Brussels, crossroads of French, Germanic and Russian musical modernism in the interwar period (1919-1940)

Brussels, crossroad for French, German and Russian modernism in the interwar period (1919-1940)

In the end of 1920s and the 1930s Brussels became an important centre of musical modernism. For example, the first performances of Strawinsky’s Psalm Symphony (1930), Prokofiev’s Le joueur (1929) and Alban Bergs Wozzeck in a French translation (1932) serve as testimonies of the city’s high status comparable to other major European centres of modern music. Brussels created a unique platform for French, German and Russian modernism.

This research on modernistic music in Brussels between 1919 and 1940, is based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of historical data sources collected and centralized in a self designed relational database in access with ca. 5.000 records relating to Belgian modernism, including ca. 1000 articles of ca. 30 Belgian Journals in Arts, ca. 2000 Brussels concerts (concerts programmes of the Brussels opera, symphonic concert societies, chamber music series and ad hoc initiatives (1920-1939) and of the Radio (National Institute for the Radio)orchestras (1931-1939)) and letters and documents of archives of composers, directors and former organizations in Brussels that promoted modernism form 1919 till 1940. In addition, the archives of the concert societies and the NIR, containing reports of the boards of directors and financial documents, were consulted.

Thanks to this relational database in access which represents relationships between concerts, articles, letters, composers, compositions, cultural entrepreneurs, critics etc. it is possible to gain insights in the rise and fall of modernistic music in Brussels in the interwar period (the advent (1920-1927), growth (1927-1932), decline (1933-1936) and the revival (1936-1939)). Also other research questions can be answered. What is the concept or definition of “New or Modern Music”? How does this concept evolve? Which composers are considered as “the leaders of the avant-garde”? Did the Brussels cultural entrepreneurs and critics take over the polarisation in contemporary music, divided into a German and a Latin pool? Is there an agreement on the concept or definition of “New or Modern Music” and of the “leaders of the avant-garde” among Brussels music critics and cultural entrepreneurs and how does this evolve? Which Brussels network with the international modernist scene did exist?