ABSTRACT
Hans Pfitzner wrote his opera Palestrina between 1912 and 1915. He had been debating the subject from as long before as 1895, and considered several possible librettists until deciding in 1909 to write his own text. The conservative and monarchist political climate had been perpetuated by its inscription into the whole social and educational milieu. To fully understand Mann's political position, people must first understand his use of the word 'politics' in Betrachtungen eines Unpolitischen, as it has very particular meaning. The conservative, 'national' position is held by Mann to be not only 'nonpolitical', but suprapolitical: it is simply 'higher', natural, true and superior. Both 'political' and 'nonpolitical' realms described by Mann in fact combine the political and the aesthetic. While Palestrina represents the 'nonpolitical' in Mann's dualism, the Council of Trent, according to the writer, is a satire on the 'political'. The Council is set in opposition to Palestrina through contrasts of music, geography, and through the dramatis personae.
