Music in

Playing For
Time

Lecture Two
Music: raison d'être

– Music as escapism?
– Music as individual expression?
– Music as catharsis?
– Music as a lifeline? Privilege?
– Music as a tool?
– What is the purpose of the artist when the
context denies them any relief that art should
provide?
Music: perversion

– Music’s function is perverted beyond

recognition
– Paradox of Germans who unsympathetically
enact cruelty and yet desire the beauty in
music
– Contrast: images of culture vs. horror, best vs.
worst of mankind
– Miller’s intent: to portray how morality has
the potential to be both inherently good and
evil, a simultaneous existence
Function of sound and music

– Evoke a desired atmosphere/setting

– Enhance characterisation, and characters’ interaction with other
characters
– Reinforce the structure of the play (exposition, climax,
denouement)
– Support main themes –order vs disorder, the utilitarian values that
dominate the concentration camp, the universal humanity that
unites both prisoners and their captors
The Title: Playing For Time

– Literal connotation of the phrase where music is a means to

survive

to try to make something happen later instead of sooner : to try to delay

something - Merriam-Webster Dictionary

– Connotation of fate being inevitable: death a looming presence in

the women’s near future
Women as a group of Scheherazade

– The female character of the Middle Eastern tale

One Thousand and One Nights who volunteered to
marry the monarch, Shahryar.
– She told exciting stories, stopping midway at dawn
so as to survive her beheading.
– By 1,001 nights and 1,000 stories later, the king
had fallen in love with her, spared her life and
made her his queen.
Music as a means to survive

– Music in Playing for Time carries with it

burden/obligation when placed alongside the
fatalistic attitudes of the camp
– There are clear implications if they fail to meet
expectations
Music as a burden
(The Von Suppé)

[Alma] valiantly tries to push this stone

uphill, her body weaving and her arms
waving as though it were all- inspiring.

– What mythical allusion is drawn here?

Music as a burden

Myth of Sisyphus
Punished by the gods for his self-aggrandising
craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to
roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to
roll down when it nears the top, repeating this
action for eternity.
Music as a burden

[Alma] valiantly tries to push this stone uphill

– Likening her task to Sisyphus, Miller

exhibits how torturous and punishing Alma
perceives her role, to her it is a futile task
But why is it so torturous?

– Culmination of ambition (the hill gets more difficult to traverse)

ETALINA. We were simply a marching band when we started. We’d play the prisoners out
to their work assignments and the louder the better. But Alma got ambitious and the first
thing you know, we’re doing Bach, Bramhs, giving concerts for the high brass … She’s a
victim of her own pride and we’re in trouble now.

ALMA. If we fall below a certain level, anything is possible … We will have to constantly
raise the level of our playing or I … I really don’t know how long they will tolerate us. (Pgs.
38-39)

With an expression of intense pride, which also reprimands and attempts to lead them
higher (Pgs. 40-41)
But why is it so torturous?

– And the lack of cohesiveness and skill (“Sisyphus” lacks

the capability to “push”)

uncertain and weak the sound is and how ragged the beat

ETALINA. The trouble is, no composer ever wrote for this

idiotic kind of ensemble. I mean, accordions, guitars, flutes,
violins. No bass, no horns, no …
Yet, music as salvation

“there is brightness here”, “A Beckstein grand, shiny and beautiful …

FANIA’s mouth falls open”, “FANIA approaches the fabulous piano. It is all
like a dream.”

–Instrument associated with prestige (one of the premier piano makers

along with Steinway and Sons, and Blüthner by 1870)
–Largest German manufacturer of high-end pianos in 1910
–The Bechstein was Adolf Hitler’s favorite piano, and Helene Bechstein,
the heir of the company, was very friendly with Adolf Hitler, enjoying
outings, dinners and parties with Hitler.
Yet, music as salvation

–Juxtaposed against the “former barracks

with faint and few light bulbs”, her “immense
men’s shoes, a fuzz of hair on her bald head,
her face gaunt from near starvation”, the
inhospitable existence of the camps, music,
especially to Fania initially, was a refuge
Music as solace and reprieve
(The Man I Love)

The dozen or so women, shorn and gaunt, cluster around the piano. The music
brings up their lust to live and a certain joy. They pick up a lyric and, with FANIA,
join MARIANNE. Their voices are filled with longing. Their eyes stare at lost time.
The POLES curiously look on.
Alma enters, walking rapidly. About to protest at the noise, her gesture aborts and
she stiffly concedes to the feeling of the moment, turns and goes back into the
darkness. The women continue to sing. FANIA moves out of the group to face the
audience. The song fades. The lights remain on FANIA, but dim on the orchestra
which can either walk into the darkness or resume their seats and remain
motionless.
Music and time

– “Their eyes stare at lost time.” Through this, Miller

makes an explicit connection between the main motif of
the play, and its central theme of time.
– Relationship with music as nostalgia (“sentimentally”),
hope (“longing”), sadness (“lost time”)
– The connotation of “lost time” where the past is
happiness lost, the present is moments stolen and the
future as bleak and unpromising
Music as sustenance

– When Fania enters the Orchestra’s room, she is given a

lump of bread from Etalina.

FANIA. I’m sorry but I’m really very hungry.

ALMA. Repeat it, then.

… the ironic longings for the music’s life-giving loveliness.

Music as sustenance … but for who?

MANDEL. You’re making a big difference, mademoiselle …

for all of us here.
COMMANDANT KRAMER. … it is a consolation that feeds
the spirit. It strengthens us for this difficult work of ours.
Very good.
Music’s significance to Germany

– As a nation, Germany had a long tradition of musical success – Germans are

disproportionately represented among the great classical composers, including
Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, and Wagner – leading some to
claim that music was ‘the most German of all the arts’.
– The internationally acknowledged importance of German composers,
conductors, and musicians was an enormous source of pride.
– At the same time, the modernist and ‘cosmopolitan’ trends in the arts of the
inter-war world were felt, in some quarters, to pose an enormous threat. For
the Nazis, the purported degeneration of German music was both a metaphor
and a symptom of the degeneration of the nation.
Music as a privilege

HELENE. I thought I saw you coming out of your barracks yesterday and begged
our Kapo to audition you!
MANDEL. I was never privileged to be given a musical education. We were
simple workers in my family. But I have always loved music more than anything
else.

– Music is revered by the Germans and because of this the women,

Fania in particular, are offered preferential treatment
Music as a privilege

ALMA. Do you understand me? She is musician, cellist, not to be

killed. To hospital, understand? Typhus, you see? We need her.

– Paulette’s position as a member of the women’s

orchestra guards her from the fate of death that awaits
those that fall ill
Pg. 25
Music as a privilege

As the work unit marches past the orchestra, a woman

steps out of its ranks and spits into FANIA’s face … FANIA
is left behind, wiping her face. She is horrified and feeling
guilty.
FANIA. I hadn’t realized … how they must hate us.
The Dilemma

– Music as preservation for many, especially Fania, yet the

acceptance of the culture in the camps suggests
complicity

FANIA. … I prefer to think that I am saving my life rather than

trying to please the SS.
ALMA. And you think you can do one without the other?
Music as an accompaniment to the
pain and slaughter
– Perversion of music as it becomes associated with the suffering
inflicted by the Germans

ETALINA. We’d play the prisoners out to their work assignments and the louder
the better.
MARIANNE. You know what they think of us out there? We’re no better than
prostitutes to be entertaining these murderers.
SCHMUEL. That commandant’s new idea … to play them into the gas.
MANDEL (as though the orchestra should feel honoured). It will be very interesting.
Doctor Mengele wants to observe the effects of music on the insane. (Pg. 47)
Music juxtaposed with the war

There is the sound of a rifle shot, then two more and the howling of guards dogs.
FANIA looks up, waits, then there is silence. Someone has probably been killed. She
plays the chord again and writes some notes. From somewhere outside, there is
the hair-raising screeching of someone being destroyed and the shouts of those
doing the killing. Then silence again. FANIA is in sharp conflict with herself. She
knows she is walling herself up against all this. She steels herself again, plays the
chord, and can’t continue. From beneath the sheets of music, she takes out a worn
diary and flips through its pages. She writes a brief note, closes the diary and puts
it in her pocket. Suddenly, there is a new flurry of violent screaming, dogs and,
finally, three shots. It sounds as if it is from a couple of hundred yards away. She
can’t bear sitting there and claps her hands over her ears and walks into darkness.
Alternatively, she may walk from the piano and just stand staring off. (Pg. 27-28)
But also the importance of silence …
What does it depict?
There is the sound of a rifle shot, then two more and the howling of guards dogs.
FANIA looks up, waits, then there is silence. Someone has probably been killed. She
plays the chord again and writes some notes. From somewhere outside, there is
the hair-raising screeching of someone being destroyed and the shouts of those
doing the killing. Then silence again. FANIA is in sharp conflict with herself. She
knows she is walling herself up against all this. She steels herself again, plays the
chord, and can’t continue. From beneath the sheets of music, she takes out a worn
diary and flips through its pages. She writes a brief note, closes the diary and puts
it in her pocket. Suddenly, there is a new flurry of violent screaming, dogs and,
finally, three shots. It sounds as if it is from a couple of hundred yards away. She
can’t bear sitting there and claps her hands over her ears and walks into darkness.
Alternatively, she may walk from the piano and just stand staring off. (Pg. 27-28)
The Dilemma

– Germans who are capable of both cruelty and the

appreciation of the beauty of music

FANIA stares at the ultimate horror – their love for her music.
(Pg. 32)
Music as a burden once more … self-
preservation
FANIA. I feel sometimes that pieces of myself are falling away … I suppose
… maybe it’s simply that … one wants to keep something in reserve. We
can’t … we can’t really and truly wish to please them. (Pg. 39)

– Fania sees an issue in entertaining humans who choose to inflict

suffering upon other humans. On a deeper level, she sees a problem
in humans that have the capacity to be inspired by music to also
desire to blindly inflict harm.
– If Fania gives herself entirely to the music, she paradoxically loses
her sense of humanity.
The window: witnessing and denial

FANIA. But one looks out the

window and …
ALMA. That is why I have told
you not to look out there! You
have me wrong, Fania. You
seem to think that I fail to see.
But I refuse to see. Yes. And you
must refuse!
The window: witnessing and denial

– Bearing witness to the atrocity vs. artistic fulfilment for the

sake of survival
– Alma’s refusal is key to her survival; she preserves her
artistic integrity and in turn the strength required to keep
the orchestra and the women alive
– Fania’s witnessing is key to her moral responsibility; she
preserves her humanity and the strength to remember and
testify toward the horror of the camp
Music to convey atmosphere

– Fania shares the rumour of the Allied troops landing in France

– In response, Alma reprimands Fania and begins Beethoven’s Fifth
– Beethoven’s Fifth symbolises victory which became well known as a campaign of the
Allies of World War II

She breaks off contact, returns to the podium, lifts her baton, and starts Beethoven’s
Fifth. There is the sudden sound of sirens as all the lights go out. The sirens die out and
bombers take over. The players sit in the dark, waiting, their eyes turned upward
towards the sound. As the sound rises to a crescendo, ALMA exits the room.

– Juxtaposed music with the sounds of war. What effect does this have?
Alma’s denial solidifies her fate

FANIA. Well, I am, of course. But you’ll be entertaining men who are fighting to keep us
enslaved, won’t you?
ALMA. But that is not the point! I … (She has an instant’s difficulty.) … I will play for the
soldiers, Fania.

ALMA. (at the height of hopes for herself.) Why must everything have a worm in it? Why
can’t you accept the little hope there is in life? (She puts on her coat.)
FANIA. [Schmidt’s] robbed every woman who’s landed here … every deal in the place has
her hand on it …

ALMA. You can thank my refusal to despair, Fania.

Music as resistance

All hurry to their positions and take up their instruments. PAULETTE begins the
Mendelssohn on her cello. Other players pick it up. After a few notes, the orchestra is
interrupted by ALMA, who enters and removes her overcoat. She knocks on the podium
for silence. (Pg. 57)

– A means for the orchestra to celebrate Mala and Edek’s escape, something
otherwise forbidden
– Impromptu performance, without a conductor: an assertion of the women’s
autonomy
– Mendelssohn: Jewish composer whose work was banned by the Nazis
Allusions to Madame Butterfly: ‘Un
Bel Di’
– Un bel di vedremo (“One fine day we shall see”) is
a song typified by hope and love and the most
famous aria of the opera.
– “I will wait for him with secure faith.”
– While the song is beautiful it is also tragic as it
signifies the inevitable death that awaits Butterfly
in the opera.
Allusions to Madame Butterfly: ‘Un
Bel Di’
– Fania is told by Alma to sing this song for her audition.
In FANIA’s face and voice … are the ironic longings for the
music’s life-giving loveliness.

Consider the irony of the situation.

There is a mirroring of the plight faced by Fania as she is
separated from her boyfriend in the midst of tragic
circumstances.
Allusions to Madame Butterfly: Duet
in Act Two
– Context: Mandel was made to give
Ladislaus back and requests for the
duet.
– In Madame Butterfly: Butterfly will
inevitably give up her son to be
taken care of by Pinkerton and Kate,
mirroring the loss of her child.
Allusions to Madame Butterfly: Duet
in Act Two
– Consider the effect of music as a means to communicate
trauma.
MANDEL is stunned by the music and lyrics but, through her
sentimental tears, her fanatic stupidity is emerging.
MANDEL fighting for control, stares up at FANIA. FANIA takes on a
challenging, protesting tone. (Pg. 68)
– Pgs. 68-69: Note how music is once again followed by the
sounds of war. Purpose?
Johann Strauss II’s
The Blue Danube

– Aggravated by post-war economic

depression, Viennese morale was at a low
and so Strauss was encouraged to write a
joyful waltz song to lift the country’s spirit. 
Johann Strauss II’s
The Blue Danube
FANIA. But, nevertheless … next day we played for the insane. Doctor Mengele’s
experiment. The Blue Danube, if you could call it that, the way we played it with
the stupid Olga waving her arms in front of us
The audience … there were hundreds of them … the insane who Mengele had
been keeping for such an occasion … Some began to dance …
A few, I think, must have died right there of the incongruity. Because as we
played, they were one by one being carefully wheeled out to the gas chamber,
some of them still waving their arms to the music.

Consider the dramatic effect created by Miller in this scene.

And the silence …

There is silence now. The women are dispersed over

the stage. One issue – whether they will survive the
war’s climax – occupies each of them. One mends.
Another tries to fix an instrument. Others stare at
nothing. Some quietly converse. ETALINA sits down
beside FANIA, who is holding her head. (Pg. 70)
Music as liberation

FANIA. I began to sing! Imagine? (She laughs.) The

Marseillaise. God, what a song that is!

– When asked to speak into a radio microphone,

Fania chose to sing the French National Anthem
Appendix: The Orchestra

– String instruments: Elzvieta, Lotte, Etalina, Giselle (violins), Paulette (cello)

– Woodwinds: Helene (flute)
– Percussion: Esther (percussionist), Varya (cymbals)
– Piano & vocals: Fania
– Vocals: Marianne
– Liesle (Mandolin) , *Greta (Accordion, p46), Olga (Accordion)
– Conductor (Alma Rose)