A concert pianist honored by a massive ticker-tape parade through Manhattan? Violent riots breaking out over the appearance of an Austrian conductor at an American concert hall? It may be difficult to imagine such events taking place today, but as this book demonstrates in fascinating detail, the classical music world became caught up in the swirling geopolitical currents of the early- and mid-20th century, drawing musicians, orchestra administrators, and concertgoers into the fray. Between the Great War, when anti-German sentiment ran rampant across the USA, through the anti-Communist witch hunts of the 1950s, lovers of music found themselves grappling all too often with ideological questions. Would music prove itself a universal language capable of rising above the fray?
–Donovan, Grass Roots Books & Music, Corvallis, OR
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