Beethoven in the Bunker

Introduction

Music in the Bunker
 
In the late 1960s, including that magical year of 1968, I was a student of Germanic languages at the university in Leuven, the city where I was born. Student protests were raining down in Paris; in Leuven, there was a slight drizzle. As students, we rebelled against the blind authority imposed on us by our institution of higher learning, our parents, and the political establishment. Power for power s sake was thrown overboard and multiple political leanings were welcomed. This extended to the realm of my greatest passion, music. Various musical streams were mixed together. While marching in the streets, we sang We Shall Overcome. Deep Purple played their Concerto for Group and Orchestra with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Arnold. I still get goosebumps thinking about Jon Lord s entrance on the organ! Classical composers like Cornelius Cardew and Frederic Rzewski wrote politically charged works. We embraced protest songs by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan. Their European counterparts inspired us too, including Wolf Biermann in East Germany; Ewan McColl and Leon Rosselson in the United Kingdom; Boris Vian, Jean Ferrat, Georges Brassens in France; and our own Belgian Jacques Brel, who took aim at the bourgeoisie. We were familiar with bootleg tapes by the dissident Vladimir Vysotsky, which circulated clandestinely in the Soviet Union. Musicologists explained that Beethoven was both a musical genius and an enemy of dictatorial authority, as was clear from his Third Symphony. And hadn t Bach, the great master, been reprimanded during his years in Weimar for daring to clash with a student who happened to have wealthy parents? Pure class justice!
From the early 1970s on, I worked in the world of radio and television, and I carried the political sentiments of the 1960s with me. But let me be clear: the beauty and power of music and words always remained paramount. The

Fred Brouwers

[An] intriguing study Brouwers s love of music and fascination with the era come through. Publishers Weekly

Brouwers is meticulous in detailing the musical and personal biographies of these artists he muses on the political and social uses of music during World War II, concluding that Art and indeed music know no boundaries. Jewish Book Council

A fascinating collection of historical glimpses, curated and examined, with palpable enthusiasm, by a man who has passionately served and studied music for most of his life. Beethoven in the Bunker preserves important stories: stories of bravery and activism, stories of unforgivable racism, and stories of lives that very same racism banished to obscurity. A must-read for music lovers, history buffs, and anyone seeking to understand our collective past. Arianna Warsaw-Fan Rauch, author of Declassified: A Low-Key Guide to the High-Strung World of Classical Music

At a time when tribalism, nationalism, and authoritarianism are back on the front burner worldwide, the translation of Fred Brouwers s heart-wrenching book could not be more timely, for the dogs of war, once again, froth at the mouth. The Flemish author s crisply written accounts of the trials and tribulations of classical musicians, composers, and conductors under Nazism are also about the importance culture has in building our humanity, and about how politics at their very worst seek to tear up what makes us humane, and even human. Michaël Amy, Professor of Art History, Rochester Institute of Technology