Scandal concert 1913

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Waddling concert , caricature in Die Zeit of April 6, 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:

This work had its world premiere at this concert ; on the program sheet it was designated as op.4.

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.

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

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