Music in War, Conflict and Peace

Throughout history, music fed the machinery of war and helped to come to terms with war. We will be examining how music, as realized by military commanders 500 years ago, has the power to intimidate the enemy, to energize and coordinate combatants. In the Renaissance, composers wrote ‘battaglias’ which is program music imitating battles. We will study pieces that celebrated victories and songs of thanksgiving which were performed during peace celebrations. During the Second World War, more than ever, music became both a propaganda instrument of the Nazi Reich and of counter-cultures. We will also encounter how soldiers of the Vietnam War dealt with their traumas and how their soundtrack created the means for articulating the cultural memory of a generation.

In this course, we will actively investigate the dark and light side of music, namely, music’s role in wars, conflicts, and peace. On the dark side, we explore how music instigates or accompanies violence, music’s role in propaganda, and how music can be (ab)used to create hatred. On the light side, we investigate music as a medium of commemoration, remembrance, hope, and healing. We will be doing so through active listening at home and during class and by discussing our findings in this seminar-style course. Sound recordings will be our main historical source supplemented with weekly readings of secondary literature.