Description:

RICHARD STRAUSS
(1864 - 1949) German composer of fifteen operas, including Salome, Der Rosenkavalier and Also Sprach Zarathustra. Following the Nazi Party's rise to power, Strauss was appointed to the post of president of the Reichsmusikkammer, the State Music Bureau, in November 1933. Scarce A.L.S. on his personal letterhead, 4pp. 12mo., Garmisch, Dec., 12, 1933 to Minister of Propaganda JOSEPH GOEBBELS. In part: "...please accept my sincere gratitude for your friendly letter and the valuable book, which has not arrived yet...even under the powerful government of Adolf Hitler, the baker does not bake fresh bread on Sunday, neither does the mailman deliver the mail...I'll have to wait until Tuesday...I'm allowed to report that in great harmony not only have the statutes of the STAGMA [performance-rights organization] have been revised, but the contentious points have been eliminated...thank state secretary [Walther] Funk, whose great involvement for a solution...a last agreement, the dissolution of the former board of STAGMA, a democratic left over from the old days...finally the urgent establishment of a staff union...your always devoted Richard Strauss". At conclusion he adds:" For February...I have organized a labor conference...concluding with a performance at the state opera house...we hope that the high level government will give us the honor of attendance." The Reichs Music Chamber was a Nazi institution founded in 1933 by Goebbels. The revised statutes most likely concerned the expelling of 8,000 Jews from the organization as they fundamentally were not regarded as suitable administrators of German culture. For reasons of expediency Strauss was initially drawn into cooperating with the early Nazi regime in the hope that Hitler - an ardent Wagnerian and "Folkish" music lover who had admired Strauss's work since viewing Salome in 1907 - would promote German art and culture. Strauss's need to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and Jewish grandchildren also motivated his behavior. File holes at left, staple at top left, docket, else very good.

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January 31, 2013 11:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

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