This entry represents an intermezzo between my articles on the music of exile and the music of “Inner return”. I’ve changed my Facebook profile picture to that of an urban stairwell. After 15… Continue reading
„Toch! Sie sind ein Wahnsinniger! Aber Hindemith, was bilden Sie sich ein mit solchen Werken? Sie sind doch ein aufrichtiger Bürger!“ (‘Toch! You’re a madman! But Hindemith, what could you be thinking of, composing such… Continue reading
Egon Wellesz was undoubtedly one of Vienna’s modernist masters, lost to the city and posterity after exile in 1938. He, along with Alban Berg and Anton Webern made up the original group of… Continue reading
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
There are still a small number of composers who were born to Jewish families in Germany and Austria in the 1920s, who escaped and came to musical maturity in new homelands. Walter Arlen… 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
