ABSTRACT
In the occupied territories, the maintenance of a vibrant musical and operatic life was regarded by Nazi forces as vital for building up strong relationships with the local population. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in Estonia where there was enhanced support for professional musical activities by such bodies as the Landessender Reval Symphony Orchestra and the Estonia Theatre which offered audiences in Tallinn an astonishing array of concerts, operas, operettas and ballets and promoted repertory that gave special prominence to the work of Estonian composers. This chapter explores musical life during this period against the background of a somewhat ambiguous censorship policy which in some instances deviated from official guidelines emanating from the Nazi headquarters in the occupied Baltic States in Riga, for example by sanctioning the performance of Russian music. In fact, the propaganda required to spread Nazi ideology was targeted with greater sophistication in Estonia than in other occupied Eastern European countries, since it was based on the understanding that Estonian musical culture historically originated from the (Baltic) German model. This connection was consistently emphasised in the attempt to establish a ‘New Order for European Culture’.
