Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0027/00276.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 24KB | 403 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00276}
$Pretitle{376}
$Title{Austria
Musical Life In Austria Today}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Federal Press Service}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Austria, Washington DC}
$Subject{music
vienna
austrian
society
austria
orchestra
federal
musical
cultural
international}
$Date{1986}
$Log{}
Country:     Austria
Book:        Austria Land of Music
Author:      Federal Press Service
Affiliation: Embassy of Austria, Washington DC
Date:        1986

Musical Life In Austria Today

Theatres, Festivals, Concerts, etc.

     Austria's most celebrated music theatre is the Vienna State Opera, which
represents a central point of European musical activity. The State Opera was
built between the years 1861-69, and after its destruction during World War II
it was reopened on November 5th 1955.

     The State Opera is an ensemble theatre; its orchestra is formed from and
identical with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Numerous most eminent
musicians have been directors of the State Opera: Gustav Mahler, Felix von
Weingartner, Richard Strauss, Clemens Krauss, Karl Bohm, Herbert von Karajan,
and Lorin Maazel. Over the years its stage has seen and heard the most famous
singers in the world.

     The Vienna Volksoper is the city's second theatre devoted to musical
performances. Erected in 1898 it has been rebuilt and modernised several times
since its inception. The repertoire of the Volksoper covers comic opera,
operetta, productions of rarely performed works and, from time to time,
musicals.

     At the Theater an der Wien the first performances of many major works
took place (e. g. Beethoven's "Fidelio"). Both Richard Wagner and Hector
Berlioz conducted performances of their own works in this famous house. During
the 19th century the theatre saw productions of many celebrated operettas (e.
g. the first performance of Johann Strauss' "Die Fledermaus", 1874). At the
present time the theatre specialises in ensuite productions, mainly musicals,
and there are annual seasons of opera and ballet, etc., during the Vienna
Festival in May/June.

     Other theatres worthy of mention, which also put on operetta productions
are the Raimund-Theater and the Vienna Kammeroper, which has established a
lively tradition of musical productions of all kinds.

     In the capital cities of the federal provinces: Klagenfurt
(Stadttheater), Linz (Landestheater), Salzburg (Landestheater), Graz
(Vereinigte Buhnen), and Innsbruck (Landestheater), as well as in a number of
other towns, musical productions are regularly presented. (The Federal Press
Service provides a catalogue of the most important theatres in Vienna and the
federal provinces in the culture brochure "Austria Theatre".

     The Salzburg Festival (annually in July/August) is not only the most
famous among the many Austrian music festivals but also the
longest-established (since 1920). Performances of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's
works form the main feature of the Salzburg Festival, but works by Richard
Strauss and Giuseppe Verdi are also frequently given, with star-studded
castes. Since 1967 an Easter Festival takes place in Salzburg every year with
the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under its conductor, Herbert von Karajan.
The International Mozarteum Foundation sponsors an annual Mozart Week at the
end of January in honour of Mozart's birthday (27th January), while chamber
music cycles may be heard throughout the year in Salzburg's palaces and
castles at the Salzburger SchloBkonzerte. The Bregenz Festival (Vorarlberg)
was inaugurated in 1946 and has been held there regularly (July/August) ever
since.

     Open-air performances on the floating stage on the lake have achieved
great popularity. This stage was entirely modernised in 1979. Since 1980
Bregenz has also had its own festival and congress hall. Open-air performances
of operettas are also a feature of the Lake Festival at Morbisch in
Burgenland, where such productions have been put on regularly in July/August,
since 1957. A very varied programme is offered by the Carinthian Summer (June
through August since 1969). Widely-contrasting productions may be seen and
heard, above all in the baroque church of the monastery at Ossiach
(Carinthia). The International Bruckner Festival which takes place annually in
September in Linz was inaugurated in 1974. Every year, at the end of June,
Linz also presents the "Ars Electronica", a festival designed, in the words of
its initiators, to illustrate the role of art and technology in modern
society. Since 1977 Innsbruck has been the scene of an annual festival week
devoted to ancient music:

     "Festwoche der Alten Musik" in August (a special feature is the series
of performances on the historic organs in Ambras Castle and in Innsbruck
itself). In Graz and other towns in Styria Austria's biggest festival of
contemporary arts, the "steirische herbst" (Styrian Autumn Festival) takes
place annually in September/October. There are also many other music
festivals, summer concerts and cycles of music to mark special occasions,
etc., which are usually given in historic buildings, castles, monasteries and
the like, or in their grounds, but may also take place simultaneously in many
parts of the individual town or city concerned. The Vienna Festival (May/June)
and Vienna's Summer of Music (June through August) are cases in point. In
Austria the main promoters and sponsors of public concerts, etc., are above
all the traditional private associations, although various public institutions
in the towns and provinces, such as the "Musikalische Jugend Osterreichs"
(Association of Young Music Lovers) the "Osterreichische Gewerkschaftsbund -
OGB" (Trade Union Federation), the ORF (Austrian Radio and Television
Corporation), etc., also play an important role.

     The most celebrated society in Austria (which can list Beethoven as one
of its honorary members) is the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien", in
whose famous concert hall (Grosser Musikvereinssaal) the Vienna Philharmonic
Orchestra gives its concerts. The society was founded in 1812 and the present
building on the Karlsplatz was built in 1870. Richard Wagner, Johannes Brahms,
Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and the most prominent conductors of the day
all gave concerts in this hall. The society's collection of original
documents, etc., is of considerable importance. It contains original scores,
hand-written notation and manuscripts by famous composers and musicians, rare
examples of printed music, literature on musical subjects, portraits and
various illustrated material, musical instruments, and musical relics and
souvenirs of all kinds. The society's archive is the oldest of its kind
specialising in the field of music and represents the most comprehensive
collection of matters pertaining to music in private hands (director: Otto
Biba).

     The Vienna "Konzerthaus-gesellschaft" the second major promoter of
concerts in Vienna, was opened in 1913. This society has made a particularly
valuable contribution to musical activity with its regular presentations of
contemporary music performed by excellent interpreters. Two or more concerts
take place daily in both these concert houses.

     Concerts are arranged and organised in the federal provinces by such
bodies as the "Musikverein fur Karnten" (Carinthian Music Society) in
Klagenfurt, the "Linzer Veranstaltungsgesellschaft LIVA" (Linz Concert
Promotion Society), the "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde" in Graz (Society of
Friends of Music), the "Konzerte der Stadt Innsbruck" (Innsbruck City
Concerts) and the "Internationale Mozarteum Stiftung" in Salzburg
(International Mozarteum Foundation). The Mozarteum Foundation, an institution
with a fine old tradition, took over the "Mozarteum" School of Musik, now the
University of Music, and the Mozart memorials (the house in which the great
composer was born and the house in which he lived) in 1880. The Mozarteum
Foundation also looks after the interests of the "Internationale
Mozartgemeinde" (International Mozart Community) and the "Zentralinsti