Skandalkonzert
The Skandalkonzert of March 31, 1913, was a concert of the Wiener Konzertverein (Vienna Concert Society) conducted by Arnold Schoenberg in the Great Hall of the Musikverein. The audience, shocked by the expressionism and experimentalism of the Second Viennese School, began rioting, and the concert was ended prematurely. The fight between a concert organizer and Oscar Straus led to a trial.
The program listed:
- Anton von Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6
- Alexander von Zemlinsky: Four Orchestral Songs on poems by Maeterlinck
- Arnold Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9
- Alban Berg: Five Orchestral Songs on Postcard Texts of Peter Altenberg, Op. 4. Both the lyrical and musical side of this premiere were seen as provocative.
- The concert was ended before the scheduled performance of Gustav Mahler's "Now the sun wants to rise as brightly" (No. 1 from the Kindertotenlieder)
During Berg's songs the audience called for both poet and composer to be committed, despite it being public knowledge that Altenberg was already committed to an asylum at the time.[1] Though not present at the concert he was granted leave to attended the dress-rehearsal that morning and three days later he wrote a prose sketch depicting Alma Mahler there.[2] At the concert it was during Berg's songs that the fighting began. At the trial, Straus commented that the thud of the punch had been the most harmonious sound at the entire concert.[1]
History and contemporary echo [edit]
The first performance of Schoenberg's Gurrelieder was held on February 23, 1913, in the Great Hall of the Musikverein, under the direction of Franz Schreker, and was an overwhelming success. But the composer, offended by the previous conservative attitude of the Viennese public, refused to accept the applause. In return, the audience took revenge a few weeks later in the next concert of contemporary works there.[3] Press reports from the period mention tumultuous riots: the followers of Schoenberg, his student, and opponents yelling at each other, throwing things, disturbing the performance, destroying furniture, etc. Several times, conservatives outraged by the audience cursing, climbed the stage to slap around Schoenberg.[citation needed]
Sources [edit]
- ^ a b Barker, Andrew (1997). "Battles of the Mind", The Cambridge Companion to Berg, p. 24. Pople, Anthony, ed. ISBN 0-521-56489-1.
- ^ Barker (1997), pp. 26–27.
- ^ Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Schoenberg, Arnold", vol. 16, p. 705.
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