From Bach to Beuys
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Dr Brigitte Lohmeyer, Cultural Counsellor at the German Embassy for 23 years, in conversation with Mr Edward Heath, in 1969 when he was still leader of the Opposition.
By Dr. Brigitte Lohmeyer
Cultural Counsellor 1954-1977
Cultural politics has unfortunately a great deal to do with money and would by some even be described as a necessary luxury. Chasing after funds was certainly part of the daily grind in my 25 years at the Belgrave Square Embassy. Yet the quality of successful cultural endeavours, of course, cannot exclusively be measured by the available financial means, for culture is above all about the people who create it and those who are ever to enjoy it.
In the case of Anglo-German relations it was difficult enough, after the horrors of the Nazi era and a devastating War, to re-awaken an interest in German culture. Bach, Beethoven, even Wagner survived the Third Reich without harm as part of the values of mankind. But as far as the contemporary arts, the new German theatre or recent literature were concerned, interest was minimal.
The first to venture into bridge-building enterprises between the two countries were, not surprisingly, a few artistic or intellectual pioneers, and others followed. We began with exchanges of the familiar and well tried classics, in music as well as in the theatre; they had less resistance to overcome than, for example, in the literary field younger writers like Hochhuth, Weiss or Kipphardt as representatives of new ideas.
The exploration of new area gradually became more acceptable through some hundreds of city-partnerships and also increasingly, youth exchanges. The initiative of a few created the interest and increased the search for mutual understanding and overcame the ingrained sceptical reaction. The exhibition of Düsseldorf artists during the 1965 Edinburgh Festival, for example, appealed to people's humour. Visitors had to duck of entering to avoid being sprayed with water and were then confronted with a pile of broken chairs and "objects' by Joseph Beuys and other avantgarde artists. Whether everyone though this was funny or not, at least one of the Euro-myths, that of the deadly serious Germans, had been somewhat deflated.
The less strained relationships became, the more they also extended from the bi-lateral to the international level. A musical politician like Edward Heath with his unflagging enthusiasm for the European exchange of ideas soon was no longer the exception. Cultural policy will have achieved its aim when through the riches of ideas it can be made to rise above bureaucracy and financial restraint.
