Week 4: Biedermeier Vienna, Beethoven and Schubert

A typical Biedermeier interior

The Biedermeier style is a name given by historians in the early 20th century to the art and artifacts in the period in Vienna from the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) to the Revolutions of 1848.

• Short lecture on the Congress of Vienna
• Lecture on the Revolutions of 1848 (John Merriman of Yale)
• Short article on the Biedermeier style

Ludwig Von Beethoven

Although we didn't have time to discuss Beethoven's career at length, you should know what an important role he played in the musical life and history of Vienna. 

IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN is a fantastic documentary on the life and music of this genius that combines live performances with dozens of interviews with musicians, conductors and historians along with images of Vienna .  It can be purchased through Amazon.

Nearly as famous at Beethoven,  the Viennese composer Franz Schubert did not live to a ripe old age. Dead at 31, he never-the-less left a last impression that developed into a legend. Below is a well known image called a "Schubertiade" featuring the composer in a Biedermeier setting surrounded by an adoring group of young people. Schubert was very successful in his lifetime and was at the center of a celebrity cult, which continued long after his death. These post-mortem images of him in intimate settings playing the piano became very popular.

A typical Schubertiade

Schubert's most famous cycle of Lieder (art songs) is "Winterreise" (Winter Journey) - based on a series of melancholy poems by the Romantic poet Wilhelm Müller. Below a few recording of the full cycle  by its most well known interpreter  Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a short lecture on the cycle and the soprano Lotte Lehmann singing the song "The Crow" from the cycle.

Week 3 & 4: Enlightenment Vienna

Schonbrunn: The Well of Beauty - documentary on the famous Vienna palace 

Basic info on the palace of Schonbrunn-- This is a great site with histories of ALL of Vienna's major architectural structures!

The young Mozart plays for Empress Maria Theresia

Excerpts from W. A. Mozart's operas

The Magic Flute (Papageno's Aria)

Don Giovanni (final scene from Joseph Losey's 1979 film)

Long documentary on Mozart -- excellent!

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3

Empress Maria Theresia surrounded by several of her children

Information on Maria Theresia

Information on Joseph II her son "an enlightened despot"

Week 3: Baroque Vienna

Fresco with trompe l'œil dome painted on low vaulting, Jesuit Church, Vienna, Austria

What is Baroque? What is Counter-Reformation?

a.) Introduction to the Baroque (Rubens and Rembrandt)

b.) Bernini, master architect and sculptor of the Baroque 

c.) A brief introduction to the Counter-Reformation 

The Turks besiege Vienna, 1683

Thanks to the gentleman in our class who recommend "The Enemy at the Gate" by Andrew Wheatcroft

Also- check out the view from the other side in  Jason Goodwin's "Lords of the Horizon: A History of the Ottoman Empire"

TV film on the Ottoman Turkish Siege of Vienna, 1683 (for some general background on key players and events)

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5

Prince Eugene of Savoy

Baroque Vienna explored at "Vienna Unwrapped"

Prince Eugene of Savoy 

The Belvedere Palace of Prince Eugene (the two palaces known as the Belvedere now house a vast array of art from a number of time periods, including Klimt's "The Kiss")

Week 2: Medieval and Renaissance Vienna

Emperor Maximilian I on horseback

As we discussed in class, the Habsburg family ruled in the Austrian lands in various capacities for more than six centuries. Maximilian I was the ruler who made the family a global power through his own strategic marriages and by marrying his children ands grandchildren into the most powerful dynasties of Europe. He was also a self-styled " knight" and loved pomp, military regalia and splendid feasts. He was also great patron of the arts, commissioning works from the likes of Rubens and Durer. 

A HUGE repository of information on the Habsburg Dynasty from all centuries can be found 

HERE at THE WORLD OF THE HABSBURGS (site in English and German)

Below are a few video clips relating to these topics and to the topics of medieval and Renaissance Vienna! Take special note of the Smart History Videos. You can peruse the complete list of these excellent short art history videos HERE at the Kahn Academy website.

Albrecht Durer- The Large Piece of Turf  (Smart History Videos)

Albrecht Durer: Woodcuts and Engraving (Smart History Videos)

Maximilian I's jousting armor being x-rayed (short clip)

The Tomb of Maximilian I at Innsbruck

Music commissioned by Maximilian I

Smithsonian Video on "What Happened to the Habsburgs"-- hint hint: Marrying your uncle may not be the best idea!

The interior of St Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) in Vienna

ON ST STEPHAN'S CATHEDRAL

Short clip on St. Stephen's Cathedral (Rick Steves) 

Short clip on St.Stephen's Cathedral (Hello Austria series)

St. Stephen's: The Living Cathedral (trailer) Full film available HERE at Amazon 

Pummerin (Big Boomer) the Bell of the Cathedral gets a new clapper

TEXTS ON VIENNA TO DOWNLOAD at PDFS

Chapters I and II from Edward Cruikshank's fabulous book "The Habsburgs" (purchase the book HERE)

Brief Section from Leonard B. Glick's book on the Medieval European Jews in the German Lands "Abraham's Heirs" (purchase book HERE)

Selections from Paul Hofmann's "The Viennese: Splendor, Twilight, Exile" (purchase the book HERE)

Selections from Nicholas Parson's "Vienna: A Cultural History" (purchase the book HERE)

Please take note  that the Cruikshank and Hofmann books are available for as little as a penny on Amazon! Glick's book is an excellent introduction to the topic of Medieval Jewry, and (in my opinion) the Parson's book is the very best compact history on the city of Vienna yet written. 

Week 1: Touring Vienna & Vindobona, Ancient Vienna!

The world famous Lipizzaner stallions
parade through the Spanish Riding School (Die Spanische Hofreitschule).

Welcome to "Vienna: Biography of a City"

with Jason Lahman-Goldstein 

Although no texts are required in this six week version of the course at OLLI-SFSU,  I recommend the following books. I will provide small portions of some of these texts for you as PDF downloads. However, you may wish to purchase your own copies to explore the topics in greater detail. I will email PDFs of the slideshows presented in class after the end of each session. I especially recommend the first two books as they are short, pithy general histories of Vienna, giving a good overview of each epoch from Roman settlement to the present.

·      Vienna: ALiterary and Cultural History, Nicholas Parsons

·      Vienna: ThePast in the Present, Inge Lehne, Lonnie Johnson

·      A NervousSplendour: Vienna 1888/1889, Frederic Morton

·      Thunder atTwilight: Vienna 1913/1914, Frederic Morton

·      Fin-de-SiecleVienna: Politics and Culture, Carl E. Schorske

·      Vienna andthe Jews, 1867-1938: A Cultural History, Steven Beller

·      Vienna 1900:Art, Life & Culture, Christian Brandstatter

·      The Settingof the Pearl: Vienna Under Hitler, Thomas Weyr

·      GoodLiving Street: Portrait of a Patron Family, Vienna 1900, Tim Bonyhady

In WEEK ONE we'll be exploring how Vienna became a tourist center in the late nineteenth century, discussing the idea of "the tourist gaze" and then looking at Vindobona (ancient Vienna) and its origins as an imperial Roman outpost.

***TOURISM AND VIENNA***

 Please read this essay on Vienna and 19th century tourism before coming to class.

ARTICLE: "Potemkin City: Tourist Images of Late Imperial Vienna"

File

We will also be discussing the concept of the "tourist gaze", an anthropological concept regarding modern life and how tourists "see and consume" the places that they visit. 

The articles below present some complex and interesting ideas about tourism. The authors are both building theories about tourism in the modern world. Pay attention to what they are saying about how the experience and the industry of tourism is constructed and understood by a culture.

1.) "Sightseeing and Social Structure" by Dean MacCannell (PDF document)

2.) "The Tourist Gaze" (selections) by John Urry (PDF document) Focus on pages: 1-5 (skip second part of page 5 on all the tourist numbers. Then skip to page 7 "Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Tourism" and read to page 12.

VIDEOS: 

Rambling in Vienna (short filmed tour of the city from 1936)

You may also wish to view this excellent 89 minute BBC documentary: "Vienna: City of Dreams"

***VINDOBONA: ANCIENT VIENNA AND ROME***

Above is an artist's rendering of what the ancient Roman settlement Vindobona probably looked like.

Check out the article below for more information. 

From the Roman Military Camp to the End of the First Millenary - History of Vienna

Below is a short tourist video showing the Roman ruins in Michaelerplatz!

If you're interested in the relationship of the Roman empire to the "Barbarian" peoples of Western Europe check this TV documentary highlighting the Germanic tribes.