Cabernet music in Germany under the Weimar Republic was so vehemently defined by the censorship of the government that it, as a genre, didn’t ever have a fair chance of recovery (Jelavich, Peter. “Berlin Cabaret”). Much like we saw in the Soviet Union, cabernet music became limited in view and was a tool used to serve the government’s ideological views and goals. I found it interesting that the music seemed to be just as controversial in the Weimar Republic as it was during the Soviet Union, but for differing reasons. In Germany music was controversial because some people thought that upbeat music during the war was not appropriate because of the severity of the times. However, others thought that music proved a good distraction because people needed something that took their mind off of the horrible happenings around them (Jelavich, Peter. “Berlin Cabaret”). The shows were also controversial because they were primarily focused on what was going on at the time, reflecting the travesties of war, but they still had very blatant nationalist undertones. I think that these nationalist views cause music to lose its true purpose, which it to be a truly expressive piece of work. Although I haven’t yet heard any of the cabernets from this time I assume they will be similar to the lackluster musical pieces from the Soviet Union. While these two regimes were different in many ways they both impeded on freedom of expression in music. Artist who were dubbed anti-nationalist weren’t well received. “When the Old Motor Beats in Time Again,” is a perfect example of a non nationalistic piece (Jelavich, Peter. “Berlin Cabaret”). In class I think we should discuss this piece further, and try to talk about why a musical piece like this is so important and what impact it had on society and the artist who created it.
Jelavich, Peter. 1993. Berlin Cabaret. Studies in Cultural History. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=282596&site=ehost- live.
