The Performer and the Machine: Unexpected Parallels Between Neue Sachlichkeit and Italian Neo-Idealism in the Interwar Years

Benedetta Zucconi

2025-01-01

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Abstract

This chapter examines the conceptual links between two seemingly disparate cultural movements: the German Neue Sachlichkeit of the interwar period and the Italian philosophical wave of the so-called “Neo-Idealism”, also known as “Croceanism” from the name of its leading figure, the philosopher Benedetto Croce (1866–1952). In the following pages I will examine the presence of the term Neue Sachlichkeit in Italian printed media, with particular emphasis on the music-related context; I will then illustrate its elements of contrast with the dominant Italian culture – the neo-idealistic Crocean culture, and then focus instead on some elements that constitute a trait d’union between the two aesthetics. In particular, it’s in the realm of music performance that Italian Neo-Idealism and the Neue Sachlichkeit appear to be intertwined.