Unterhaltungsmusik#

Light Music: Apart from the dance bands of the 19th  century (J. Lanner, Johann Strauss the Elder, Johann Strauss the Younger, Josef Strauss, Eduard Strauss), who performed in the Vienna Prater amusement park, in cafes and in other places, "Volkssaenger", singers of folk music were also popular, especially in Vienna; Tyrolean singers, who toured as far as America, were classed as light music rather than folk music. Major changes in light music started at the beginning of the 20th century: due to the increasing popularity of jazz (first jazz orchestra in the Prater in 1919/20; C. Gaudriot established his first band in 1924) light music began to be "anglicised". The genre of the popular song developed in the inter-war period, which, because it was closely connected to the movies, reached its climax during the war and the immediate post-war period due to singers and actors like H. Lang or H. Moser, W. Haas, J. Heesters, W. Forst, etc. As light music became internationally popular in the 1960s and early 1970s, Anglo-American light music also served as a model for Austria (rock, pop, punk, etc.). In vocal music, the dialect movement of the 1960s and Austrian song writers (e.g. G. Danzer) were decisive for the development of what has been called Austropop (W. Ambros, R. Fendrich, J. Prokopetz, Falco, STS, Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung, etc.). The new Austrian "Volksmusik" (Hubert von Goisern) and the new "Wienerlied" (K. Hodina, R. Neuwirth, etc.) are special developments typical of Austria. Both directions deliberately disassociate themselves from common popular music (Zillertaler Schuerzenjaeger, Stoakogler, etc.), which, on the basis of the popular song, follows a general popular "Alpine" line. Among jazz musicians, Austrians like F. Wunsch, C. Gaudriot, Fatty George, H. Koller, H. Neubrand, E. Kleinschuster, F. Gulda and Joe Zawinul have become known world-wide. Austrian jazz festivals in Wiesen (Burgenland) and in Saalfelden (Salzburg) rank high internationally.

Literature#