Scandal concert 1913
The scandal concert of 1913 (also called the Watschenkonzert ) was a unique event in music history that took place on March 31, 1913 in the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna .
The orchestra of the Wiener Konzertverein, the forerunner of the Wiener Symphoniker , played under the direction of Arnold Schönberg . The audience was appalled by the novel music of contemporary composers, most of whom belonged to Expressionism and the Second Viennese School . During the concert there was a commotion, so that it was canceled prematurely when the supporters of Schönberg had to defend it against his opponents.
In the course of these riots, the writer Erhard Buschbeck , then a leading member of the “Academic Association for Literature and Music”, who organized this concert, slapped a concert-goer who was disrupting the performance. In the subsequent judicial aftermath, the operetta composer Oscar Straus , who had been enemies with Arnold Schönberg since their time together at Ernst von Wolzogens Überbrettl , stated: the clapping of the slaps "was still the most melodious thing that could be heard that evening".
program
The following were listed:
- Anton von Webern : Six pieces for orchestra , op.6
This work had its world premiere at this concert ; on the program sheet it was designated as op.4.
- Alexander von Zemlinsky : Four orchestral songs based on poems by Maeterlinck , soloist: Margarete Bum (world premiere)
- Arnold Schönberg: Chamber Symphony , Op. 9 in one movement
The Chamber Symphony was premiered in 1907 and had its scandal. For the 1913 performance, Schönberg created a version for orchestra with extended strings and winds. This version is not identical to the version op. 9b, which was written and premiered in 1935.
- Alban Berg : Two orchestral songs based on postcard texts by Peter Altenberg (from a cycle) , op. 4, soloist: Alfred J. Boruttau (world premiere)
The cycle of Altenberg songs consists of five songs; on March 31, 1913, only two songs (numbers 2 and 3) were scheduled for performance. This premiere was so provocative from a musical point of view that the concert had to be broken off after the second song because of the tumult.
The planned performance of Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder with Maria Freund as a soloist did not take place.
Contemporary echo
Press reports from that time speak of tumultuous excesses. The supporters of Schönberg, his students and opponents had yelled at each other, threw at each other, disrupted the performance, destroyed the furniture, etc. Several times indignant conservatives from the audience climbed the stage with curses to slap Arnold Schönberg. When the latter threatened that order would be created with the help of public violence, the tumult is said to have really started.
literature
- Federico Celestini: The disorder of things . Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08712-5 , pp. 222 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
Web links
- Big scandal in the music club hall. An abandoned concert. In: Reichspost , Morgenblatt, No. 151/1913, April 1, 1913, p. 7 middle. (Online at ANNO ). .
- Large noisy scenes in the music club hall. At an Arnold Schönberg concert. In: Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, No. 17458/1913, April 1, 1913, p. 12, top center. (Online at ANNO ). .
- The music association - the scandal is dead, the scandal is alive
- Hartmut Krones : March 31, 1913. Vienna's largest “scandal concert” . In: Musikfreunde. Magazine of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna . No. 4 (April) 2012, ZDB -ID 2032208-2 . - (PDF; 16 kB) , accessed on January 19, 2019.
- Newspaper article on the scandal ( memento of November 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- Comments by Anton Webern and Alban Berg on the concert , documented in: Archive of Concert Life , State Institute for Music Research Prussian Cultural Heritage.