How is music used politically? Music educator Mario Dunkel deals with this question. Among other things, he is researching West German music diplomacy during the Cold War. In this interview, he talks about the special features of this period.
Professor Dunkel, why does music play a special role in foreign cultural policy?
Music is a form of communication that also works without language. As such, it has a unifying effect that transcends language barriers. It also often has something participatory about it - people get involved by listening or dancing. These are qualities that make music particularly suitable for cultural programmes. Music is also important for the conception of national communities. We see this every time the national anthem is played at the World Cup or European Championships and in the heated discussions about whether the footballers should sing it or not. Music can therefore be used politically in a very deliberate way.
Where else can the political role of music be seen?
Music can take on political functions in very different contexts. When analysing music in foreign cultural policy, I look at a sub-area of political music in which governments are directly or indirectly involved in music policy. When Beethoven's Ninth is played in the Elbphilharmonie at a meeting of politicians, for example at the G20 summit, the music has a diplomatic function.
You are primarily researching West German music diplomacy during the Cold War. What interests you about this period?
I looked at what types of music were used when and in what context, for example. A lot changed in cultural policy in the 1960s. At that time, there were more initiatives to send West German musicians abroad in order to carry out effective educational work there. At the same time, there was a move away from focussing solely on the European art music tradition.
Where did this change come from?
It came about primarily through individual Goethe-Instituts. At that time, there was no framework agreement between the private Goethe-Institut and the Federal Foreign Office that regulated cooperation. This meant that the branch offices were fairly independent and were able to launch initiatives that would otherwise not have taken place in foreign cultural policy. For example, the Goethe-Institut in Paris organised a jazz concert in 1963, which was attended by 2,500 people and was very successful. As a result, jazz musicians were sent on tours to various countries to represent West Germany.
To what extent did art music still play a role at the time?
There was still a prestige-orientated kind of cultural policy that functioned through classical music and the conductor as a symbol of German culture. In the early 1960s, for example, various Southeast Asian governments expressed the need to hire Western conductors to apprentice their orchestras. This was because orchestras were associated with a great deal of prestige at the time. For the governments, it was also about signalling that they could keep up with international competition.
Can you name a specific case?
In 1960, South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm asked the West German government for a conductor for the Saigon Symphony Orchestra. The Foreign Office responded by sending the conductor and music teacher Otto Söllner, General Director of the Trier Opera. From the Foreign Office's point of view, Söllner was very successful in South Vietnam and his stay was continually extended. At some point, the South Vietnamese government made the orchestra an official national orchestra, which was then also subordinate to a ministry.
So the Federal Foreign Office financed the director of the South Vietnamese national orchestra?
Exactly. The co-operation went so far that Söllner arranged the official version of the South Vietnamese national anthem. When the government could no longer afford the orchestra after a few years, Söllner was transferred to Huế on the North Vietnamese border as a music teacher in 1963.
What is so exciting about this story?
Söllner is a good example of several things: firstly, that politics was not - as one might assume - primarily concerned with promoting democracy, but with forging alliances and strengthening important allies. In this case with the Americans. Söllner came to South Vietnam in the middle of the civil war and remained there after the outbreak of the Vietnam War until 1968. While communist North Vietnam was supported by the Eastern Bloc states, South Vietnam had the backing of the Western powers. Secondly, the example of Söllner shows where the German government's priorities lay: as the conductor of a prestigious project, he had a good income. Later, when he was "only" a music teacher from the point of view of the Foreign Office, his salary was severely cut.
In one of your publications, you also mention that the German side sometimes behaved arrogantly towards foreign culture. How did that manifest itself?
Otto Söllner himself was open to non-European musical cultures. He worked with composers and a choir in South Vietnam and arranged various Vietnamese folk songs. At the same time, the documents contain incredibly patronising comments from the West German ambassador in South Vietnam towards the orchestra there, such as that the musicians had never played together before and would now finally learn from Söllner how to make music together with Prussian discipline. This clearly shows how cultural boundaries are also reinforced through music.
How did foreign cultural policy develop over the following decades?
Gradually, the idea that West Germany should be represented exclusively by traditional art music was abandoned. After cultural policy had opened up to jazz in the 1960s, influences from rock music were increasingly added in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the Goethe-Institut organised the first exhibitions on rock and pop in Germany and musicians of the Neue Deutsche Welle performed abroad. The Toten Hosen were also involved relatively early on. Over time, cultural policy has opened up more and more to other genres, so that today there is quite a diverse programme. On the other hand, prestige continues to play an important role, for example when it comes to political receptions.
Do the musicians also see themselves as diplomats?
Very differently. There are musicians who say they are not political at all, while others see themselves as an extension of the government. There are also those who use their performances to criticise the policies of the German government. In the early 1980s, for example, Wolf Biermann used Goethe-Institutes as a stage to criticise West German politics. In 1980, he labelled German President Karl Carstens a "Nazi" during appearances at French Goethe-Institutes. But for some, it's also simply a job: the Goethe-Institut paid quite well in the 1960s - it was an important option for West German jazz musicians in particular, as there wasn't a big market for their music.
Interview: Nele Claus