!!!Musik

Music: Austria is considered to be the land of music and is primarily 
defined by its music (slogan "Austria, Land of Music"). First 
testimony to musical activity in Austria is given by bone whistles 
from the Palaeolithic age, yet, until the early Middle Ages it was 
immigrating peoples like Illyrians, Celts and Romans who determined 
musical culture in Austria, sometimes with various influences 
developing simultaneously. A specifically Austrian music culture has 
developed since Medieval times: from then until the middle of the 
18%%sup th/%  century the church (mainly monasteries and abbeys), the 
high nobility, and the monarchs were the representatives and 
supporters of high musical culture. Being regarded as subculture, the 
musical activities of the middle-class and the rural population were 
not appreciated until the 19%%sup th/%  century (which explains the 
scarcity of sources from earlier times).

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Austrian musical culture is a mixture of different European trends, a 
fundamental feature which makes it hardly possible to clearly 
determine the specific Austrian element.

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The Babenbergs patronised minnesingers such as Neidhart von Reuental, 
Reinmar von Hagenau and Walther von der Vogelweide; the 
Nibelungenlied, for example, was composed on Austrian territory. The 
foundation of the Nicolai Brotherhood, a "guild of musicians", with 
its seat at St. Michael´s in Vienna, was a sign of an active 
musical life in the 13%%sup th/%  century.

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In medieval times as one of the Seven Liberal Arts ("septem artes 
liberales") music also became a university discipline, which was, 
however, taught as a scientific, mathematical phenomenon and not as 
the art of making music.

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The turn from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age is characterized by  
Meistersang, which flourished mainly in Upper Austria (Wels, Steyr, 
Eferding) from the middle of the 16%%sup th/%  to the early 
17%%sup th/%  century.

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At the courts the development of a musical scene had already started 
in the Middle Ages; church music (court chapel) as well as secular 
music (minnesang or "ioculatores" performing at court feasts) were 
practiced, but it was not until princes began to ostentatiously 
display their power at the beginning of modern times that musical life 
at the courts could achieve ist full potential. After the extinction 
of the Luxembourgs (1437), the Habsburgs took over their  
Hofmusikkapelle (first court kapellmeister known by name was J. 
Brassart). Under Maximilian I (H. Isaac, L. Senfl, P. Hofhaimer) the 
musical scene at court reached its first peak, which culminated in 
supreme achievements at the Prague Court of Rudolf II (F. de Monte) 
and at the Graz Court of the late 16%%sup th/%  and early 17%%sup th/% 
 centuries. Finally, Graz experienced an important change in trend: 
while practitioners from the Low Countries had dominated musical life 
so far, the Italians started to take their place at the turn to the 
17%%sup th/%  century. At first the imperial court remained 
conservative, but the Archdukes of Graz, who succeeded the Austrian 
Habsburgs as Roman Emperor when the Austrian line died out, embraced 
the new trend, and the imperial court music chapel was "Italianized" 
in due course. Under Italian influence the forms of musical 
representation changed as well: it was no longer the state motet, but 
the court  Opera which started dominating festivities from the middle 
of the 17%%sup th/%  century (first opera performance north of the 
Alps in 1618 in Salzburg, first opera at the Imperial Court in 1625). 
It is mainly due to the emperors of the high and late Baroque, 
Ferdinand III, Leopold I, Joseph I and Karl VI, 
who, being composers and practising musicians themselves, had a great 
understanding of music, that the Vienna Court Music Chapel under A. 
Draghi, M. A. Ziani, A. Caldara and J. J. Fux became an 
ensemble of world fame. The most prominent musicians of that time were 
members of the chapel or composed for the court (C. Monteverdi, 
M. A. Cesti, A. Bertali, G. B. Bononcini, J. J. 
Froberger, W. Ebner, G. Muffat, etc.). The style represented by the 
music chapel of the Habsburg court ("Imperial Style") served as a 
model for incidental music, chamber music and church music, and was 
imitated to the last detail (secular and religious music), as was 
court protocol. It was not until the middle of the 18%%sup th/%  
century that the nobility started to develop an independent musical 
culture, gradually turning away from the imperial court style.

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Music cultivated in Austrian monasteries and abbeys was modelled after 
the example given by the Imperial Court: the names of composers of the 
Imperial Court Music Chapel have also been found in the repertoires of 
abbeys, and forms like religious dramas and oratorios emulated the 
style of the court.

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The death of Karl VI put an end to court Baroque in Austria. One 
of the first economy measures introduced by Empress Maria Theresia 
affected the Court Music Chapel, which was "rented out" - although 
only for a short period, and the nobility became the patrons of 
musical life. The development of Viennese Classicism from Rococo, 
"empfindsamer Stil" and style galant laid the foundations of Vienna's 
reputation as the world centre of music. The masters of the "Classical 
Trias", J. Haydn, W. A. Mozart and L. van Beethoven, exerted a 
decisive influence on instrumental music (symphony, string quartet, 
etc.). But the dramatic genres, once a domain of the court, also 
underwent a change, which, on the one hand, was due to the development 
of the grand opera (especially by C. W. Gluck and W. A. 
Mozart), and, on the other hand, of the Vienna Singspiel (W. A. 
Mozart, F. X. Suessmayer, J. B. Schenk, K. Ditters von 
Dittersdorf, J. Weigl, I. Umlauff, etc.). Another important aspect was 
the expansion of suburban theatres (Leopoldstadt, Josefstadt and 
Theater an der Wien), which with singspiels, parodies and musical 
plays became major centres of middle-class musical taste. Musical life 
around the end of the 18%%sup th/%  century and at the beginning of 
the 19%%sup th/%  century experienced another change, when the 
middle-class, emulating the aristocratic ways of life, more and more 
strove to conquer former aristocratic spheres: music, once a 
"privilege" of nobility became a general (middle-class) cultural 
tradition. Political phenomena like the end of the Holy Roman Empire 
and Metternich´s censorship state supported this "bourgeois" 
trend.

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Although domestic music and salon music flourished in the Biedermeier 
era, and despite the many coercive measures enforced in the 
1%%sup st/%  half of the 19%%sup th/%  century, many important 
institutions were founded, which still influence the music scene of 
today; in 1812 die Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Vienna), 1815 the 
Music Society of Styria (Graz), 1818 the Innsbruck Music Society, 1821 
die Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Linz), 1828 the Carinthian Music 
Society, 1837 the Music Society of St. Poelten and 1841 the Music 
Society of the Salzburg Cathedral (Dommusikverein Salzburg). The 
number of music publishers and instrument makers rose considerably due 
to a booming market and strong demand, and magazines especially 
addressing music lovers were founded.

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In the 2%%sup nd/%  half of the 19%%sup th/%  century and around the 
beginning of the 20%%sup th/%  century Austrian musical life 
experienced another peak, which manifested itself in the fields of 
symphonic music (J. Brahms, A. Bruckner, G. Mahler), opera (R. Strauss 
and H. von Hofmannsthal, H. Wolf, F. Schreker, etc.), lieder (H. Wolf, 
R. Strauss, J. Brahms, successors of F. Schubert) as well as in more 
sophisticated light music (dance music,  Waltz, polka,  Military 
Music) and  Operetta. Along with the Strauss family, J. Lanner and F. 
von Suppe as well as K. Milloecker, K. Zeller, R. Heuberger, F. 
Lehár, E. Kálmán and R. Stolz gained great 
popularity. The Vienna theatre (especially the Court Opera) and 
concert performances flourished, exerting considerable influence on 
European musical life. Late Romantic symphonies and lieder reached 
their peak in the works of G. Mahler, which already showed modern 
elements.

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The beginning of the 20%%sup th/%  century is closely connected with 
the names of A. Schoenberg, A. Berg and A. Webern and the development 
of dodecaphony (twelve-tone music). This style was also the starting 
point for the "Viennese School", which has played a decisive role in 
the development of the avant-garde and still influences many 
composers. When National Socialism forced many representatives of the 
modern school into emigration, their style was spread worldwide. The 
20%%sup th/%  century is characterized (not only in Austria) by a 
marked pluralism of styles: many composers have striven to create an 
individual personal style using existing trends as a source of 
inspiration, i.e. late Romantic composers (J. Marx, E. Kornauth, J. 
Bittner), and dodecaphonists (E. Krenek, H. E. Apostel) as well 
as avant-gardists, like F. Cerha, R. Haubenstock-Ramati, K. 
Schwertsik, G. Ligeti or O. M. Zykan. Electro-acoustic media, 
strongly influenced by French composers and cultivated at avant-garde 
festivals such as the  Ars electronica or the  steirischer herbst 
Festival, have also been used by many Austrian composers (K.-H. Essl, 
D. Kaufmann, G. Ligeti, etc.).

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In the sphere of light music, in addition to waltzes, polkas, 
operettas and  Music for Wind Instruments, so-called "popular folk 
music" enjoys particularly great popularity and is usually seen to 
constitute a main element of Austrian identity by other countries.

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Apart from major institutions (federal theatres, Vienna Konzerthaus, 
Musikverein concert hall, Brucknerhaus), professional choirs and 
orchestras, today's musical life is mainly represented by a large 
number of societies, schools and private initiatives.

!Literature
R. Flotzinger and G. Gruber, Musik-Geschichte 
Oesterreichs, %%sup 2/%1995; H. Goertz, Musik-Handbuch fuer 
Oesterreich, 1989; idem, Oesterr. Komponisten unserer Zeit, 1994; G. 
Schweiger, Oesterreichs Image im Ausland, 1988; G. Kraus (ed.), Musik 
in Oesterreich, 1989.


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