What Happened to the Vienna State Opera During World War II

Manfred Stoy’s second volume on the Vienna State Opera between 1938 and 1945 is not a light read, but it offers opera enthusiasts an unusually detailed account of the institution during the Anschluss, the Nazi era and World War II.

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through permanent value judgments

The historian works through a large body of original documents, presenting facts and figures instead of repeating familiar generalizations based on selective evidence. The result, the review says, clears away a blurred picture without telling readers what conclusions they must draw.

Stoy also examines the practical business of running the opera house. His discussion of directors’ correspondence reaches into the personal and sometimes peculiar details that supported artistic work. A Viennese director had to balance negotiations with the trade union against the sensitivities of prominent soloists and conductors whose services the institution needed.

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a targeted selection

The volume centers on Heinrich Karl Strohm’s brief but important tenure in 1940-41. Strohm came from the Hamburg Opera and sought to bring the Vienna State Opera’s financial conditions closer to those of the leading state theaters in the so-called Altreich. The study also shows how the institution tried to preserve a high-quality artistic operation after the Nazi regime imposed its racist political directives.

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Aryans

Stoy generally uses period terms such as “Aryans” and “Altreich” without quotation marks, saying they should be understood in the context of the era. He adds that this wording does not mean he identifies with those terms. The review presents the book as a reference work that gives readers direct access to the documented record.

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Altreich