Undertones of insurrection

Ranging from 1900 to Doctor Faustus (1947), Weiner's study sets the stage by examining debates that conflated such issues as national identity, racism, populism, the role of the sexes, and xenophobia with musical texts. In the literary analyses that follow, Weiner discusses both obvious connections between music and sociopolitical issues-Hesse's equation of jazz and insurrection in Steppenwolf-and covert ones-the suppression of music in Death in Venice and the use of politically charged musical subtexts in Werfel's Verdi and Schnitzler's Rhapsody.