Artists in Exile

Duringthefirsthalfofthetwentiethcentury—decadesofwarandrevolutioninEurope—an"intellectualmigration"relocatedthousandsofartistsandthinkerstotheUnitedStates,includingsomeofEurope'ssupremeperformingartists,filmmakers,playwrights,andchoreographers.Forthem,Americaprovedtobebothastrangeandopportunedestination.A"foreignhomeland"(ThomasMann),itwouldfrustrateandconfuse,yetaffordaclarityofunderstandingunencumberedbynativehabitandbias.Howeverinadvertently,theconditionofculturalexilewouldpromoteacuteinquiriesintotheAmericanexperience.WhatimpactdidthesefamousnewcomershaveonAmericanculture,andhowdidAmericaaffectthem?GeorgeBalanchine,incollaborationwithStravinsky,famouslycreatedanAmericanizedversionofRussianclassicalballet.KurtWeill,schooledinBerlinjazz,composedaBroadwayopera.RoubenMamoulian'srevolutionaryBroadwayproductionsofPorgyandBessandOklahoma!drewuponRussian"totaltheater."AnarmyofGermanfilmmakers—amongthemF.W.Murnau,FritzLang,ErnstLubitsch,andBillyWilder—madeHollywoodmoreedgyandcosmopolitan.GretaGarboandMarleneDietrichredefinedfilmsexuality.ErichKorngoldupholsteredthesoundofthemovies.RudolfSerkininspirationallyinculcateddourGermaniccanonsofmusicalinterpretation.AnobscureBritishorganistreinventedhimselfas"LeopoldStokowski."However,mostofthesegiftedémigréstotheNewWorldfoundthatthefreedomstheyenjoyedinAmericadilutedratherthanamplifiedtheirhighcreativeambitions.AcentralthemeofJosephHorowitz'sstudyisthatRussiansuprootedfromSt.Petersburgbecame"Americans"—theyadapted.RepresentativesofGermanicculture,bycomparison,preachedaGermanculturalbible—theycolonized."Thepolarextremes,"hewrites,"wereBalanchine,whoshedPetipatoinventaNewWorldtemplateforballet,andtheconductorGeorgeSzell,whotreatedhisAmericanplayersasNewWorldCalibanstobetaughtMozartandBeethoven."AsymbioticrelationshiptoAfricanAmericancultureisanotherongoingmotifemergingfromHorowitz'ssurvey:theimmigrants"bondedwithblacksfromasharedexperienceofmarginality";theyprovedimmuneto"thegrowingpainsofayounghighcultureseparatingfromparentsandformerslavesalike."