La musique à l'ère de McCarthy : diplomatie, propagande et résistance musicale de 1950 à 1960
This thesis addresses the subject of the political employment of music by questioning the ambiguous relationship between propaganda and musical diplomacy during the Cold War. Focusing mainly on the musical production in the United States in the 1950s, this study examines the strategies adopted by both jazz and classical musicians to criticize and denounce the discriminatory policies of this communist witch-hunt embodied by Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (1908-1957). It also shows how U.S. leaders have sought to promote American values by internationally promoting jazz as a democratic symbol, particularly against the Soviet Union.  The first two chapters serve to set the stage: the first chapter provides a contextualized political and historical portrait of the Cold War – starting from the premise that it is rooted in the October 1917 Revolution –, and introduces the socio-political context of the 1950s by emphasizing the important influence that McCarthyism, the anti-communist political conception of Senator McCarthy had on American life. The second chapter, also contextualizing, establishes the differences between American and Soviet cultural policies. This chapter introduces the Cultural Presentations program, the cultural exchange program funded by the Department of State, as well as the official cultural relations between the United States and the USSR from 1958 to 1985. The last two chapters focus on case studies to illustrate the socio-political impact on music life and productions in the 1950s. The third chapter discusses the presence of jazz in the Cultural Presentations program and traces the journey of four great jazz musicians who took part in the program to promote jazz internationally, while highlighting the irony of using African Americans as representatives of democracy in a segregated America. The fourth chapter deals specifically with the American operatic genre and the criticisms of McCarthyism in some works of this repertoire. Particular attention is paid to Leonard Bernstein’s (1918-1990) operetta Candide, due to the composer’s notorious political commitment and the explicitly political purpose of the work.  This research aims to take stock of the political usage of music by linking two different visions of its use in the United States.
jazz Louis Armstrong Leonard Bernstein McCarthyism Cold War propaganda diplomacy opera cultural policy democracy