slave,ofindividual and society,and hence of egoism [i.e., capitalism] and social-
ism. In this sensebourgeoismeansanemphasis on theindividualpersonality
and hence on class distinctions, against theproletarianaccentuation of thecom-
munalelements.”All aspectsofchoral singingweretoreflect these ideological
positions, with choral techniques“in the bourgeois context insisting on the indi-
vidual personality,and hence the estate system, and with the proletarian context
emphasizing the communal elements.”³²The decision by some choral directors
to place less emphasis onvocal technique and instead focus on emotional ex-
pressivity can be interpreted asalogical extension of theirprimarygoal ofGe-
meinschaftsbildung(community building).
Even if there existedwide agreement that the workers’chorus, in the words
of GustavWilliam Meyer,gavevoice to the spirit of class solidarity,the musical
expression of this spirit could take classical or modernist forms and draw on pas-
toral or militant tones.³³GustavAdolfUthmann (1867–1920), the conductorwho
wrotemorethan four hundred workers’songs, includingthe popular“Upward,
to the Light,”long dominated therepertoirewith his classic-romantic melodies.
Through the initiativesofthe conductor Hermann Scherchen (1891– 1966 )and
others, the workers’song movement duringthe 1920sslowlyopened up to
avant-garde and American influences, includingjazz. Not surprisingly,discus-
sions over the form and function of properlyagitational workers’songsreflected
growingmusicalschisms and emotional divides. The experimentswith atonality
by socialist composers associated with New Music and the agitational use of mu-
sical performances inspired by Proletkult onlyadded to these difficulties of
translating Marxist ideas intomusical forms. The confrontationalapproach chos-
en by the KPD in close coordinationwith the Comintern eventuallyled toaseries
of splits within workers’theater and workers’sport associations, including in
1932 in the GermanWorkers’Choral Society.
TheKampfgemeinschaft der Arbeitersänger(KdAS), the main productofthat
split,was foundedaspart of various initiativesfor proletarian-revolutionary lit-
erature, theater,art,and film coordinatedbythe KPD andtook the lead in artic-
ulatingamoremilitant approachto choral music in its short-lived journal, ap-
propriatelycalled Kampfmusik;the close connections to agitprop will be
discussed in greater detail in chapters 13 and14.Presentingthe official argu-
ments for the “agitpropization” of workers’ choruses, Alfréd Kemény(aka
Durus) asked polemically:“Are our times of intensifyingclass conflictsto be rep-
Siegfried Günther,Kunst undWeltanschauung(Berlin: DeutscherArbeiter-Sängerbund, 1925),
10.
GustavWilliam Meyer,“Gemeinschaftsfördernde Musik”and“Chorgesangund Klassen-
kampf,”both inArbeiter-Sänger-Zeitung2(1931): 26 – 30.
On Workers Singing in OneVoice 97