THE MUSIC & THE GREAT WAR
â– One of the great legacies that a war leaves to posterity is that of the songs â– in fact, music has always been part of the life of soldiers in the battlefields or in the rear
The songs of the first world war were written and sung in the period 1914-1918 and had some relevance with the political and military events of the Great War.
Music in the Trenches During the long years of the trench war the songs had quite another tone. The soldiers suffered physically and morally; and then a way of saying entered into the current language: "sing and it will pass. "
Tapum is one of the best known songs born
in the Italian trenches. The refrain is inspired to the noise of the shots of the Austro-Hungarian rifle station. The attribution of paternity the song is still unresolved. Some attribute it to the miners during the drilling of the San Gottardo tunnel, while others to Nino Piccinelli di Chiari. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBeDkrUi1tk
Lili Marleen, German song popular during World War II among both German and Allied soldiers. Hans Leip (1893– 1983) began writing the lyrics in 1914 or 1915, reputedly while standing guard duty one night under a lamppost “Underneath the lantern by the barrack gate”). Leip did not finish the verses for publication until 1937, as a poem; a year later, music for it was composed by Norbert . The song did not become popular until after Aug. 18, 1941, when it was first broadcast to Allied troops in North Africa on Nazi propaganda radio. The song, first sung by a German cabaret singer, Lale Andersen, became especially famous in the version recorded by the German-American movie star Marlene Dietrich. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H303PeVkMyw
Also the Neapolitan song gave birth to some songs in which the protagonist is a soldier. The most famous is certainly "O Surdat ‘nnammurat�
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rguLnhaR44
After the interpretation of Anna Magnani in the film La Sciantosa in 1971 this song has become a sort of anthem of Italian pacifists
The text written in 1915 describes the sadness of a soldier who fights at the front during the First World War and who suffers for the distance from the woman he is in love with
MUSIC IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS 1933-1945
MUSIC IN SILENCE
Music was an integral part of camp life in the Nazi-run camps.
I. Singing on Command • while marching, doing exercises, on the way to or from work, • to frighten and humiliate prisoners, • after a long day of hard work, singing was an enormous physical effort and could be life-threatening.
Orders:
“In step ... March! Sing! “Sing, a Song!” • anyone who did not know the song was beaten, • anyone who sang too softly was beaten, • anyone who sang too loud was beaten .
Songs • banal • naive • humiliating • double-meaning • obscene texts • offending the prisoners’ sense of shame
Anthems Many concentration camps had their own special anthems - official tune for the camp, e.g.: - „Moorsoldatenlied” - „Treblinkalied” (Treblinka Song) ■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW15oGWvaDw ■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAHyB-iSeXc
Music to entertain the guards • often members of the camp orchestras gave private performances for the guards, • works by Grieg, Schumann and Mozart were played for the guards who came to “relax” after the process known as selection.
II. Music initiated by the prisoners • music gave the prisoners consolation, support and confidence, • aim: to set an example of solidarity and humane behavior in their dehumanized surrounding.
Spontaneous Music • when prisoners marched to the gas chambers they sang the Jewish song “Hatikvah”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLB_mtoEZWY
• they expressed their protest, and showed that they had not been broken. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emKGBpLzkwQ
Partisans’ songs • associated with resistance and freedom • for the German-speaking prisoners: “Die Gedanken sind frei” (“Thoughts are free”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h6ZZ28QtX4
• for the Polish prisoners: “Warszawianka” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fk5iGkp27M
• for the Jewish prisoners: “Zog nisht keyn mol” ("Never Say”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-ra7GAhQc
Conclusions • music - an integral part in the daily life of the Nazi concentration camps, • professional and amateur musicians, of different ages, genders and nationalities, played music on command, and on their own initiative, • they performed solo, in choirs, in chamber music groupings, in small ensembles, in jazz bands, in camp orchestras and in symphony orchestras, • music of various kinds: from light music to classical music, from traditional folk songs to critical cabaret songs, • music was used in the „process of breaking the will, and degrading the prisoners” as human beings, • music was used also a sign of resistence and freedom, • it was made in spite of constant hunger, mental and physical violence, diseases, an uncertain future and acts of terror.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud_JZcC0tHI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RznWJUkwXEM&list=RD QMzdvDdPRwQpQ&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxvVk-r9ut8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuEPfJaFGb8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwIymq0iTsw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLn1E8LdkvI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8WMGBuNaus&list=PLJ -ViTZrvg2xn8Ub5RkheoFL59Qq4X_Ex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krIus0i9xn8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQmmM_qwG4k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSh9qg-2qKw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMOH_-Cb1Ro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Lje7G4R_s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC2_ELKGF1A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgvdZsxc8fM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl6s1x9j4QQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikGyZh0VbPQ