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Suzy explores the use, abuse and manipulation of music in WWII. From swinging jazz to madcap ballets, both sides used music as a weapon in the battle for civilisation.

Suzy explores the use, abuse and manipulation of music in the Second World War - from swinging jazz to film soundtracks and from mushy ballads to madcap ballets. The war, she demonstrates, wasn't just a military fight but an ideological battle where both sides used music as a weapon to secure their vision for civilisation.

Suzy reveals how the forces' sweetheart Vera Lynn was taken off air by the ±«Óătv's 'Dance Music Policy Committee' for fear her sentimental songs undermined the British war effort. But in Nazi Germany, screen siren Zarah Leander had a hit with a song remarkably like Vera's We'll Meet Again. Meanwhile Nazi band Charlie and his Orchestra reworked Cole Porter classics by adding anti-British lyrics to weaken her morale. Though the Nazis banned jazz at home as 'degenerate', Suzy also explores Occupied Paris's incredible jazz scene. And the film revisits concerts given under extraordinary conditions - not least the performance of Wagner's Gotterdammerung' (Twilight of the Gods), which in April 1945 brought the curtain down on the Third Reich.

Despite Hitler's taunt that Britain was 'Das Land ohne Musik' ('The Land without Music'), Suzy reveals the war work of two great British composers. William Walton's Spitfire Prelude became the archetype for a particularly British form of patriotic music. By contrast Michael Tippett was sent to prison for being a conscientious objector, but his anti-war oratorio A Child of Our Time was showcased at the Royal Albert Hall. The right of people to freely express themselves was, after all, what we were fighting for.

For some, music was a way of transcending desperate circumstances. Suzy examines Olivier Messiaen's haunting Quartet for the End of Time, written amid the desolation of a POW camp. But at Auschwitz, Suzy reveals how music was co-opted to serve the Nazis' evil purposes. Cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch explains how musical ability saved her from the gas chambers. Drafted into the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra, she had to play marches to drive prisoners to and from work and to give a private performance of Schumann's exquisitely innocent Traumerei to the infamous Dr Mengele.

The events of the 20th century show, Suzy concludes, that though we should continue to love and celebrate music, we should also be wary of its seductive power.

59 minutes

Last on

Sat 9 May 2020 02:30
±«Óătv Four

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See all episodes from Tunes for Tyrants: Music and Power with Suzy Klein

Clip

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No.5 In C-Minor Op.67

    Orchestra: ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Beethoven Symphony No. 5 ±«Óătv Symphony 1939

    Performer: Arturo Toscanini.

  • William Walton

    Prelude And Fugue - "the Spitfire"

    Orchestra: ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Charlie & His Orchestra

    Let's Go Shelling - Slumming On Park Avenue

    Orchestra: Charlie & His Orchestra.

  • Robert Schumann

    TrÀumerei From Kinderszenen

    Performer: Fibonacci Sequence.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture

    Orchestra: ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ross Parker

    We'll Meet Again

    Performer: Pub Crowd. Performer: Suzy Klein.

  • Ross Parker

    We'll Meet Again

    Performer: Vera Lynn.

  • Greco Casadesus

    Nuremberg

    Performer: Greco Casadesus.

  • Walter Kent

    (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover

    Singer: Vera Lynn.

  • Eric Coates

    Calling All Workers

    Performer: Band of the Royal Air Force College.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No.5 In C-Minor Op.67

    Orchestra: ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales.

  • William Walton

    Prelude And Fugue - "the Spitfire"

    Orchestra: ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Anton Bruckner

    Adagio From Symphony No.7

    Performer: Gregor Narholz. Orchestra: The Philharmonic Orchestra.

  • Richard Wagner

    Tannhauser, Prelude

  • Cole Porter

    You're The Top

    Orchestra: Charlie & His Orchestra.

  • Irving Berlin

    Slumming On Park Avenue

    Performer: David Hermlin.

  • Charlie & His Orchestra

    Bom

    Orchestra: Charlie & His Orchestra.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Deutshland Uber Alles

  • Hugo Distler

    Konzert FĂŒr Cembalo Und Streichorchester, Op. 14: I. Allegro Vivace

    Performer: Martin Haselböck. Performer: Wiener Akademie.

  • Michael Tippett

    Child Of Our Time

    Performer: ±«Óătv National Chorus of Wales. Orchestra: ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Charles Gounod

    Faust (1989 Digital Remaster), Act Iii: 'gloire Immortelle De Nos Aieux

    Performer: David Bell. Performer: Choeurs de l'Opéra National de Paris. Orchestra: National Theater Opera Orchestra of Paris. Conductor: Georges Prtre.

  • Georges Bizet

    11. La Voila...l'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle From 'carmen' - Elena Obraztsova

    Performer: Elena Obraztsova.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Deux Marches Et Un IntermĂšde/IntermĂšde ChampĂȘtre

    Orchestra: Orchestre national de France.

  • Francis Poulenc

    IV.le Lion Amoreux: Passionement Anime

    Performer: Jan Wagner. Orchestra: Odense Symfoniorkester.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Alsace Et Lorraine

    Performer: Suzy Klein.

  • Louis Prima

    Sing Sing Sing

    Performer: Andrej Hermlin.

  • Django Reinhardt

    Minor Swing

    Performer: Brunard Connexion.

  • Olivier Messiaen

    MĂ©ditation I

    Performer: Olivier Latry.

  • Olivier Messiaen

    Quartet For The End Of Time

    Performer: Fibonacci Sequence.

  • Erik Satie

    Gnossienne For Piano No. 3 Lent

    Performer: Reinbert de Leeuw.

  • Helmut Witten

    Helenenmarsch

    Performer: Luftwaffen Musikkorps 1.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata No. 8 In C Minor "pathétique" Op. 13- Grave - Allegro Di Molto E Co

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim.

  • Robert Schumann

    TrÀumerei From Kinderszenen

    Performer: Fibonacci Sequence.

  • Nils Frahm

    Wall

    Performer: Nils Frahm.

  • Richard Wagner

    Die Gotterdammerung - Brunnhilde's Immolation And Finale

    Orchestra: ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Overture To A Midsummer Night's Dream

    Orchestra: ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales.

Credits

Presenter Suzy Klein
Orchestra ±«Óătv National Orchestra of Wales
Choir ±«Óătv National Chorus of Wales
Conductor Otto Tausk
Interviewed Guest Lucy Noakes
Interviewed Guest Nigel Hess
Interviewed Guest Andrej Hermlin
Interviewed Guest Peter Collyer
Interviewed Guest Claude Abadie
Interviewed Guest Anita Lasker-Wallfisch
Music Group Brunard Connexion
Music Group Fibonacci Sequence
Director Nick Gillam-Smith
Executive Producer Archie Baron
Executive Producer Debbie Lee
Production Company Wingspan Productions

Broadcasts

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Tunes for Tyrants - The Music

Tunes for Tyrants - The Music

±«Óătv Music presents longer extracts from some of the key performances from this series.