They are constitutive in the sense that they can sustain and reproduce the social status quo and in the sense that they can transform it (Wodak 1996:15). Discourses constitute situations, objects of knowledge and social relations between people. The discursive event is shaped by them, but it also shapes them. Discourse as a social practice implies a dialectical relationship between a particular discursive event and the situation, institution, and social structure that frame it. I define discourse as a form of social practice which entails the use of language in speech and writing. One purpose of this kind of analysis is to uncover unequal power relations and oppression (Fairclough 1992, Wodak 1996, van Dijk 1997, Chouliaraki and Fairclough 2001, Wodak and Reisigl 2001). Critical discourse analysis implies a political commitment to social change (Winther Jørgensen and Phillips 2000: 67–70). The theoretical platform for the study is a critical discourse analysis, inspired by the model proposed by the Austrian professor in linguistics, Ruth Wodak, and her research team at the Research Centre for Discourse, Politics, and Identity at the University of Vienna (Wodak et al. Atterberg’s archives are today kept by the Music Museum in Stockholm. Among other material, he collected about ten thousand letters and wrote about fifteen hundred pages of memoirs, which have never been published. Atterberg left a huge amount of material behind. During the first half of the twentieth century Atterberg had a strong influence not only on Swedish musical life, but also on international musical relations. Between 19 he was the secretary of the Royal Academy of Music (Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien, KMA) in Stockholm. He was also a Swedish representative in several international composers’ rights organizations. He stood up for composers’ rights and was one of the founders of the Swedish Composers’ Society (Föreningen Svenska Tonsättare, FST) and the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM). Atterberg also worked as music critic for the newspaper Stockholms-Tidningen (1919–1957). Many of his compositions have a national romantic character and a popular style. Atterberg composed nine symphonies, five operas, and several orchestral works, concertos, and pieces of chamber music. Kurt Atterberg was a central figure in Swedish music during the first half of the twentieth century, and his life gives a glimpse of the spirit of the time.
I studied correspondence, memoirs, minutes, newspaper articles, and radio programmes, and talked to contemporary Swedish composers. The book focuses on material from Swedish, German, and Austrian archives by and about the Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg (1887–1974). In my study I analyzed conversation and debates about music to find out what meaning becomes attached to music in different verbal contexts. In my study I also wanted to answer the following questions: Which ideas about “good” and “bad” music were brought to the fore? What kinds of national tales were created and what did they imply for Swedish-German musical relations at the time in the shadow of Nazism? I argued that music can only acquire a political meaning when it is placed in a verbal or symbolic context. My study, Music and Politics in the Shadow of Nazism: Kurt Atterberg and Swedish-German Musical Relations, shows how both countries stimulated each other in Swedish-German musical relations during the Nazi period in Germany (1933–1945) and how music was used as a political tool. But earlier research has established that Sweden also took part in developing Nazism, for example through the inspiration of Swedish racial biologists. The project report seemed to adopt the perspective that Nazism was something that came to Sweden from Germany. Several researchers and journalists were surprised at how much Sweden had accommodated Nazi Germany and how much Sweden complied with Nazi Germany’s demands.
In April 2006, the Swedish Scientific Council (Vetenskapsrådet) presented the results of various research projects examining Sweden’s relations with Nazism, Nazi Germany, and the Holocaust (Sveriges förhållande till Nazism, Nazityskland och Förintelsen).
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