A split in the Musical Guilds of Vienna has taken place as a result of the National Socialist campaign to introduce racial discrimination in this sphere of art. This campaign has been going on for the last six months. Nazi conductors have refused to play music by Jewish composers, even of Jewish converts, like Mendelssohn and Mahler, and such numbers have had to be cut out also from the programs of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, which is controlled by the Government. Jews are also being excluded from concerts given by the official concert societies.
This boycott, which is conducted systematically but silently, is supported by the official musical societies. The Academy of Singing, however, which has many liberal elements among its membership, has refused to give way to the Nazi campaign, as a result of which the official concert societies have decided not to engage artists of the Academy and to substitute them with members of the German Aryan Singers’ Unions.
In protest against the prevailing anti-Semitic discrimination, several prominent Jewish musicians have left the committees of these musical guilds. The split, which was inevitable with the introduction of anti-Semitism in art, is now an accomplished fact-Aryan concerts are boycotted by Jews and Socialists, and the other concerts are boycotted by National Socialists and other sympathizers in constantly growing numbers.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
