ABSTRACT

In 2008 the regional music school in Kramsach/Tyrol was officially named after the composer and former National Socialist Gaumusikleiter, Sepp Tanzer. Three years later, the regional government sponsored a CD of Tyrolean art music from the first half of the 20th century which featured amongst other works a Blut und Boden Cantata by Josef Eduard Ploner, another prominent composer who played a key role in influencing musical life during the National Socialist period. This chapter traces the long-standing relationship between music and Nazism in the Tyrol which evolved well before the Anschluss and continues to cast a dark shadow over the musical legacy of this period. It poses the question as to why some present-day politicians in the Tyrol remain reluctant to confront these uncomfortable associations and appear willing to sweep such musical and political complicity under the carpet.