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Sign up todayBeethoven in the Bunker
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Learn moreThis compelling study examines the remarkable relationship between the Nazis and classical music through the stories of musicians, composers, and conductors across the political spectrum.
May 1945. A Soviet military patrol searches Hitler’s secret bunker in Berlin. They find bodies, documents, jewelry, paintings—and also an extensive collection of 78 rpm records. It comes as no surprise that this collection includes work by Beethoven, Wagner, and Bruckner.
The same goes for a procession of other giants promoted by the Nazi regime: “It seems as if the Nazis put a steel helmet on Mozart, girded Schubert with a saber, and wrapped barbed wire around Johann Strauss’s neck,” composer Robert Stolz once said. But how is it possible that Hitler’s favorites also included “forbidden” Jewish and Russian composers and performers?
While Hitler sat secretly enjoying previously recorded music in his bunker, musicians made of flesh and blood were denied a means of making a living. They died in concentration camps or in other war-related circumstances. They survived but ended up in psychiatric care; they managed to flee just in time; they sided with the regime—out of conviction or coercion—or they joined the resistance.
From fiery conductor Arturo Toscanini, who defied Mussolini and Hitler, to opportunistic composer Richard Strauss and antisemitic pianist Elly Ney, who collaborated with the Third Reich to varying extents and for different reasons, Brouwers profiles the complex figures of this extraordinarily fascinating chapter in music history.
Fred Brouwers is a Flemish radio and television presenter and connoisseur of classical music. For many years he has hosted the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium, for up-and-coming classical musicians. Beethoven in the Bunker is his first book in English.
Grover Gardner has recorded more than 650 audiobooks since beginning his career in 1981. He's been named one of the "Best Voices of the Century" as well as a "Golden Voice" by AudioFile magazine. Gardner has garnered over 20 AudioFile Earphones Awards and is the recipient of an Audio Publishers Association Audie Award, as well as a three-time finalist. In 2005, Publishers Weekly deemed him "Audiobook Narrator of the Year."
Gardner has also narrated hundreds of audiobooks under the names Tom Parker and Alexander Adams. Among his many titles are Marcus Sakey's At the City's Edge, as well as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and John Irving's The Cider House Rules. Gardner studied Theater and Art History at Rollins College and received a Master's degree in Acting from George Washington University. He lives in Oregon with his significant other and daughter.
Eileen J. Stevens earned her MA in linguistics with a specialization in translation from the University of Amsterdam. Her translation credits include Anna Enquist’s The Homecoming and a co-translation (with Anna Asbury) of Connie Palmen’s Your Story, My Story, which was nominated for the Dublin Literary Award. She has also translated numerous essays on classical music and the arts. A graduate of the Hartt School of Music, Stevens played the violin in a Dutch orchestra for twenty-five years before turning her attention to literary translation.
Reviews
“Narrator Grover Gardner performs with genuine engagement, a broad pitch range, and a rich lower-register voice…with the dignified sound of his slower pacing and his clear pronunciation of English and foreign words…Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
“Brouwers is meticulous in detailing the musical and personal biographies of these artists…he muses on the political and social uses of music during World War II, concluding that ‘art and indeed music know no boundaries.’”
“[In] this intriguing study of ‘the complex relationship between Hitler, the Nazis, and music’…Brouwers’s love of music and fascination with the era come through.”
“A fascinating collection of historical glimpses, curated and examined with palpable enthusiasm by a man who has passionately served and studied music for most of his life.”
“Crisply written accounts of the trials and tribulations of classical musicians, composers, and conductors under Nazism are also about the importance culture has in building our humanity and about how politics at their very worst seek to tear up what makes us humane.”
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