Dr. Wilhelm Furtwaengler, vice-president of the Reich Chamber of Music and director of the Berlin State Opera, resigned both posts yesterday as result of attacks made on him in the Nazi press for his defense of Paul Hindemith, modernist German composer.
Herr Hindemith was “accused” of having Jewish blood in his veins, playing in a quartet two of whose members were Jewish, and making phonograph records with Jewish musicians. He was also charged with composing operas to objectionable librettos.
Under Dr. Furtwaengler’s direction, Hindemith’s music was played in Berlin and he defended the young composer in a vigorous and lengthy letter in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.
The German press went to great lengths to berate Dr. Furtwaengler for his defense of Hindemith. He was criticized severely for declaring that the attack on Hindemith was an “act of political denunciation.” At the same time Hindemith’s music was called “Bolshevist culture.”
The resignation was immediately accepted by Propaganda Minister Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels and Prussian Premier Hermann Wilhelm Goering, who has charge of opera.
Erich Kleiber, orchestra conductor and composer, also resigned his posts, declaring that he was sticking with Dr. Furtwaengler and that the matter was now “one of honor.”
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.
