The Jewish role in Dutch art music: antisemitism, exclusion, and Jewish nationalism, 1795 – c.1946

Evans, Christopher John (2025). The Jewish role in Dutch art music: antisemitism, exclusion, and Jewish nationalism, 1795 – c.1946. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Numerous general surveys of the history of Jews in the Netherlands dating back to the sixteenth century have recently been published, yet still relatively little musicological research has been conducted into Dutch-Jewish involvement in art music. Following our abiding contemporary stereotype of the Netherlands as a tolerant, peaceable nation, there has been an omission of the role that antisemitism and Jewish nationalism played in the creation, dissemination, reception, and maintenance of Dutch art music across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

This thesis is an attempt to add more music-related detail to the general historical and musical accounts that already exist, in a series of chronologically ordered chapters within the timeframe 1796 – the year of formal emancipation for Dutch Jews – to 1946, a year chosen to illustrate the reception of Dutch Jews during repatriation after the Holocaust and how this affected the world of music. The high point of Jewish musical contribution in the Netherlands occurred at the end of the nineteenth century with a newly established core of prominent Dutch-Jewish composers. This has become an established fact, but what existing literature does not explain is how these composers suddenly came to prominence at this time. In order to begin to understand this development this thesis turns to research outside the immediate context of musicology which assists in investigating the socio-historical background prior to the end of the nineteenth century and provides evidence that antisemitism had a profound effect on delaying the development of Jewish musicians, long after the emancipation in 1796. Antisemitism thus comes into focus as a theme for the thesis and remains so throughout the following chapters.

Taking up this cue, the first and second chapters consider the slow emergence of Jewish composers and musicians after their emancipation in 1796 and how antisemitism in the form of the exclusion of Jews from numerous music societies and performance spaces played a role in delaying the positive results of this process until the mid-nineteenth century. Finally, however, after educational reforms in 1857, students were able to freely enter music conservatoires such as the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag (founded in 1826) and the Amsterdamsch Conservatorium (founded in 1884). Many Dutch-Jewish composers who would go on iv to become innovative in their field attended the latter at the end of the nineteenth century onwards.

The third chapter investigates a key moment in the creation of Dutch art musical life: the foundation of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Amsterdam) in 1888 by individuals who had historically been board members of music and cultural societies which had active policies of Jewish exclusion from membership, while chapter 4 explores Willem Mengelberg, who was conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra between 1895 and 1945, and his ongoing alleged attraction to Hitler’s National Socialism in Germany, and also his complex relationship with the Jewish musicians with whom he worked. This relationship sometimes involved elements of antisemitic attitude, but conversely, he was occasionally protective towards the very same members., This is summed up by his musical relationship with Gustav Mahler who experienced antisemitism in the media which dated from his early performances in the Netherlands at the start of the twentieth century. The chapter explores how Jewish performers and composers who were sometimes subjected to antisemitic sentiment were tolerated by Mengelberg as long as their excellence served the purpose of fuelling his narcissistic traits.

Chapter 5 considers the concept of Jewish nationalism in music, which was initiated in Russia and swept across Europe in the early twentieth century. As this chapter argues, Wagner’s antisemitic writings may have inadvertently had a role in this phenomenon with prominent Jewish musicologists embracing some elements of Wagner’s rhetoric on Jewish difference and ‘spinning’ them in the opposite direction: that is, utilising them in the drive towards nationalism. This occurred on a smaller but nevertheless significant scale in the Netherlands with composers such as Sim Gokkes and Max Vredenburg making significant contributions in embracing the Jewish nationalism in music that was sweeping across Europe from Russia alongside modernist stylistic traits.

The sixth chapter explores the fact that, by mirroring policies that had previously been implemented in Germany, the German occupation of the Netherlands from 1940 brought cultural strictures that resulted in Nazi control of musical activities. This control was deemed positive in some quarters since it promoted several Dutch v composers, but ultimately, it led to the exclusion of Jewish musicians who were prevented from joining the Nederlandsche Kultuurkammer, membership of which was a prerequisite for having music performed publicly, and thus pursuing a musical career. This meant that the performance of works by Jewish composers was banned in the Netherlands after 1940 and as this chapter further shows, deportations began in 1942 effectively halting all Jewish musical activity, both public and non-public.

The conclusion of the thesis is perhaps the most provocative. The sustained presence of antisemitism in Dutch art music having been established over the course of the thesis, it argues that this did not simply end with the Nazi defeat and withdrawal (as many histories imply). Antisemitism did not disappear from the Netherlands after World War II, and many Dutch-Jewish citizens returned in 1945/1946 to find that they had no access to their former homes and were met with open hostility from both society and the government. Some Jewish musicians were allowed to re-join their orchestras after having been dismissed during the Nazi occupation, but often in ‘demoted’ roles, with some orchestras being more accommodating than others. Composers who survived the Holocaust also continued to write, but those who had previously embraced Jewish nationalistic traits continued to do so with less enthusiasm and a more limited output. Government antisemitism was also evident beyond the occupation with regards to slow or non-existent responses to musicians’ claims for repatriation, compensation, and insurance for stolen and looted musical instruments. In all, the chapter serves to illustrate that lessons had not been learnt after the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):