Here’s a fascinating article about exacting conductor Karl Muck, which I posted in the comments section as an afterthought to one of my posts yesterday, about Muck’s Bayreuth recording of selections from Wagner’s “Parsifal.”
Muck served as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra during the first two decades of the 20th century. He, more than any other, was responsible for establishing the orchestra as a world-class ensemble.
By happenstance, Muck was born in Darmstadt, but his family lived in Switzerland since 1867. Muck himself held Swiss citizenship since 1880. Nonetheless, he was hounded by jingoistic factions of Boston society, a press that fomented anti-German sentiment, and overzealous federal agents who weren’t about to let him off the hook (despite the fact that he had earlier been cleared of any wrongdoing by the FBI).
Muck ended his American years in an internment camp in Georgia, set up for those suspected of being dangerous alien enemies to the United States. Other Boston musicians were fired because of their German or Austrian origins. Muck was one of the lucky ones. In some areas of the country, suspects were actually being lynched in the streets.
Muck’s house and bank account were seized by the U.S. government. In 1928, nine years after his delayed release and deportation, he received a partial return of his assets.
The article is a sobering look at a time when legal rights and due process were suspended in order to preserve an illusion of national security. As is all too often the case, the true enemies of the people were those who pushed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the expense of facts and basic human decency.
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