A Good Jew
Frankfurt / Germany 1930's
Music, along with all other forms of culture, was subject to Nazification from January 1933 on. The policy of ‘Gleichschaltung’ (coordination) meant that music had to conform to the Nazi ideal. Hence some composers were tolerated and even elevated to a status of pure Nazism, while other composers, frequently Jewish, were shunned and effectively censored.
The first jazz theory class, ever, wasn't offered in the United States—it was at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany, taught by a young Hungarian composer named Mátyás Seiber. Seiber started the class in 1928, and by 1931, had achieved enough notoriety that he and the Hoch Conservatory jazz band were invited to perform for German radio—and you can listen to their performance of Peter Packay's "Oh My" courtesy of the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv.
Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium - Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. It has played an important role in the history of music in Frankfurt. Many famous musicians have taught there: in the late 19th century, with teachers like Clara Schumann on the faculty, the Conservatory achieved international renown.
In the 1920s, under director Bernhard Sekles, the Conservatory was far ahead of its time.
Hitler, along with art, films and architecture, played a major part in what was musically tolerated and what was not.
Many German composers had played a huge part in defining classical music during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
The influence of these composers, and others in Germany was undeniable but their collective genius counted for nothing in Nazi Germany if they failed to impress Hitler. The Führer had an almost fanatical devotion to the work of Richard Wagner, which to Hitler represented everything that was good about culture in Nazi Germany. To Hitler, Wagner’s music personified Nazism.
1933 (10 April): Dismissal of the Hoch Conservatory
director Bernhard Sekles and all Jewish and foreign teachers
The Nazis didn't take kindly to Seiber's class, and, upon its cancellation in 1933, Seiber emigrated to London, where he kept busy as a teacher and composer, appropriately working in a wide variety of styles and genres, from avant-garde to pop.
What might be defined as popular music was also heavily controlled by the state. Jazz music was banned as it was considered to be ‘black music’ with origins from the southern states of America. The Nazis associated jazz music with Black Americans and as a result it was labelled ‘degenerate’. Goebbels also tried to ban ‘Lili Marlene’ but had to backtrack when German soldiers throughout Europe requested that it was played on Reich-controlled radio stations.