ABSTRACT
Despite Germany’s political instability, mass unemployment, and ravaging inflation after World War I, governmental sources provided support for the reestablishment and development of cultural institutions throughout Germany. Opera and concert halls as well as new schools in all the arts began to flourish, with Berlin as a major international center. In connection with the strong postwar proletarian movement, German composers began to reveal, as did composers in France, an interest in creating more accessible musical idioms that would draw the composer and general public closer together. This attitude was already evident in the early 1920s in the artistic festivals held in various German cities.
