Being in Austria just as Conchita Wurst wins the Eurovision Song Contest throws up any number of issues. I didn’t watch – in fact, I have never watched a Euro-Vision song contest –… Continue reading →

In survey after survey, Austria follows the UK as the most euro-sceptic of all EU members, yet here in Vienna, the euro-elections have a dynamism that is unimaginable in Britain: there are television… Continue reading →

Sadly, for copyright reasons, I can’t upload the TLS review of ‘Forbidden Music’ to Facebook. But I can report that in an article entitled ‘By Authors Unknown’, Stephen Brown reviews three books along… Continue reading →

I’ve added another poster for a second centenary concert for Walter Wurzburger – the first concert poster can be seen below. A fascinating forgotten voice celebrates a centenary: Walter Wurzburger – or, as he must… Continue reading →

Regular readers of this page will know that I’ve already written on the unique, but largely ignored position of Austria in the First World War. It has been fascinating to follow reports and… Continue reading →

In August 1875, someone with the initials C.v.W. wrote a leading article in Vienna’s ‘Neue Freie Presse’ entitled ‘Jewry in the Modern State’. This came eight years after the December Constitution of Austria… Continue reading →

There is a theory that for every single genius, there are another four or five who somehow escape notice. This is apparently nature’s means of making sure that at least one is able… Continue reading →

The above sound-file is a work from 1916, for women’s chorus and orchestra called Das Bäumlein das andere Blätter hat gewollt. Gál’s op. 2 When preparing material for an exhibition on Hans Gál… Continue reading →