Next stop - Vienna

This week we’ve waltzed over to Vienna. (See what I did there?) We’ve now reached the late eighteenth century and the musical centre of Europe has shifted to the capital of Austria, in what was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ruled over by the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire. Here we encounter some very familiar names from the elite First Viennese School, namely Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven.

The area had been ruled by Josef II, alongside his mother, Maria Theresa, since 1765. Josef believed in Enlightened Absolutism - , he believed that he had been divinely appointed but was enlightened enough to believe that his subjects needed a benevolent and powerful leader to look after them. He was an accomplished musician in his own right and had his own chamber group. He sought to reform many things and rather than embrace Italian opera he wanted to promote the German language through Singspiele. This was sung drama in the local language along similar lines to Lully’s ideas for French opera.

A young Mozart was quick to jump on this bandwagon, eager to show his ability in this new, officially accepted genre. His letters home to his father show his enthusiasm for Singspiele. He wrote Die Entfȕhrung aud dem Serail (The abduction from the seraglio), better known as Il Seraglio, which was premiered at the Vienna Burgtheater in 1782. Have a look at this YouTube clip of the Wer ein liebchen hat gefunden taken from that opera.

By 1783 Josef II had stopped trying to make Vienna and Singspiele the centre of European music. He gave in to the tastes of the general populous and assembled a troupe to perform Italian Opera Buffa (comic opera) as Italian musical influence encompasses the whole of Europe. Opera buffa was born out of short Intermezzo performed in the intervals of Opera Seria productions. These short interludes grew and eventually became full length operas in their own right. Josef, like Louis XIV in France, had his chosen composers and these were Salieri and Mozart. Josef spoke Tuscan Italian, the performers own language, fluently and often attended rehearsals in order to maintain his control over them and his composers. Opera Buffa was also the only genre of opera to be encouraged at this time.

Having learned about the politics and patronage involved in the musical world over the years, in fact, probably back to the days of chant or even before that, I am fascinated by how one ‘wrong note’ or an ‘off-key’ moment could make or break a composer’s career. That old adage of being in the right place, at the right time also seems to be true as there are many talented composers that are rarely heard of purely by way of the fact that their talents were eclipsed by their contemporaries. Take, for example, Giovanni Paisiello, a very successful composer, whose writing sounds similar to Mozart. He was patronized by Catherine the Great of Russia but have you ever heard of him? I hadn’t until now. He wrote a version of The Barber of Seville but now we are more likely to think of Rossini when we hear that title.

This is the last formal blog post for my university degree course and I have thoroughly enjoyed this tour of Western Musical Heritage. I don’t really want it to end and, like any good book, it is encouraging me to read ‘just one more chapter’ so maybe I will. I’m not saying it will become a regular feature but maybe, now and again, I will dip in and out of my copy of A history of Western Music by Burkholder, Grout and Palisca, and take another trip into our musical history. I can now hear the last call for passengers on my trip home so I leave you, for now, with a cheery wave and a tear in my eye. Auf wiedersehen from Vienna.