene 3, “Sie ist sehr spiritual”, mm. 1020-1025…………………………...….38 Figure 3.3. Act 2, Scene 11, “Die Stunde schlägt der alten Zeit”, mm. 2225-2237…………………41 Figure 3.4. Act 2, Scene 11, “Die Stunde schlägt der alten Zeit”, mm. 2419-2427……….……..42 Figure 3.5. Act 1, Scene 3, “Sie ist sehr spirituell”, mm. 1138-1147………………………...……44 iv Abstract Ernst Krenek’s 1927 opera Jonny Spielt Auf represents Zeitoper, or “opera of the times”. The opera’s story line and characters symbolize Krenek’s internal debate of a divided artistic world between all that is modern and innovative and the older mindset of romanticism, both of which he used in his compositions. This dissertation intends to peer into Krenek’s world and influences of the 1920s to consider the symbols in the opera that represent Modernism and Romanticism. The Golden Age of the Weimar Republic occurred from 1924 to 1929, between the World Wars. During this time, Austrian and German composers had the funds to publish their works and have their operas performed. Performers from America, including African American jazz bands, were making their first tours to Europe and had a large impact on European composers. During the Third Reich, beginning in 1933, the Romanticists were honored and praised by the Nazi regime while the Modernists’ music, along with jazz and the music of Jewish composers, was banned and labeled in an exhibit as Entartete Musik or Degenerate Music. The poster for Jonny Spielt Auf was used as the poster of this exhibit because of the character Jonny in the opera. Though Jonny was performed by a white man in blackface, he represents an African American jazz musician. Max Spilcker, the original singer to play Jonny, had relations to Hitler, creating a possible tie to the Entartete Musik poster. The symbols found in an underlying story of Jonny Spielt Auf further reflect Zeitoper. The story centers around a composer, Max, who represents Krenek. Daniello, a virtuoso violinist, represents Romanticism, while Jonny, a jazz violinist, represents Modernism. Krenek uses both styles of music in his score. The first clue in the opera of Daniello and Jonny’s contrasting ideals v is found in the violin solo from Act 1, Scene 3 labeled “Tango”. The solo intertwines with a saxophone solo as if to demonstrate an interplay between the two characters. Every moment of the opera has a double meaning related to Krenek’s world of the 1920s, with much of its symbolism yet to be analyzed. vi Introduction I cannot begin without first addressing the nature of Krenek’s Jonny Spielt Auf. The opera came into my knowledge after taking one of the most influential classes in my career- the string literature class at Louisiana State University. The class focused a considerable portion on music leading to, and during, the Third Reich- Entartete Musik. It exposed me to unfamiliar composers due to their untimely deaths or exiles had been obscured by history. The opera was fascinating to me, particularly after listening to its finale that demonstrated modernism through Avant-guard elements like whistling and sirens, and its political undertones. After further listening I realized how much was centered around the violin and knew I needed to understand more about this unfamiliar opera. Several hurtles occurred upon starting my research journey. First, I had only heard the audio recording from the 1993 Leipzig Opernchor cast and, to date, have not been able to view a staged opera performance. The only translation of the opera in English commonly available in the United States (to my knowledge) has come from the 1993 Leipzig recording CD. It features the German text next to an English translation as well as an introduction to Entartete Musik. Few renditions of the opera have been performed in the United States since the Metropolitan Opera in New York premiered the work in 1929. The opera was met to a cold reception, no doubt due to the racial nature of Jonny’s character.1 Respected music critic of the time Herbert Peyser wrote one of the first reviews of the premier saying, “I do not think that producing Jonny Spielt Auf in America is really an act of kindness to Ernst Krenek”.2 Jonny’s character is a jazz violinist and is featured in every poster of Jonny Spielt Auf. He is also a white man dressed in blackface imitating African American Jazz musicians and American minstrel shows popular in the 1920s, then considered very new and exotic in Germany. African American jazz bands and performers like Joséphine Baker began their first tours to Germany in the 1920s, specifically 1 John L. Stewart, Ernst Krenek The Man and His Music (Berkley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1991), 185. 2 Herbert Peyser, “Jonny over There,” Modern Music VI, no. 2 (1929), 32. 1 during the Golden Era of the Weimar Republic beginning in 1924. Many composers were inspired by these performances and quickly tried to replicate and borrow many of their themes in their own music. It is important to understand that