Italian Music and Racial Discourses during the Fascist Period

This chapter attempts to answer the question of whether or not Fascist ideology encouraged or inhibited modernism in compositional technique and subject matter in the early twentieth century and the interwar decade. Illiano and Sala re-examine the 'mixed signals' the leaders of the Italian Fascist party gave concerning the role of art in culture and politics. All in all, this article examines how musical composition and discourse responded to the political conditions of Fascist Italy.