The Apolitical Politics of Classical Music: The Mozarteum Argentino under the Dictatorship of 1976–1983

Abstract

During the almost constant political turmoil of the 1970s up to Raúl Alfonsín’s election in 1983, classical music in Buenos Aires was arguably one of the most stable domains of cultural life in Argentina. If this applies to public institutions such as the Teatro Colón, it is even truer of private concert associations like the Mozarteum Argentino, whose president Jeannette Arata de Erize remained in charge from 1955 until her death in 2013. Under the dictatorship of 1976–1983, the Mozarteum concerts were supported by leading economic groups like Techint, whose CEO, Roberto Rocca, was a member of the board of directors, as was the minister of Economy, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz. Politics, though, were totally absent from the association’s life. This apoliticism, derived from the Romantic era, strengthened the cohesion of the upper classes while converging with the alleged apolitical nature of the military regime itself.