Neue Sachlichkeit and Schulhoff’s improvisations

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942), the Czech composer and virtuoso pianist of German Jewish origin, is without a doubt an example of the desire among some artists to break the barriers between “high” and “low” art in the first decades of the twentieth century. Around 1919, Schulhoff’s attitude towards art, as expressed in his seminal text “Revolution und Musik”, moved away from expressionism and embraced a realism that draws its inspiration, he claimed, from real life. This period is characterized by his Kunst-Jazz and Dada compositions as well as by other works such as his opera Flammen (1927-29). In the early 1930s his growing involvement with left wing politics led him towards the aesthetic concepts associated with socialist realism. Schulhoff was also a virtuoso pianist, recognized for the Sachlichkeit of his interpretations of contemporary and earlier music as well as for his skill in musical improvisation. This essay focuses on two instances of Schulhoff’s improvised performances of the 1930s, respectively Sami Dva (undated, probably 1933), which is an example of his jazz-oriented duo broadcasts, and Optimistische Komposition (1936), remembered as a transcription of a solo extemporizations performed at workers’ gatherings. Setting aside all political and ideological connotations associated with Gebrauchsmusik, I will argue that these two examples are aesthetically related to Heinrich Besseler’s understanding of the term as discussed in his Habilitation lecture of 1925 entitled “Grundfragen des musikalischen Hörens”. They also rely on communicative mechanisms, respectively the radio and meetings organized by workers’ associations, which are closer to the public sphere than to the concert hall. They nevertheless remain bound to notions of performance as art: characteristics that warrant, I suggest, their inclusion in a broad definition of musical Neue Sachlichkeit. My paper is partially based on a recording of Sami Dva (Only two), which I unearthed in the archives of the Prague Radio.