The Concert Hall as Heterotopia: Sounds and Sights of Resistance in the Leipzig Gewandhaus 1970-1989
Open Access
- Author:
- Schicker, Juliane
- Graduate Program:
- German
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 14, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Ursula Bettina Brandt, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Charles Dowell Youmans, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Thomas Oliver Beebee, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Daniel Leonhard Purdy, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Gustav Mahler
Leipzig
Gewandhaus Orchestra
Heterotopia
Concert Hall
Classical Music
Social Resistance
GDR
East Germany - Abstract:
- In the musical discourse about social resistance inside the German Democratic Republic, scholars have mainly focused on rock and pop music or on composers of classical music from the Eastern bloc who used their works to comment on current political events. My dissertation expands this area of research to examine the influence of conductors of symphony orchestras and their work environment that includes architectural and artistic choices. I use a case study of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, Germany, during the tenure of conductor Kurt Masur between 1970 and 1989 to argue that a symphony orchestra and its leader are able to build a space that, with Foucault, I call a heterotopia where a dialogue about political issues is permitted. I demonstrate that there are four pillars of the heterotopia Gewandhaus: they are Kurt Masur as the artistic head and conductor of the Gewandhaus and its orchestra, Gustav Mahler as an example of how music was used to inspire a dialogue about social issues, the architecture of the concert hall under the leadership of head architect Rudolf Skoda as the determiner of the actual space of the heterotopia, and the ceiling painting by Sighard Gille that reflected and supported the heterotopia of the Gewandhaus in the fine arts. The ideals of Masur inside the concert hall found reflection and support in the building and its art works. All four pillars represent the demand for open dialogue about social issues, equality, and educated participation of citizens in social matters, a critical evaluation of political guidelines, an orientation toward internationality, and the fostering of a sense of community. These items amount to the overarching goal of a humanistic treatment of all people in an educated society with the absence of fixed symbolic and literal borders where the arts as part of the foundation of Bildung were appreciated.