The practice of political instrumentalization of music reaches far back into the past and into the present. It is no different with the political-ideological exploitation of history. Perhaps not quite as old is the practice of combining these two quite different but similarly powerful media of influence in order to propagate and implement political and ideological ideas and goals. This practice begins with the creation of a repertoire of historical music that is considered to be of supra-temporal validity. By canonizing these works and composers and thus, as it were, removing them from the past, one makes them usable for the (respective) present, its ideology and politics. On the basis of sources and data on the reception of Handel, this volume attempts to systematize the forms, strategies, and modes of operation of the political-ideological instrumentalization of music of the past in twentieth-century Germany, and to describe and analyze them comparatively. Handel has been considered a central figure of musical heritage in Germany since the 19th century. At the same time, from his own lifetime on - in this respect perhaps only comparable to Beethoven - he was understood as a 'political' composer and repeatedly instrumentalized politically and ideologically, particularly conspicuously in the two dictatorships of the 20th century. The source research, which was carried out in addition to earlier studies within the framework of the present work, brought to light further documents and data on Handel's reception.
