Conference Theme 3: History, Race, and Identity Politics
Brahms had a keen interest in German political history, counting the writings of seminal figures such as Heinrich von Sybel and Heinrich von Treitschke among the volumes in his library. His compositional output engages in meaningful and tangible ways with political events in German-speaking Europe from the time of Napoleon to the formation of a German nation-state in 1871. Brahms strongly identified with the Lutheran heritage of his boyhood and youth and maintained his cultural Protestantism despite losing his faith in adulthood. This informs his compositional output in manifold ways, from the presence of Lutheran chorales in a broad range of his instrumental works, to the composition of more overtly political and patriotic works such as the Triumphlied, and Fest- und Gedenksprüche, whose texts he culled from the Luther Bible.
Brahms’s output has been considered at various times in relation to different issues of race and ethnicity. Between 1898 and 1938, a number of books and articles were published that suggested that Brahms may have had a Jewish heritage. This rumor played into the reception of the composer’s music during the era of National Socialism. More recently, researchers have challenged the notion that Brahms’s music is free from race politics, exploring performances of his works within the German realm by the black diaspora from the 1870s onward. This research poses important questions about whether audiences during Brahms’s lifetime responded to performances along racial lines. Questions concerning the politics and aesthetics of musical performance in the second half of the nineteenth century open onto wider debates on contemporary issues regarding the question of whether “Western art music”—a concept that, in itself, has been broadly problematized—is a repertoire that is free from race politics or gender politics. Through exploring these topics, the conference also questions what relevance a white, European, nineteenth-century composer can have in the United States today. This conference aims to provide a space for the broad and open discussion of these issues.
