$Unique_ID{COW00272} $Pretitle{376} $Title{Austria Austria Land of Music} $Subtitle{} $Author{Federal Press Service} $Affiliation{Embassy of Austria, Washington DC} $Subject{music vienna austria musical baroque opera popular austrian salzburg court} $Date{1986} $Log{} Country: Austria Book: Austria Land of Music Author: Federal Press Service Affiliation: Embassy of Austria, Washington DC Date: 1986 Austria Land of Music AUSTRIA'S MAJOR POSITION IN THE SPHERE OF MUSIC European culture found its perhaps most characteristic expression in the wealth of music which it has inspired, and Austrian music occupies such a central position in this sphere that the words "Austria" and "music" must be looked upon as almost synonymous in meaning. The historic reason for this may be found in that unique concentration of musical genius and power which manifested itself around 1800 and gave rise to what came to be known as "Viennese classicism". The master musicians of Viennese classicism attained veritably sublime heights in endowing their music with ineffably human and spiritual qualities. Experts on the history of human culture therefore like to compare this golden epoch in the history of Vienna with the Athens of Pericles, for the composers who lived and worked in Vienna between the years 1780 to about 1828 (the year in which Schubert died) invested their music with a power transcending all frontiers and generations, which even today, in the age of the mass media, reaches out to all human beings all over the world. "And it was the fate of this Austria of ours to provide the backcloth and the stage for this musical epoch" wrote Heinrich Kralik, the Viennese music critic and writer, "Vienna must indeed be justly regarded as the Athens of music ..." "That Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Lanner, Johann Strauss, Bruckner, and Mahler were Austrians, and that Beethoven and Brahms both established firm roots in Vienna, which became their spiritual home and inspired their mighty works, shows in what special and significant sense Austria must be regarded as the spiritual home of music." None other than the famous conductor, Bruno Walter (1876-1962) wrote these words concerning the great musicians of the classical period and their descendants of the late 19th century. Many theories have been put forward to explain just why Austria was destined to nurture such a blossoming of musical inspiration. No doubt the climate and the landscape, as well as the geographical and ethnographical situation of the country, which made it both bulwark and bridge at various moments in its history, all played their part. The great epochs of European migration when whole peoples were on the move and new ideas were spreading - from the north to the south in the Gothic period, and from the south to the north during the Renaissance and the baroque era - directly affected Austria's own historic development. The intermingling of ethnic groups and cultures within the multi-racial Hapsburg empire from the end of the Middle Ages until the early 20th century may well have contributed towards the emergence of the artistic gifts which are a marked feature of the individual Austrian. There is indeed a typically Austrian mental approach to any problems encountered, which enables the inhabitants of this country to handle spiritual and mental tensions with a certain ease and to weld together the finest elements of international culture with their own deep-rooted popular culture, transforming and remodelling outside influences to create a typically Austrian style of music. It obviously requires "that intangible feeling of a common national identity which is so peculiarly ours, as the mixed product of a centuries-old frontier region" (Kralik). Austria's musical authority, its position of power in the world of music has remained almost untouched by the ups and downs of history. Despite the country's reduction to the status of a minor state after World War I (1914-1918) and despite the fact that its territory was laid waste and then occupied by the four victorious powers after World War II (1939-1945) a flourishing activity in the musical field soon developed. For the Austrian music is, and always has been, a dominant factor of artistic and intellectual activity. Possibly this was what Arnold Schonberg had in mind when he declared that: "Art cannot be likened to the miscellaneous goods and products exported by whatever power happens to hold sway in the world; only one power appears to reign supreme in this sphere: - the power of genius, the power of thought and the art of its portrayal and interpretation". FROM EARLIEST TIMES TO THE RENAISSANCE In the course of the following short survey of Austria's musical landscape, connections with the present will frequently be pointed out recalling to mind just how and where ancient traditions and forms are still to be found, and demonstrating just how much they remain a living presence in musical activity today. Cult-Music and the Roman Era The very earliest "instruments" genuinely known to have existed in Austria provide a good example of the fact that: "Music-making in Austria is not only confined to the playing of organs, violins or trumpets. Earthenware flutes can still be heard in Upper Austria, wooden panpipes in Styria, cornetts, rattles, tambourines and wooden clappers are still in use, not forgetting the willow pipes made by the children in the springtime in many parts of the country every year." (Walter Salmen) There seems little doubt that these instruments have been in regular use for about 5000 years. They are relics of heathen customs linked to special times of the year, connected with the movement of the sun and the rhythms of vegetation, which - like the grotesque wooden masks worn during the performance of wild cult dances in winter processions - later came to be used in the theatre. In the Austria of Roman times music had already become an integral part of public life. The "cornu" of the Roman army, a brass instrument with a range of up to 17 notes which emitted a dull hollow sound, has been found in many places. Bells of all shapes and sizes, which were used for all kinds of everyday practices (dancing, agriculture) or for cult purposes (banning of evil spirits), were in such frequent use that they are to be found in almost every Austrian collection of objects from Roman times. The Music of Early Christendom - St. Peter in Salzburg Towards the end of the great migrations, St. Severin, a preacher who called the population to repentance and founded a monastery, did much to encourage musical activity. It is known that he sang psalms with his fellow monks. The monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg is renowned for its role in fostering musical development in Austria and has the distinction of being the only monastery erected in the German-speaking area of Europe to enjoy an uninterrupted existence from the time of St. Rupert (end of the 7th century) up to the present day. Among the unique cultural treasures in the possession of the St. Peter monastery is the celebrated Antiphonary dated 1 160, which contains chants, plainsong and responses with melodies. Liturgical chants in the German language, and organ music were performed in St. Peter from an early date. Monks, Minnesingers, and Strolling Players In the Middle Ages the monastic orders-Cistercians, Augustinians, and, most especially, the Benedictine monasteries, which followed the "Regula" of St. Benedict who was celebrated for his knowledge of music, became centres of musical activity. In addition to St. Peter, the monasteries of Gottweig, Krems, Heiligenkreuz and St. Florian became wellknown throughout Austria. The Gregorian chant, the art of playing the organ, and the theory of music, which, according to ancient Greek tradition, counted among the indispensable arts, were cultivated and taught by the monks. Throughout the centuries the archives of the monasteries preserved the rare music documents of those early times. Since 1894, selected examples of these treasured witnesses of the past have regularly been published in the admirable "Denkmaler der Tonkunst in Osterreich" (DTO = lit. "Monuments of Music in Austria"). Responsibility for the publication of this series is at present borne by the "Institut fur Musikwissenschaft" (Institute of Musicology) at the University of Vienna. The dukes of the Babenberger dynasty established their court in Vienna in 1156, and this soon became a focal point for secular music, above all for the "Minnesang" which was now becoming popular. The secular rulers became increasingly important as patrons of artists and the arts. The Alsatian minstrel Reinmar von Hagenau was one of the first exponents of the new highly-stylised lyric art of the Minnesang at the court of Vienna, an art which reached its zenith under one of his famous successors, Walther von der Vogelweide (ca. 1170-1230), who according to his own words, "taught the Austrians to sing and to recite". Walther von der Vogelweide, the greatest medieval lyricist writing in the German language, employed elements of the Gregorian chant, the art of the Provencal trouveres, and the folk music of Bavaria and Austria. His compositions united the old and the new, combining lilting popular melodies and grave courtly airs into an organic whole. A Tirolean choir bearing the name of Walther von der Vogelweide still preserves some of the earliest recognisable traces of that "Austrian sound" in its repertoire today. A number of texts and melodies attributed to another celebrated singer of that period in Vienna, Neidhart von Reuenthal, are also still extant. Other famous knightly minstrels associated with Austria include the wandering adventurer Tannhauser who spent several years in Vienna around 1250, and Ulrich von Lichtenstein who was renowned throughout Styria as a Minnesinger. About a century later, the Tirolean musician Oswald von Wolkenstein (1377-1445) broke through the narrow courtly forms of the Minnesang and introduced a vigorous new realism. His work represented a valuable contribution to the wealth of historic folksong and the art of "Meistergesang" (the "Mastersinger" represented a middle class continuation of the tradition of the "Minnesinger"), which was just becoming popular in his lifetime. Oswald von Wolkenstein did not confine his singing activities to appearances before noble audiences at the princely courts for he also knew how to cater for the tastes of humbler men in taverns and inns with his art, which ranged from tender love-songs to coarsely humorous ballads. Instrumentalists also appeared on the scene. It was their task to provide musical entertainment at banquets and for dancing. Vienna was a meeting-ground for strolling musicians and players who on occasion also took service as court jesters. In the year 1280 or thereabouts these musicians, who had until then been looked upon as social outcasts devoid of all rights, were awarded what amounted to guild representation in the form of the so-called Nicholas Fraternity, dedicated to their patron saint St. Nicholas. In contrast to the music of the courtly knight-minstrels, none of the music of the lesser orders - the peasants and the growing middle classes - has been preserved, for it was transmitted entirely orally from one generation to the next. One celebrated exception to this oral tradition is known - the "Codex buranus" which was put together around 1240 and is carefully preserved in the monastery of Benedictbeuern. Recent research has proved that this collection, which contains dances, love ballads and drinking songs, as well as a series of religious plays, clearly derives from Austrian sources. Carl Orff (1895-1982) used some of these as basis and inspiration for his "Carmina burana". It was not until the middle of the 15th century when the new book-printing processes became firmly established that written music also found wider popularity. The Reformation made use of this modern technique to introduce its new teachings by means of hymns written and sung in the language understood by the wide mass of the population. One of the most famous and magnificent centres of culture was Salzburg. First the abbots and then the archbishops with their own independent state authority, proved themselves princely protectors of the muses in the true sense of the word. The resplendent court of Pilgrim II of Puchheim, who reigned in Salzburg from 1365-1396, was particularly celebrated. One of the most popular and at the same time most legendary and mysterious medieval musicians, the so-called "Monk of Salzburg", whose face was always hidden by a monk's hood, lived at this court. The works of this most important German poet-composer of the 14th century have been preserved in over a hundred hand written manuscripts. His language was popular, his idiom specifically Austrian, and his art appealed to all sections of the population. The period of transition from the Middle Ages to the early Renaissance also saw the beginning of the development of polyphony in music; genuine and incontrovertible proof of its existence in Austria dates from 1300. Singing for two or more voices simultaneously was introduced in order to enhance the solemn and sacred character of liturgical chants on certain occasions. At first this took the form of vocal improvisations accompanying the main melody. True polyphony in the sense of more than one vocal part performed simultaneously, only developed gradually. The decisive change came with the rediscovery of classical antiquity by the western world, i.e. with the Renaissance. Court Orchestras, the Humanists The reign of Emperor Maximilian I. was an epoch of grandiose cultural flowering. In 1498 Maximilian reorganised his "Hofkapelle" (official court orchestra) and transferred it from Innsbruck to Vienna, a step which meant that music and practically all musical activities were officially moved to Vienna. This celebrated orchestra became a scintillating emblem of imperial magnificence at the court of Vienna. In Albrecht Durer's famous "Triumphal Procession of Emperor Maximilian" violin, organ and lute players, cornettists, singers, pipers, drummers and trumpeters clad in officers' uniforms, may all be seen. The Hofkapelle accompanied the emperor on his journeys of state and the most famous organist of the age, Paul Hofhaimer (1459-1537), who came from Radstadt (Salzburg), often participated in these ceremonial travels. Hofhaimer was an innovator, composer and teacher of great renown and had, together with the Dutch musician Heinrich Isaac, achieved celebrity throughout Europe as organist of the imperial Hofkapelle in Innsbruck and was raised to knighthood by the emperor. In later years he returned to Salzburg and became cathedral organist. Many of his pupils were later destined to become musicians of European stature. In our day the Paul Hofhaimer Ensemble devotes special attention to Hofhaimer's works and their undoubted significance as a major influence on the development of the German Lied. Numerous other members of the Hofkapelle in Vienna attained personal fame over the centuries as composers and musicians. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918, the newly-constituted Austrian republic took over this time-honoured institution which continued to flourish under the auspices of the government as the "Hofmusikkapelle" and still maintains its reputation today in Vienna for its outstanding interpretation of church music. Performances of classical masses take place every Sunday in the Hofburgkapelle (court chapel) in the Viennese inner city. Members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the choir of the State Opera, and the Vienna Boys' Choir - which traditionally sings the parts scored for female voices, all participate in these performances. Orchestras maintained at the courts of other members of the Austrian nobility also achieved celebrity: during the reign of Duke Siegmund the Wealthy an official Hofkapelle was set up in Innsbruck. One of the musical ensembles directly descended from this orchestra moved to Mannheim from Innsbruck in 1720 and formed the basis of what later became the celebrated Mannheim Orchestra. The Hofkapelle which was founded in Graz in 1564 contributed much to the cultural life of the city. Under a series of Italian musicians who were engaged to conduct this orchestra a distinct and individual style was developed. In 1619 after his election as Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II brought the orchestra to Vienna. The record for the longest period of uninterrupted musical activity at a noble Austrian court is held by the Hofkapelle of the prince archbishops of Salzburg, which was set up in the year 1313. In 1612 the famous Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich permanently employed 24 musicians. Stars among the celebrated names associated with this orchestra are Leopold Mozart and his son Wolfgang Amadeus who were members of the Salzburg Hofkapelle in the 18th century. The new spirit of the Renaissance which imbued both religious and secular institutions with a burning interest in knowledge and research of all kinds ensured that in addition to the courts of the nobility and the Church, the universities also became centres of musical development. The Vienna University, the "Alma Mater Rudolphina" (founded in 1365 by the Hapsburg Duke Rudolf IV) was one such centre. The influence of the universities gave rise to new forms of music-making, such as the "Humanistenode" (humanist lays) which were polyphonic settings of secular Latin texts. Among the well-to-do middle classes the so-called "Gesellschaftslied" (musicological term for songs belonging socially to the bourgeois class as opposed to the Volkslied - folksong - and the Hoflied - court-song) became popular. Most of these songs dealt with everyday scenes and emotions - love, work, nature, and festive occasions suited to their audiences. Purely instrumental music also began to develop; works were composed specially for performance on the lute and the wellknown Austrian lute-maker, Hans Judenkunig built a number of superlative instruments. Daily life for the people living in that period must have been filled with music-making, if one is to believe the enthusiastic words of Wolfgang Schmeltzl, a German-born musician who became choirmaster at the Schottenstift in Vienna. In his "Praise for the City of Vienna" Schmeltzl wrote the following: "Nowhere in the world can one find more musicians or more musical instruments!" THE BAROQUE ERA - AUSTRIA'S "GLORIOUS CENTURY" "Basically speaking the Austrians feel little affinity with humanism or the Renaissance - they are essentially baroque in character" (Kralik). The euphoria which seized the population once the Turkish peril had been banished, the force of the Counter-Reformation, and the general prosperity which now set in, all served to bring about the mighty unfolding of Baroque in the 17th and 18th centuries. Rudolf Flotzinger describes baroque architecture as "brimming over with powerful creativity, imbued with southern gaiety and grace, intoxicated with the magic of colour and the splendid glitter of gold". The magnificently monumental baroque buildings - the churches, the monasteries, the palaces, lie bedded like precious jewels in the Austrian landscape. And in all these great buildings the new and rapidly-developing instrumental music played an important role. In contrast to the complicated polyphony of the past a new style of music, deriving from Italy, began to gain popularity from about 1600 onwards. Purely monodic, it was based on a single and powerfully dominating melodic line so that very soon a kind of shorthand sufficed for the accompanying voices - the socalled "basso continuo" (thorough bass). With the arrival of the "concerto" the era of the virtuoso instrumentalist dawned and instrumentalists gained leading positions in orchestras and choirs. Baroque Opera The most fascinating outgrowth of baroque music is the baroque opera, which embodies all the jubilant vigour of the baroque period. The earliest known beginnings of opera took place in Italy around 1600; there are however indications that operas were also performed around this time in Vienna. Very soon the enthusiasm of the Viennese court and the Viennese population for opera knew no bounds. Audiences were intoxicated by the simultaneous impact of words, sounds, and action, presented by an imposing array of singers, dancers and actors attired in splendid costumes and performing in stage settings which were magnificent architectural fantasies in themselves. During the reign of Emperor Leopold I (1658-1705) alone, over 400 dramatic works were performed. Supreme among all these was the opera "II pomo d'oro" (The Golden Apple), composed in 1667 in honour of the ruler's marriage by Marc Antonio Cesti, conductor of the Hofkapelle. The festivities accompanying this occasion continued for several months and the opera was mounted with unparalleled magnificence and expense and performed in a theatre specially built for the purpose. Antonio Draghi and Antonio Caldara, themselves conductors of the Hofkapelle, also wrote a large number of operas to satisfy this newly-awakened interest. The passionate interest in opera displayed by the Viennese is renowned. Ever since those very early days the quality and skill of operatic interpretation is very critically judged by audiences possessing expert knowledge on the subject. Performances which set up exemplary standards are both expected and demanded. This stormy enthusiasm for the opera which still ardently moves the entire Austrian cultural world remains one of the characteristic traits of the Viennese to this day. The triumphal progress of the opera brought about a fusion with Italian culture and matched the spirit of the age which was still dominated by absolutism and ancient court tradition. Opera catered for the love of spectacle, the theatre and theatrical manners common to all ranks of the population, and led to a lively and flourishing popular baroque culture, in which parodies of classical themes played an important role. ("Jupiter in Wien" is the title of a collection of such pieces published by Margret Dietrich.) Comedies, knockabout farces and comic operas, in all of which vocal music played a large part, culminated finally in the incomparable sensitive beauty of Mozart's "Magic Flute". The figure of Hanswurst, the eternal clown and joker, created in Salzburg and Vienna by the popular comic actor, Josef Anton Stranitzky (1676-1726) took the world by storm. The most popular legendary Viennese figure was, however, the "Liebe Augustin". This semi-mythical being and his songs were held to be immortal and he is reputed to have emerged from the plague pit into which he had stumbled in a drunken stupor, entirely unscathed. The last two celebrated exponents of popular music in Vienna were the brothers Johann and Josef Schrammel who lived at the end of the 19th century. A large proportion of the popular music still to be heard every day in Vienna derives from their "Schrammel Quartet" arrangements. The original quartet consisted of two violins, G clarinet and guitar. Popular folk tunes and melodies have also provided valuable inspiration for classical composers. In Salzburg too baroque opera found enthusiastic support. Archbishop Marcus Sitticus is regarded as the founder of the city's fervent and long-standing theatrical tradition. In Hellbrunn Castle, residence of the archbishop, an elaborate stone theatre was built in the Italian style. Here the first operatic performances north of the Alps were given as early as the year 1615, with both intermezzi and pastoral interludes. The general public flocked to enjoy the splendid processions and the spectacular baroque pageantry mounted by the archbishop's court. A major musical event took place under Marcus Sitticus' successor, Archbishop Paris Lodron, on the occasion of the consecration of the Salzburg cathedral in 1628. Although it was long believed that a mass composed by the Roman composer Orazio Benevoli was performed on this occasion, recent research has revealed that the Te Deum for 12 choirs composed by Stefano Bernardi was sung at this ceremony. The Benedictine university of Salzburg soon played a major role in the development of theatre tradition. In the plays performed in this institution, music, at first merely a humble adjunct to the main theme, gradually assumed more importance in subsidiary plots until it boldly developed into full-scale opera. The famous violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber who spent much of his career in Salzburg, and the organist Georg Muffat both wrote operatic compositions. As early as 1622 performances of Italian opera were given on the occasion of a princely wedding in Innsbruck. The music for these was composed by Claudio Monteverdi. The munificent manner in which opera was fostered in Innsbruck led to the erection in 1650 of the first opera house north of the Alps. Important operatic performances are also known to have taken place in Graz during the baroque era. In the dramas written by the Jesuits music played an ever-increasing role. Celebrated local and foreign composers were commissioned to write these works. Numerous compositions in the German language were written down by the Jesuits who were astute enough to recognise the popular influence they could thus exercise. Many popular ditties from these times, as well as drinking songs and ballads dealing with particular trades, have been preserved right up to the present day. Emperor-Composers Typical of the passionate devotion to music existing at the Viennese court is the fact that several Hapsburg emperors of this epoch have gained and preserved a reputation as composers worthy of respect. Outstanding among them was Leopold I. whose compositions possess a popular and individual appeal all their own. Leopold wrote ballet suites, festival music and "Sepolcri" - sacred music intended for performance at the holy sepulchre. These are still played and enacted by the Clemencic-Consort ensemble, Vienna. Emperor Charles VI., the father of Empress Maria Theresia, was much praised as a violinist and conductor of operatic works and masques for dancing. The entire imperial family frequently took part in these performances. The emperor's tutor was the accomplished musician and conductor of the Hofkapelle, Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741), who came from Styria. Fux was wellknown as the author of the famous textbook "Gradus ad Parnassum" and even more famed for his compositions. Fux's teaching manual on counterpoint represented a standard work on the subject which remained the theoretical basis for generation after generation right down to the times of the classical musicians. Baroque Music Today Efforts are at present being made on every side to reproduce the music of the baroque era as nearly as possible in its original style and sound. Austria has played a major part in this development. In this connection the "Capella Academica" (Eduard Melkus), "Concentus Musicus" (Nicolaus Harnoncourt), both of which are based in Vienna, and the "Camerata Academica" of the Mozarteum in Salzburg may be mentioned among the many ensembles which are active in this field. In the course of the last few years the "Concentus Musicus" has completed over 200 recordings of baroque music. Harnoncourt interprets the situation thus: "symptomatic of the absence of truly living presentday music. Modern music satisfies neither the musician nor the public . . . and in order to fill the vacuum which has arisen we have gone back to the music of our forefathers. This is an entirely new situation in the history of music . . . but it has one advantage - for the first time in the history of our western Christian culture it permits us to take up an objective stance in viewing the entire musical creativity of the past. This explains why more and more music from the past is to be found in concert programmes today."