All European societies had to respond to the major political upheavals, wars and crises of the 20th century, with some parallels and differences coming to light. In changing political systems – during the Nazi terror as well as under state socialism – musicians, composers and audiences either sought to maintain their autonomy or opened up to political agitation. This workshop aims to explore how aspects of autonomy and agitation are reflected in the practice of composition and music making. To this end, a comparative approach is taken by examining different repertoire from before, during and after World War II. 

Possible fields of research include but are not limited to: 

• Popular music including musical theater and film music 
• Counterculture and resistance, possibilities and limitations of cultural transfer 
• Persecuted musicians during and after the Holocaust 
• Cultural memory and forgetting, the myth of Zero Hour (Stunde null) 
• The Iron Curtain as a problem and a challenge in Europe: divided Germany, Yugoslavia between the blocs, Soviet and American influences 
• The works of individual personalities such as Bohuslav Martinů or Dmitri Shostakovich 
• Music history “from below”: everyday culture and media in transformation 
• Youth cultures from swing youth to the emerging hippie movement 
• The politics of folk music movements