Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0027/00272.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 29KB | 460 lines

$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 preserv