“Welded in a single mass”: Memory and Community in London’s Concert Halls during the First World War

Abstract

Despite the intense economic and psychological hardships faced by British civilians during the First World War, attendance at artistic performances in London throughout the course of the conflict remained steady. Furthermore, although many spheres of artistic engagement banned any works originating from a German source, classical music concert promoters maintained the hegemony of the canonic German repertoire rather than shifting toward an entirely British—and therefore overtly patriotic—repertory. Contemporary debate about the ethics of listening to German music varied during the War, providing the basis for a discussion of ideas of nostalgia, patriotism, communal memorialization, and political embodiment.