Sounds of War

Abstract

This book is the first comprehensive study of classical music in the United States during World War II. Whether as an instrument of propaganda or as a form of entertainment, classical music had a cultural relevance and a ubiquity in the war effort that are hard to imagine today. Exploring an abundance of sources ranging from government archives to the correspondence of musicians, this book traces how musicians in the United States responded and contributed to the war, following individual performers and composers as they faced military duty or sought alternative ways in which they could serve. Declassified materials from the Office of War Information, the State Department, and the Armed Forces speak to the manner in which U.S. government agencies instrumentalized and weaponized classical music and music making. In the interplay of individuals and institutions, as well as military and civilian organizations, musicians created works that left its indelible stamp on American music and musical life. Wartime compositions such as Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring speak as articulately to U.S. wartime culture as does Morton Gould’s American Salute. These meshed with the contributions to American concert life of exiled composers such as Darius Milhaud, Béla Bartók, and Arnold Schoenberg, who, having fled the Nazis, went on to write new music for their new American audiences.