Political Music Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Political music comes in two general varieties: representational and associational.

Representational Political Music

With representational political music, the composer (who may or may not be the performing artist) uses the music to make a political statement. That is, the composer is expressing his or her political views musically, sometimes with lyrics and sometimes without. A good example of representational political music would be the 1813 Wellington’s Victory (Opus 91) by Ludwig van Beethoven, in which Beethoven celebrates the military victory of Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley (the Duke of Wellington). Wellington had led a combined British, Portuguese, and Spanish army against French forces led by Spain’s King Joseph Bonaparte, who was the brother of Napoleon I.This piece is unambiguous in its message, and the sounds of battle (cannons, guns, etc.) are clearly heard in the musical portrayal of the battle. Similarly, the 1985 song “Russians” by Sting is another example of representational political music, in which Sting explicitly argues against an anti-Soviet cold war nuclear mentality.

Associational Political Music

Associational political music is music that individuals other than the composer associate with explicit political ideas for the purpose of promoting a political agenda. This normally happens after a composer is dead and incapable of correcting the political association. A famous example of this type of music is the creation of numerous myths about Beethoven in Germany, especially during the times of the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, when it was argued by various groups that Beethoven “supported” widely diverse ideological viewpoints. For example, the Catholic Center Party was able to point to Beethoven’s masses as “evidence” that Beethoven was a deeply spiritual person. The Social Democrats (SPD) saw Beethoven’s support for republican government in works such as his Ninth Symphony, and the Nazis transformed the image of Beethoven from top to bottom to argue that he was essentially a fascist.

While it is common to argue that dead composers would not normally agree with after-the-fact political associations of their music, this is not a requirement for the associational political category. For example, following the collapse of East Germany and the Berlin Wall, Leonard Bernstein led performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in East and West Berlin on the 23rd and 25th of December 1989, respectively, in which the word “freedom” was substituted for each instance of the word “joy” in the ending chorus, thereby transforming the “Ode to Joy” into the “Ode to Freedom.” One could argue (as Bernstein did at the time) that—considering the circumstances—Beethoven would neither object to the verbal modification nor the political association given the original orientation of the work, and perhaps this is correct.

Manifestos

Within the representational and associational categories are numerous subgenres of political music, which include everything from musically sublime works that convey complex political viewpoints to more mundane works with simple messages. Within the representational category, the most potent subgenre is political manifesto music. Political manifesto music conveys a complex and cohesive political point of view, or even an entire ideology. Two classic examples of political manifesto music are the four Der Ring des Nibelungen or “Ring” operas (as a combined set) by Richard Wagner as well as the extensive collection of political music by Jamaican musician Bob Marley. The complex political perspective of

the Ring operas was famously described by George Bernard Shaw in his 1898 The Perfect Wagnerite, while Marley’s music mixes his spiritual Rastafarian perspective with an activist political agenda. It is interesting that both Wagner and Marley argue in their music that corrupt political regimes will collapse on their own in the absence of a psychologically “enslaved” mass following. Thus, revolutionary activities in these musical messages focus not on military attacks against the state but rather on a psychological process of awakening on the part of the masses such that the masses are freed from a condition of mental bondage.

Patriotic Music

Nationalist and patriotic music (in combination) constitute another subgenre of political music, and such works can be either representational or associational depending on the context. Nationalist music is the broader category of the two, since patriotic music is often considered a subcategory of nationalist music. Nationalist music arose within the Romantic period (roughly between 1820 and 1900) following the classical era, in which the Vienna school (e.g., Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) dominated European musical styles. The primary force behind the birth of nationalist music was the emergence and maturation of new European nations and cultures and the desire of indigenous composers to create music that spoke to the cultural sensibilities of their domestic audiences. Examples of nationalist composers are Franz Liszt (Hungary), Giuseppe Verdi (Italy), Modest Mussorgsky (Russia), Jean Sibelius (Finland), Antonín Dvorák (Bohemia/Czechoslovakia), Felipe Pedrell (Spain), Ralph Vaughan Williams (Great Britain), and Charles Ives (United States). Nationalist music is typically multidimensional in the sense that it reflects complexities in the indigenous culture with which it is linked. Bruce Springsteen is a modern nationalist composer in this respect.

Patriotic music differs from the broader nationalist category in that patriotic music is one-dimensional, expressing a straightforward defense of nation. Much of American Romantic composer John Philip Sousa’s music can be viewed as falling within the patriotic category, as well as, say, American country singer Toby Keith’s song “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American).” National anthems fall within the patriotic category as well. While most national anthems are mundane in terms of both lyrics and music, some anthems are politically potent mixes of revolutionary fervor, such as “La Marseillaise” and “The International.”

Labor Music

An important category of political music that catalytically evoked a great deal of subsequent political music is labor music. Much of this category dates back to the music of political activist Joe Hill (a.k.a. Joel Emmanuel Haggland), who wrote songs to support the recruitment and protest activities of the early labor movement in the United States. Most of these songs used well-known melodies in combination with motivational lyrics penned by Hill. A great deal of modern protest music can be historically tied to this early labor music. However, in strictly modern terms, modern protest music finds its predominant origins within the American civil rights movement as well as the protests against the Vietnam War (1959–1975) that coincided with the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s.

Political Hip-Hop

The most modern form of political music can be found in the hip-hop genre, or alternatively, rap or gangsta rap. The early evolution of hip-hop into a vehicle for conveying political and cultural messages can be seen in the lyrics for “The Message,” released in 1982 and rapped by Melle Mel (a.k.a. Melvin Glover) with Grandmaster Flash and his group, The Furious Five. This musical form emerged from the activities of early deejays on both the east and west coasts of the United States. The growth of the gangsta rap’s hyperrealistic focus on ghetto warfare followed the early “classical” period of hip-hop. Later strands of hip-hop extended to rebellious white suburban youth who were attracted to the vibrancy of rap’s approach to musical expression. The hip-hop style of political protest music has a clear cross-national global reach today.

Bibliography:

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Bokina, John. Opera and Politics. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1997.
Brown, Courtney. Politics in Music: Music and Political Transformation from Beethoven to Hip-Hop. Atlanta, Ga.: Farsight Press, 2008.
Dennis, David B. Beethoven in German Politics, 1870–1989. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1996.
Fowke, Edith, and Joe Glazer. Songs of Work and Freedom. Chicago: Roosevelt University Press, 1960.
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Leonard, Richard Anthony. A History of Russian Music. New York: Macmillan, 1957.
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White,Timothy. Catch a Fire:The Life of Bob Marley. Rev. and enl. ed. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.

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