A Political History of the Vienna Opera 1869 - 1955

The project A Political History of the Vienna Opera 1869 1955 aims to study the political aspects of the history of the Vienna opera in an era that is of great importance for Austrias history from a perspective that combines approaches characteristic of history, political science and musicology by means of case-studies. Reciprocal actions between political and aspects of opera culture investigated over this long period represent a clear desideratum in reference to the status of research concerning the history of opera in Vienna. The regime changes of the years 1918, 1933, 1938 and 1945 were powerful in their impact but not more so than the decline of political Liberalism, the ethnic conflicts, the introduction of universal male suffrage or the political and economic crises of the interwar years. The era 1869 1955 is characterized in particular by ruptures and reorientation processes which had multifaceted and lasting consequences. 1869, the opening year of the Hofoper am Ring, marks the beginning of the period under investigation; it was also the year that marked the climax of the political hegemony of the Liberals. 1955, the endpoint of our period, was the year when Austria was given a new lease of life as a sovereign state, a development that was symbolized with great intensity by the reopening of the Staatsoper in the same year. The great length of the investigation period will make it possible to highlight continuities and ruptures in the Operas political history more effectively than is the case if the focus is exclusively on the usual historical turning points. The question here is whether and to what extent such key years had an immediate impact on the Opera and/or whether and to what extent continuities, for instance in terms of programming or personnel policy or in the selection, production and mise-en-scène of specific operas, remained in place. The question, to put it short, is: What is the relationship between change and continuity? The project will be dominated by two main aspects: 1. the political history of the operas organisation as a history of administration: containing e.g. the legal framework, political or operatic group interests, personnel policy. The main means of research for these aspects are social history and analysis of networks; 2. aesthetics of opera and performance in reference to artistic aims and political influences, manifested within the organisation of the repertoire, but also containing the interpretation of the musical works and their reception among audiences and critics, considering their social and political conditionalities. These aspects are analyzed by methods of the history of mentalities, as well as source analysis. The project will present significant bodies of source material for the first time in detail, for instance the denazification files of the Bundestheaterverband in the Austrian State Archive, the corresponding files of the Reichsmusikkammer in the Communal Archival Holdings of the Vienna City Archives, the historical performance material of the Austrian National Library, Department of Music, and the substantial holdings in files on theatre censorship. Results of this research project will be published both in the forms of a project report and papers in international peer-reviewed journals. Moreover, we will carry out an exhibition to be covered by the media in an appropriate manner.

The project aimed at the interdependencies between political circumstances and opera in Vienna. The period specified begins with the new house of the court opera (1869) and ends with the re-opening of the state-opera in the year of Austria's treaty ("second republic era"), 1955. The documentary basics for our research were screened and exploited (most of them for the first time) in the following archives and collections: Archiv der Wiener Staatsoper, Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (Archiv der Republik, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv), Archiv der Salzburger Festspiele, Filmarchiv Austria, Musiksammlung der Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Landespolizeidirektion Wien, Amt der niederösterreichischen Landesregierung, Archiv der Erzdiözese Salzburg, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Bundesarchiv Berlin, Archiv der Universal-Edition, Historisches Archiv der Wiener Philharmoniker, Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstands, Landesarchiv Salzburg, Archiv des Karl von Vogelsang-Instituts, Österreichisches Theatermuseum, Archiv des Vereins für Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung, University Library Santa Barbara (Lotte Lehmann Collection) and Musiksammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek. Serving as a tool we developed in our project a database concerning the performances of Viennese opera within the period specified. Beginning with April 2016 this database will be accessible (website of the Institute for Analysis, Theory and History of Music, mdw) and open for completion in the context of ongoing research. The project provides a line of showcase-texts, connected to pivotal years and crucial phases of political history: The culture of Viennese Ringstraße and the liberal dominance in politics and elitist culture around the early 1870's, exemplified within the performance and reception of operas by Wagner (Lohengrin) and Goldmark (The Queen of Sheba) The pivotal year of 1897 - the commencement of Lueger's function as the city's mayor, the riots in context with national topics ("Badeni-riots"), Mahler's first year leading court-opera - is exemplified with performance, reception and interpretation of Smetana's Dalibor Viennese opera in the first years of the Austrian Republic after the end of World War One (from court-opera towards state-opera), the social and political contexts of opera during the phases of crisis in the 1920's,the extend towards the Salzburg Festival, exemplified in works by Strauss (Die Frau ohne Schatten, Schlagobers) and Krenek (Jonny spielt auf) Viennese opera during dictatorship (Austrian Fascism and the years of national socialism), Austrian civil war and nazi-led coup in 1934, nazi-infiltration leading to Anschluss and nazi-lead opera from 1938 to 1945, exemplified with Karl V. (Krenek), Giuditta (Lehr) and Johanna Balk (Wagner-Régenyi) Failing "denazification" and symbolic "reconstruction of Austria", showcases of "denacification" within opera ("special commissions"), the importance of Austrian emigration in the context and symbolic meaning of reconstructing Viennese opera in respect to the "Cold War" and the Austrian identity in the "second republic era"