Artists in Exile : How Refugees From Twentieth-century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts

Decades of war and revolution in Europe forced an "intellectual migration" during the last century, relocating thousands of artists and thinkers to the United States. For many of Europe's premier performing artists, America proved to be a destination both strange and opportune. Featuring the stories of George Balanchine, Kurt Weill, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and many others, Artists in Exile explores the impact that these famous newcomers had on American culture, and that America had on them. During the first half of the twentieth centurydecades of war and revolution in European "intellectual migration" relocated thousands of artists and thinkers to the United States, including some of Europe's supreme performing artists, filmmakers, playwrights, and choreographers. For them, America proved to be both a strange and opportune destination. A "foreign homeland" (Thomas Mann), it would frustrate and confuse, yet afford a clarity of understanding unencumbered by native habit and bias. However inadvertently, the condition of cultural exile would promote acute inquiries into the American experience. What impact did these famous newcomers have on American culture, and how did America affect them? George Balanchine, in collaboration with Stravinsky, famously created an Americanized version of Russian classical ballet. Kurt Weill, schooled in Berlin jazz, composed a Broadway opera. Rouben Mamoulian's revolutionary Broadway productions of Porgy and Bess and Oklahoma! drew upon Russian "total theater." An army of German filmmakersamong them F. W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch, and Billy Wildermade Hollywood more edgy and cosmopolitan. Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich redefined film sexuality. Erich Korngold upholstered the sound of the movies. Rudolf Serkin inspirationally inculcated dour Germanic canons of musical interpretation. An obscure British organist reinvented himself as "Leopold Stokowski." However, most of these gifted migrs to the New World found that the freedoms they enjoyed in America diluted rather than amplified their high creative ambitions. A central theme of Joseph Horowitz's study is that Russians uprooted from St. Petersburg became "Americans"they adapted. Representatives of Germanic culture, by comparison, preached a German cultural biblethey colonized. "The polar extremes," he writes, "were Balanchine, who shed Petipa to invent a New World template for ballet, and the conductor George Szell, who treated his American players as New World Calibans to be taught Mozart and Beethoven." A symbiotic relationship to African American culture is another ongoing motif emerging from Horowitz's survey: the immigrants "bonded with blacks from a shared experience of marginality"; they proved immune to "the growing pains of a young high culture separating from parents and former slaves alike." George Balanchine, In Collaboration With Stravinsky, Famously Created An Americanized Version Of Russian Classical Ballet. Kurt Weill, Schooled In Berlin Jazz, Composed A Broadway Opera. Rouben Mamoulian's Revolutionary Broadway Productions Of Porgy And Bess And Oklahoma! Drew Upon Russian Total Theater. An Army Of German Filmmakers--among Them F. W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch, And Billy Wilder--made Hollywood More Edgy And Cosmopolitan. Greta Garbo And Marlene Dietrich Redefined Film Sexuality. Erich Korngold Upholstered The Sound Of The Movies. Rudolf Serkin Inspirationally Inculcated Dour Germanic Canons Of Musical Interpretation. An Obscure British Organist Reinvented Himself As Leopold Stokowski. However, Most Of These Gifted émigrés To The New World Found That The Freedoms They Enjoyed In America Diluted Rather Than Amplified Their High Creative Ambitions. Russians Uprooted From St. Petersburg Became Americans--they Adapted. Representatives Of Germanic Culture, By Comparison, Preached A German Cultural Bible--they Colonized.--from Publisher Description. Introduction: Cultural Exchange -- How To Become An American : A Fortuitous Partnership Of Dance And Music -- The German Colonization Of American Classical Music -- The Musical Margin Of The Ungerman -- In Hollywood We Speak German -- Delayed Reaction : Stanislavsky, Total Theater, And Broadway. Joseph Horowitz. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [423]-440) And Index. Title Page 3 Epigraph Page 4 Contents 5 Preface 7 Introduction 13 Chapter One 34 Chapter Two 88 Chapter Three 170 Chapter Four 226 Chapter Five 316 Conclusion 396 Notes 423 Index 441 About the Author 457 Acclaim 459 Also by Joseph Horowitz 463 Credits 464 Copyright Notice 465 About the Publisher 466 Traces how European immigrants significantly influenced the development of the arts in the United States after the Second World War, citing the contributions of such figures as George Balanchine, Josef von Sternberg, and Ernst Lubitsch