Diplomatic, Aesthetic, and Economic Dimensions of the Anglo-German Musical Landscape from Postwar to Cold War: Perspectives on the Early Careers of the Amadeus Quartet and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Abstract

This article examines the use of classical music as a vehicle for diplomatic negotiations between Germany and Britain after the Second World War. Its starting point is the Berliner Festwochen, founded in 1951 as an annual festival designed to showcase the cultural activities of the Allied forces occupying the “zones” of West Berlin. The “soft power” of music and musicians was not only felt politically, but also economically: the Berliner Festwochen, like the Edinburgh International Festival (founded in 1947), encouraged international networking between concert giving, radio broadcasting, and making recordings. Two case studies are presented that bridged diplomatic and commercial music-making in postwar Britain and East and West Germany: the Amadeus String Quartet, three of whose members were Austrian Jewish émigrés to the United Kingdom, and German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. In the early stages of their careers they programmed a combination of new music and canonical repertoire that facilitated cultural diplomatic efforts. Through their concerts, broadcasts, and recordings amid the “rubble” of postwar Europe, they established modes of artistic interpretation that came to dominate their respective genres for decades to come.