THIS BOOK PROJECT BEGAN AS THE FLICKERING OF an idea I had while spending the summer in Berlin. As a first-year graduate student at the University of Michigan, I visited the capital ostensibly for a course at the Goethe Institute but soon decided to develop my research project around the city’s sounds, its geographies, its complicated history. Rubble Music is the result of the ensuing time I spent combing through the city’s archives, returning as often as I could to study unpublished scores, diaries, and correspondence written by Berliners who lived through the liminal space between war and peace. Their stained pages raised new questions for me about the resonances of 1945, and I knew I had to write a book about their experiences.
There are many people to whom I am indebted for their time and generosity as I completed this project. Jane Fulcher, my doctoral adviser, supervised this work in its early stages, providing an inspiring example of how to combine rigorous research with a compelling storyline. Similarly, Steven Whiting, Charles Garrett, Silke Maria-Weineck, and Annie Randall provided wonderful advice and support throughout the many phases of writing.
I am thankful for the help and comments of my editor, Janice Frisch, who expertly guided this manuscript through its various iterations. Likewise, the comments of the anonymous readers were absolutely invaluable, and I am very appreciative of their insights and observations. My wonderful colleagues at Baruch College, City University of New York, have provided unwavering encouragement, most especially Anne Swartz, Leonard Sussman, Debra Caplan, John Maciuika, Liz Wollman, Andrew Tomasello, Phil Lambert, Andrew Sloin, Martina Nguyen, and Elizabeth Heath. I am grateful for the scholars who took time to discuss this manuscript with me—namely, Pamela Potter, Annegret Fauser, Amy Lynn Wlodarski, Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Walter Frisch, Robert G. Moeller, Monica Black, Amy C. Beal, Mike Beckerman, Joy Calico, Allan Atlas, Tina Frühauf, Anne Shreffler, Anne Stone, and Stephen Brockmann. Their insights made a world of difference in the resulting book.
To my fellow postwar-minded academics, Martha Sprigge, Emily Richmond Pollock, Kira Thurman, and Kathryn Sederberg, my thanks for sharing ideas, encouragement, and delicious cake while discussing our respective projects. Friends in Michigan, New York, and Berlin were always willing to talk through ideas—namely, Alison DeSimone, Meghan Fox, George Fragopoulos, Katie LaPorta, Nick and Anja Westray, Kim Philip, Lucy Dauner, Olivia de Paeztron, Liam Billingham, Emily Weiss, Brandon Woolf, and Tina Petereit. My thanks to Matthias Weiter and Manuela Malaszkiewicz-Weiter, our Berlin family, for generously sharing their home with us during summer research trips.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the funding and institutional structures that supported the research for Rubble Music—namely, the Fulbright Commission, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Holocaust Educational Foundation, the Professional Staff Congress and the City University of New York, the Eugene Lang Foundation, and the AMS 75 PAYS Endowment of the American Musicological Society, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Archives in Germany provided the bulk of the materials for this project, and I would especially like to thank Dr. Werner Grünzweig and Peter Deeg of the Akademie der Künste, Katja Vobiller of the Berlin Philharmonic Archive, Jean Christophe Gero of the Staatsbibliothek, Monika Bartzsch of the Landesarchiv, and Andreas Meurer of Ries and Erler Verlag.
I am endlessly appreciative of my parents, Dave and Mary Joyce, who provided encouragement during my early days of graduate school through Rubble Music’s completion. I would also like to thank my brother, my in-laws, and my sisters-in-law for their support. Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my husband, Dennis, whom I met on a rainy summer evening in Görlitzer Park. He has been my constant supporter, willing to discuss everything from translation questions to methodological approaches. Our son, Anselm, was born shortly before I sent off the final version of this manuscript. The care and patience of my family allowed me the time I needed to complete this project, and I am looking forward to seeing what our next adventure together will be.