PART I Court Influence: How 18th Century Vienna Fueled One of Classical Music's Greatest Rivalries24/8/2017 The next two weeks will feature writing from one of my earlier journal publications on the nature of Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's rivalry and the conditions that bred such an environment. This week will focus on context and history while the conclusion will delve further into analysis on the true nature of their relationship and their contributions to the greater history of Classical music. From the baroque glories of the Habsburg courts arose a city that became the world’s musical epicenter, Vienna. Ruled by two great patrons of the arts in the eighteenth-century, Maria Theresia and Joseph II, Vienna gave birth to the artistic genius of numerous musical composers including Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert. Yet, the underlying politics necessary for landing Vienna’s powerful court patrons created an atmosphere of intrigue and fierce competition—a place where mediocrity could rule supreme with proper noble favor and innovative genius overlooked due to royal tastes. For Joseph II’s court composer, Antonio Salieri, and emerging virtuoso, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, this was the world in which they lived. During the ten years of their intense rivalry, success and failure were determined not just by musical ability, but by the power and opinion of Vienna’s royal courts. Despite his comparative lack of musical talent, Salieri was a force in the musical world due to his ability to work within the court systems, while Mozart’s failure to comply led to his lack of success. Thus, it was the musical court politics of eighteenth-century Vienna that cultivated an environment of heightened artistic competition and led to the rivalry between two seemingly disparate composers: Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The emergence of Italian opera in the seventeenth-century was the catalyst responsible for making Vienna the musical capital of the Western world. As opera came to prominence in Naples, it drew the attention of the Austrian monarchy, the wealthy and powerful Habsburgs. The Holy Roman Emperor of Austria and his future successors began to summon Italian court composers to Vienna to start an operatic tradition within the ruling city. [i] Such actions had several powerful consequences that
Italian culture. Despite emerging attempts at integrating local German culture into the theaters, the public--and an overwhelming majority of Viennese aristocracy--favored the tradition of Italian operas. Privately, some nobility even promoted Italian culture within their homes. [iii] Not until Emperor Joseph II converted his mother Maria Theresia’s Burgtheatre into the Nationaltheatre in 1776 was there a deliberate and outward embrace of German opera or music.[iv] But thirdly, and most importantly, since the Habsburgs ‘began’ this musical revival, music and opera became the symbol of high society and ultimately a monopoly maintained by the royal courts. Upon the first arrival of Italian composers, the Habsburgs held a court monopoly on all theater production in Vienna. [v] Therefore, nearly all musical creations within the city were dictated by nobility; they were the city’s sole patrons. Musicians could be employed by others as teachers, but their large scale works needed to be commissioned by royalty in order for them to be showcased to the public in Vienna’s theaters. Once again, Emperor Joseph II challenged the norms and lifted the court monopoly in 1776, [vi] opening up the possibility of patronage to other members of Vienna. Nonetheless, Joseph II became the theatre director for the newly minted Nationaltheatre. While there was a new semblance of freedom, there was no escaping the power or control of the Viennese courts. In addition, musical patronage distinguished the wealthy as cultured and worldly among Vienna’s elite. Although music appreciation was now practiced by peasants and the lower middle-class, it was truly the mark of the upper-class bourgeoisie and nobility. The middle-classes still needed time to arise as patrons of prominence following the lift of the court monopoly. Despite the repeal, nobility during the eighteenth-century maintained unofficial control over theatre production. Music “loomed large in the rites and pleasures of the courts” [vii] as royalty continued to use classical music and opera in every aspect of their celebratory events. Aristocrats and ambassadors regularly held private concerts within their homes. [viii] Upper-class civilians hired musical instructors to educate their wives and children. Musicians flocked to the city, and patrons welcomed them with open arms, eager to showcase their status. Thus, Vienna became the “adoptive home of musicians and men of intellect.” [ix] Within an environment flooded with wealthy patrons, classical music, opera, and Italian culture, an aspiring composer arrived to make his indelible mark on the eighteenth-century Viennese Habsburg courts: Antonio Salieri.
Leopold Gassmann. Vienna was not yet the musical epicenter it would become, so Salieri’s decision to leave with Gassmann to Vienna over Naples was quite unusual. Nonetheless, Gassmann took in Salieri as his pupil and the two arrived in Vienna on June 15, 1766. [xii] Joseph II, who maintained a strong affinity for Italian opera, immediately set out to meet the young Italian musician whom his court Kappellmeister now called pupil. [xiii] Thus began Salieri’s swift ascendency within the royal courts of Vienna. He started asserting himself within the royal circles, and a mere ten years after first arriving in Vienna, Salieri was appointed chamber composer and Kapellmeister. Salieri was no longer confined to working within Vienna alone, either. He had over eight operas to his name and showcased them around the world in Munich, Naples and Paris, solidifying his universal reputation. [xiv] In addition to becoming a world-renowned composer, Salieri was a well-respected teacher of singing and composition. His pupils included Austrian soprano Caterina Cavalieri, Beethoven, Schubert, and Liszt. [xv] While Salieri ascended swiftly within Vienna’s musical scene, it was his political favor with the emperor that proved of greater importance. “Because of his favor with Joseph II…and of his successive roles as court composer, director of the Italian Opera, and court conductor, Salieri was able to wield powerful influence over the availability of theaters and patronage.” [xvi] This influence would soon prove beneficial. For it was during this time, nearing the peak of his career, that Salieri was introduced to Mozart, the young musical genius who would challenge him artistically throughout the rest of his career. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian born musical genius, renowned for his works by the age of ten. Born in Salzburg on January 27, 1756, he had an extraordinary musical ability from an early age. By the age of three Mozart began playing the clavichord, and at the age of four began writing short compositions. One day when he was six, he was found playing the violin and sight-reading music despite having never received private lessons. [xvii] His father Leopold, who maintained a firm influence over his life, took him on numerous concert tours throughout Germany, England, Italy, and eventually Austria. Mozart made his first appearance in Vienna at the young age of twelve. In 1768, he composed his first opera, the singspiel Bastien und Bastienne, with Joseph II and his then unmarried sister, Marie Antoinette, in the audience. [xviii] These musical feats caught the attention of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg and Mozart began to work under the controlling patron for several years. Mozart’s carefree nature and behavior bordering on impropriety did not bode well with the archbishop, regardless of the musician’s capabilities. Ultimately, the relationship between musician and patron was a disaster. Several years later in 1781, Mozart returned to Vienna to an astounding reception. Believing in his innovative genius and counting on the support of the captivated Viennese nobility, Mozart made a radical and unprecedented decision by severing ties with his patron, the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg. [xix] Typically, such a move meant the certain death of one’s future artistic career. Mozart, however, was more confident. “You are altogether wrong if you imagine that I shall be thought the less of by the nobility and the Emperor,” Mozart wrote to his father. “The Archbishop is hated here, by the Emperor most of all.” [xx] He was correct, as he immediately gained a commission by Joseph II to create a German opera for the Nationaltheatre. Upon this break with his former patron and a new royal commission, “there was no trace of the popular to be found in his compositions, no further concessions.” [xxi] Mozart was a free man. This new transition marked the beginning of Mozart’s Viennese period and the most artistically creative phase of his career. While his innovative works were indeed polarizing, Mozart’s talent could not be ignored. It was declared by some that, “When the young man of twenty-five, [sic] settled in Vienna, he needed but the opportunity and he would utterly cast all other composers in Vienna into the shade.” [xxii] Therefore, Mozart presented a tremendous threat to existing musical foundations of Vienna, most notably to those who were prospering greatly within the current system. Mozart’s genius was a direct imposition to the success and lifestyle of court composer Salieri. As a result, Salieri cunningly wielded “his adroitness in Viennese opera politics and his prestigious position” within the courts as a weapon against the music of Mozart. [xxiii] And so began one of music’s greatest rivalries. ENDNOTES
[i] Marboe, Book of Austria, 109. [ii] Link, “Theatrical and Musical Life,” 223. [iii] Ibid. [iv] Heartz, “Figaro,” 256. [v] Link, “Theatrical and Musical Life,” 230. [vi] Ibid. [vii] Weber, “Musical Taste,” 190. [viii] Link, “Theatrical and Musical Life,” 210 [ix] Marboe, Book of Austria, 359. [x] Braunbehrens, Maligned Master, 14. [xi] Ibid., 16. [xii] Ibid., 17. [xiii] Ibid., 23. [xiv] Schenk, Mozart, 311. [xv] Borowitz, “‘Murder’of Mozart,” 270. [xvi] Ibid., 272. [xvii] Marboe, Book of Austria, 113. [xviii] Ibid. [xix] Schenk, Mozart, 291. [xx] Ibid. [xxi] Heartz, “Figaro,” 256. [xxii] Marboe, Book of Austria, 113 [xxiii] Thayers, Salieri, 96.
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"Barely concealed beneath the surface of Expressionist [opera]… runs a feeling of horror that sometimes bursts out in an agonized cry."[i] Schoenberg’s Student: The Artistic Development of Alban Berg Alban Berg was an Austrian born student of the influential musician, Schoenberg. Born in 1885 to an affluent family, Berg had a tumultuous childhood when the family grew financially destitute following the death of his father. Berg struggled with school, having to repeat several grades and got into serious trouble when he had an affair with a kitchen maid at the age of seventeen that resulted in an illegitimate daughter.[ii] Despite the hardship of these early years, Berg learned how to play piano from his governess—igniting his passion for musical composition. By the time Berg was a teenager, he began composing and performing musical works for friends and family.[iii] Recognizing their brother’s love and talent for music, Berg’s brother and sister responded to a newspaper advertisement posted by a man named Arnold Schoenberg looking for musical pupils. Shortly thereafter, Berg began his formal musical training under Schoenberg in 1904.[iv] The two would develop a highly influential and extremely volatile student-teacher relationship over the next eleven years. Berg’s musical ability developed rapidly under Schoenberg’s tutelage. He was a constant presence during the creation of Schoenberg’s radically innovative atonal period. This ground-breaking musical style, which lacked a focal tone or key, helped shape the music of Berg’s future work. It was also during this time that Schoenberg created his gesamtkunstwerk, the Expressionist Opera: Die Glückliche Hand. Although the opera was not performed until 1924, it was conceived and written in 1908 when Berg was studying under the musical innovator. The influence of both Schoenberg’s atonal period and Die Glückliche Hand on Berg’s artistic development cannot be overlooked. In fact, early into their relationship Schoenberg openly criticized Berg’s initial lack of imagination. Regarding his student, Schoenberg stated that Berg’s “imagination could not work…he was absolutely incapable of writing an instrumental movement or inventing an instrumental theme.”[v] As a result, Berg was pushed creatively during this period by his mentor who was breaking every established rule found in Classical music. Within a few years, Berg wrote a musical composition that was later developed and used for his Expressionist opera, Wozzeck.[vi] Despite experiencing this artistic growth, Berg saw little work or success in his earlier career (1911-1915). Although he was no longer Schoenberg’s student he devoted much of his time towards the musical endeavors of his mentors rather than his own.[vii] He did earn notoriety, however, during a very controversial performance in March of 1913 when he composed a musical arrangement to the modernist poet Peter Altenberg’s scandalous poems. His mentor Schoenberg conducted the performance, but it resulted in a riot and fisticuffs that led to police action.[viii] From this point on, Berg’s desire to shock the bourgeoisie increased, as did his interest in new artistic styles. He fell in love with the avant-garde and befriended many of its leading artists including fellow Austrian composer Alexander von Zemlinsky (1871-1942) and painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918). In 1914, Berg went to Vienna to see the first stage production of Georg Büchner’s (1813-1837) Woyzeck. Immediately upon seeing the play Berg exclaimed, “Someone must set this to music!”[ix] Later that year he began developing the opera that would become Wozzeck. While doing so, “Berg… [was] torn between awareness of his debt to Schoenberg and the need to assert his personal and artistic independence.”[x] He had yet to fully embark on an independent musical pursuit and Berg also knew that his volatile father-like relationship with his mentor was now inhibiting his creativity. By 1915, Berg decided to cease all communications with Schoenberg. His progress on Wozzeck the opera was still to be delayed when he was later called to serve in the Austrian Army the same year.[xi] Nonetheless, following the end of the Great War, Berg returned to his magnum opus, Wozzeck—the masterpiece that introduced Expressionism to the operatic stage. Wozzeck Wozzeck is an opera that personifies the Expressionist social conscious during the Interwar period. Based on Büchner's nineteenth-century play, the story describes the life and tragic fate of simple Wozzeck. Throughout the opera, he hovers on the brink of madness as he is subjected to both his lover’s infidelity and horrific experiments by the Doctor. Wozzeck is a soldier oppressed by poverty, brutally exploited by his superiors and humiliated by his unfaithful lover, Marie. Eventually, Wozzeck is driven insane, murders Marie and, ultimately, commits suicide. Berg's Wozzeck “embodies…the fullness of the torment of the soul that constituted Expressionism as a ‘worldview.’”[xii] The main character is isolated from society as he fails to make connections to those around him; Wozzeck waivers in and out of lucidity as hallucinations and reality become harder to separate. Berg created a “world without normality or humanity and peopled by grotesques, a haunted world of strange hallucinatory voices and visions of natural phenomena indifferent to the human tragedy being played out.”[xiii] German citizens identified with Wozzeck’s pain for they, too, felt the world was indifferent to their suffering—that the deaths of WWI had been rendered meaningless. Although Berg was inspired to write the play prior to the war, he did not finish composing the score or the libretto until 1921.[xiv] Thus, the bleak existence that constituted post-war society in Germany and Austria profoundly influenced the violent and tortured themes found throughout Wozzeck. As a result, it resonated powerfully with Berlin audiences when it premiered in December of 1925.[xv] Berg's introduction of Schoenberg's atonal and twelve-note system in Wozzeck allows the social commentary found within the opera to come to its full fruition. Berg fully conveys his Expressionistic worldview through the score’s jarring atonal sounds and ritualistic twelve-note progressions. The atonal language of Wozzeck, “constantly hovering on the edge of tonal confirmation, becomes a perfect metaphor for the emotional state of the opera’s chief protagonist” and post-war German society.[xvi] Citizens were still searching for meaning after the war, and many were left in broken emotional states that resembled Wozzeck or Kirchner in his Self-Portrait as an Invalid. The musical dissonance, created by the atonal score’s lack of an over-arching key or tone, symbolized the German people’s existential struggles at this time just as much as it represented Wozzeck’s emotional turmoil. Berg continued his social commentary on German Society in Wozzeck through another innovative musical device: the twelve-tone technique. As all notes are treated equally in the twelve-tone progression, it creates a sense of repetition, a feeling that the music will continue, but never evolve or reach resolution. The ritualistic nature of this musical style plays into the sense of fatalism that was so prevalent within Expressionism. Berg paints the tale of a society so consumed with moral decay, that the “disease is too far gone to remedy.”[xvii] Wozzeck is a good man, but the corrupt people within his life drive him into sharing their loathsome existence; the depravity is inescapable. Just like the musical notes being continuously repeated, so too will their actions. Society keeps marching on, but never changes, never evolves. During this time, many Germans felt that the new Weimar Republic was no different than the previous Wilhelmine Monarchy. Only a radical change could restore Germany to its former glory, but as Berg highlighted in Wozzeck, perhaps the opportunity for change was too late. All this had happened before, and it was probably going to happen again. “On We Go!”[xviii] Wozzeck declares ominously. Like the Expressionists before him, Berg proved to be eerily prophetic as Germany would continue in the footsteps of the past and march on towards another World War. Watch a later 20th-century rendition of Bergs masterpiece below Endnotes: [i] Padmore, “Expressionist Opera,” 47. [ii] “Alban Berg,” New Grove Dictionary of Music,” 312 [iii] Ibid. [iv] Ibid. [v] Ibid., 313. [vi] Ibid. [vii] Ibid., 314 [viii] Ibid., 315. [ix] Ibid., 316. [x] Ibid., 314. [xi] Ibid., 314-16. [xii] Biel, Total Expressionism, 40. [xiii] Douglas, “Alban Berg,” New Grove Dictionary, 317. [xiv] Biel, Total Expressionism, 40. [xv] Douglas, “Alban Berg.” New Grove Dictionary, 318. [xvi] Ibid., 317. [xvii] Padmore, “Expressionist Opera,” 44. [xviii] Ibid. |
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