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Renegotiating French Identity

Musical Culture and Creativity in France during Vichy and the German Occupation

Jane F Fulcher author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:24th May '18

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Renegotiating French Identity cover

In Renegotiating French Identity, Jane Fulcher addresses the question of cultural resistance to the German occupation and Vichy regime during the Second World War. Nazi Germany famously stressed music as a marker of national identity and cultural achievement, but so too did Vichy. From the opera to the symphony, music did not only serve the interests of Vichy and German propaganda: it also helped to reveal the motives behind them, and to awaken resistance among those growing disillusioned by the regime. Using unexplored Resistance documents, from both the clandestine press and the French National Archives, Fulcher looks at the responses of specific artists and their means of resistance, addressing in turn Pierre Schaeffer, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc, and Olivier Messiaen, among others. This book investigates the role that music played in fostering a profound awareness of the cultural and political differences between conflicting French ideological positions, as criticism of Vichy and its policies mounted.

Fulcher's text is a great contribution to the existing body of scholarship on the Vichy regime and musicological studies on the occupation of France, especially as we confront the evils of racial hatred today. * Julie Cleary, University of Pittsburgh, Music Library Association *
This book is the result of deep engagement with a broad array of sources, exemplified most clearly by its 1,198 footnotes and twenty-nine-page bibliography * Christopher Moore, Transposition *
impressive and thought-provoking * Christopher Moore, University of Ottawa, Transposition: Musique et Sciences Sociales *

ISBN: 9780190681500

Dimensions: 157mm x 236mm x 36mm

Weight: 862g

504 pages