Nazis, Napoleon, and the Saxophone, how Edmund von Borck’s 1942 opera, “Napoleon” is the perfect wartime propaganda

Last month, Jonas who is a saxophone student in Norway, wrote to me to tell me about Edmund von Borck’s operas and how they were missing in my list. He pointed to Dr. Wildy Zumwalt’s dissertation on Edmund von Borck and how I can find more info there. The opera that stood out to me was Borck’s World War II opera, Napoleon. This may seem strange, why would the Nazi’s expend cultural capital during wartime to produce an opera about a French general turned dictator? Lets dig into the history of Germany and the politics of WWII.

When Hitler arose to power in 1933, the majority of the artistic community—film, theater, music, arts, academics—left Germany. Many flocked to the United States, taking up residence in Los Angeles and New York, working in movies, Broadway, or in universities. Edmund von Borck did not see the need to flee. He was an Aryan and had aristocratic ties that protected him from the worst of Nazi oppression. When the Nazis closed school and fired Jewish professors, Borck was offered a position at the Konservatorium der Haupstadt Berlin. That protection did not last, as he was called to duty in 1941 and drafted into the Wehrmacht.[1] Borck’s privileged background did not protect him from the consequences of war, his decision to stay ultimately cost him his life and legacy.

On the warfront, in June of 1941, Hitler and the Axis powers launched an invasion into the Soviet Union. Hitler, who studied history and military battles was determined not to make the same mistakes as Napoleon during his campaign against Russia. Hitler’s obsession with Napoleon influenced his personality and his military decisions.[2] This launch against the Soviet Union ended up to be one of his biggest blunders in the war, as he did not prepare for the winter, repeating Napoleon’s error. By November, 1941, Germany had lost 730,000 soldiers on this offensive.[3] Looking at the events leading up to Borck’s call into service, this offensive into the Soviet Union and the manpower needed for that is probably why Borck was drafted, he was sent to Italy.

What is not clear is when Borck wrote the opera, was it during his service or did he write it just before he got called up? And why Napoleon? One of Borck’s friends, Hans Gresser states: “Napoleon, a ‘heroic figure;’ didn’t that fit the spirit of the times exactly? Hadn’t Edmund honoured it with his choice of material? and if this choice of material seemed to some to perfectly embody the concept it still made people, even Edmund’s friends, a little uncomfortable.”[4] This idea that an opera based on Napoleon was a inherently risky move. That highlighting Napoleon and his failed conquest might be a political statement against Nazi aggression, as Nazis were repeating Napoleon’s mistakes in the Soviet Union. The parallels are quite uncanny. Zumalt further states that the music, and the use of the saxophone was in direct conflict with Nazi ideology.[5] I do not believe that Napoleon goes against Nazi ideology, further I believe this opera is in fact a successful piece of Nazi propaganda. Lets dive into the ideology.

As stated above, Hitler was obsessed with Napoleon. He wished he was born during the Napoleonic Wars.[6] Further more, the type of entertainment that was allowed in Germany around this time was little more than propaganda that centered around strong leaders, wars, and sacrifices to the country.[7] Napoleon certainly had those characteristics, and highlighting those traits are useful propaganda tools.

The next element of this opera that stood out to me is where it was premiered, Gera, Germany. In 1942, there was little fear of bombings in most of Germany, In Die Zeitschrift für Musik, there are features of Goebbels attending a Mozart Festival in Vienna that year.[8] The regime was giving the appearance of normalcy, the war was far away. So why Gera? The opera was the highlight of a festival celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Reusschen Theatre, and what better way to celebrate than to write an opera on Gera’s most famous visitors? Gera has a direct tie to Napoleon. In 1806, Napoleon sets up his Imperial Headquarters in Gera during the war against the Prussian empire. Napoleon crushed the Prussian army in no time, conquering the territory. The direct ties to Napoleon’s successful military conquest in Germany is the stage for his opera? The symbolism is a little heavy handed at this point.

Now looking at the plot of the opera, it really hits all the Nazi approved storylines. “The composer created a dramatic extract of the play and elevated the purely political work into the human sphere by introducing new characters. Napoleon’s historical stepdaughter, Horense, who entered into a love affair with Cunt von Flahault without the king’s knowledge, appears as his antagonist in that exciting scene in which the eternal conflict between female feeling and male harshness is expressed. Flahault shows his guilt by dying on the battlefield.”[9] This story, of a father protecting his daughter, her lover dying to protect her dignity and sacrifice to the king are common themes in Nazi literature.[10] This is not the story of a historically flawed leader who dooms his soldiers to failure, but of a leader who is worth dying for.

Now, the last piece of propaganda centers around the saxophone. Didn’t the Nazi’s ban the saxophone? The history is a little more complicated than that, and I will dive into the history of the saxophone in Nazi Germany in my next post. Stay tuned to see how the saxophone became a tool of Nazi propaganda.

[1] Wildy L. Zumwalt, (2003). Edmund von borck: A study of his life and music with an emphasis on his works for the saxophone (Order No. 3109540). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (305325204). Retrieved from https://login.proxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/edmund-von-borck-study-his-life-music-with/docview/305325204/se-2 pg. 30-33

[2] David C. Gompert, Hans Binnendijk and Bonny Lin. “Blinders, Blunders, and Wars: What America and China Can Learn,” RAND Corporation, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/j.ctt1287m9t.14, accessed 3/7/2023. pg. 87.

[3] ibid.

[4] Wildy L. Zumwalt, (2003). Edmund von borck: A study of his life and music with an emphasis on his works for the saxophone (Order No. 3109540). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (305325204). Retrieved from https://login.proxy.lib.duke.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/edmund-von-borck-study-his-life-music-with/docview/305325204/se-2 pg. 55

[5] ibid.

[6] Ben Urwand, The Collaboration: Hollywood’s Pact with Hitler, Harvard University Press, 2013, pg. 17.

[7] ibid, pg. 116-118.

[8] Joseph Goebbels. “Ansprache zum 150. Todestag Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts in der Wiener Staatsoper am 4. Dezember 1941,” published as a supplement to Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, February 1942, pg. 1-12.

[9] “Der Komponist schuf einen dramatischen Extrakt des Shauspiels und hob das rein politische Werk durch Einfuehrung neuer Personen in die Spaere des Menschlichen. Die Historische Stiestochter Napoleons, Hortense, die ohne Wissen des Koenigs ein Liebesverhaeltnis zu Graf von Flahault eingegangen ist, tritt zu ihm als Gegenspielerin in jener erregenden Szene, in der dem urewigen Konflikt zwischen weiblichem Gefuehl und maennlicher Haerte Ausdruck gegeben wird. Flahault fuehnt feine Schuld durch den Tod auf dem Schlachtfeld.” Dr. Fritz Stege, “Edmund Von Borck: ‘Napoleon,'” Die Zeitschrift für Musik, November 1942, pg. 510.

[10] For more detailed explanation on how fascist viewed women in literature, the information can be found in Chapter 1 of Klaus Theweleit Male Fantasies, vol. 1: women, floods, bodies, history, University of Minnesota Press, 1987, pg. 3-228.