Grenzgänger : Dirigenten als Entrepreneure in Kaiserreich und Weimarer Republik

Abstract

Conductors are usually perceived as artists and not entrepreneurs. But this representation is at odds with a social history perspective on musical life in Germany. In looking at their working worlds, this article sheds light on the role of conductors for the production of mass culture in the decades around 1900. I argue that conductors acted as border crossers in many ways: they switched between military and civic musical cultures, between public support and private entrepreneurship, between high-brow and low-brow music and literally between different countries. Altogether, conductors’ working worlds reveal an early formof creative labor that underscores the significance of the cultural economy for the history of work and capitalism.