Western Music and Municipality in 1930s and 1940s Shanghai

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to examine the complex relationship between western music
and municipality in 1930s and 1940s Shanghai. The objective is to carry out an inquiry
into musical venues, municipal policies and ideas of musical sound in a fragmented
administrative geography. Music historians have yet to research in tandem
municipalities of the British and French settlers, Japanese military and the Chinese
Nationalists—an alternative historical modelling that nuances studies of 1930s and
1940s Shanghai as a global and colonial metropolis. In terms of the evidence, the thesis
draws on documentary sources in Chinese, English, French and German from
Shanghai’s treaty port, war and postwar years. Surviving materials extend from concert
programmes, used scores and musical advertisements to venue licences and tax
correspondence.
The four main chapters function as case studies; each is located in a specific
municipality. Chapter One discusses the International Settlement: British settlers’ sonic
values and the aural phenomenon of the Shanghai Municipal Brass Band in the parks.
Chapter Two discusses the French Concession: the sonic regulation of the French
Municipal Council and the jarring but no less ‘French’ entertainment of eateries.
Chapter Three discusses ‘Little Vienna’ in Japanese-occupied Shanghai: the landscape
of European Jewish cafés and their sound worlds of Unterhaltungsmusik in the
Restricted Sector for Stateless Refugees. Chapter Four discusses Nationalist Shanghai:
eateries’ claims of a distinct musical sound in the context of an anti-music tax policy.
The Epilogue shifts from ‘1930s and 1940s Shanghai’ as a matter of music history to
matters of historiography, first exploring reproduction maps and repositories, then
outlining some further directions for an archival musicology. In terms of its overall
contribution, the thesis brings to light not only Shanghai’s western musical venues and
municipal policies, but also the peculiar geography of a city of cities, multinational yet
divided.

Date of Award	1 Jan 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	King's College London
Supervisor	Andy Fry (Supervisor)