Musikbuch aus Österreich

The yearbook Musikbuch aus Österreich. Ein Jahrbuch der Musikpflege in Österreich und den bedeutendsten Musikstädten des Auslands [RIPM code MBU] was published from 1904 to 1913 by the Kais. und Kön. Hof-Buchdruckerei und Hof-Verlagsbuchhandlung Carl Fromme in Vienna. Each of the ten editions had between 314 and 491 pages, usually around 350 pages, and was divided into three large sections: (i) a foreword with Roman page numbers, consisting of imprint, table of contents and abbreviations, and usually also a foreword by the editor; this is followed by the sections (ii) a musicological section and (iii) a musical chronicle with musical statistics. The scientific essays were in full-page format, the statistics and chronicle mostly in two columns. The advertisements of music publishers and institutions appeared bundled on several pages following the statistics at the end of the volumes.

Editors

Richard Heuberger (1850-1914) was a composer, music teacher and critic who worked in Vienna. As the founding editor, he directed the yearbook until the third year in 1906 and then devoted himself to other management activities in Viennese music institutions. In addition to the forewords to the volumes of the yearbook that he edited, he also wrote a concise lexicon of Austro-Hungarian composers and a memorial article to the pianist Karl Filtsch, who died at the age of 15.

Hugo Botstiber (1875-1941) was a music organizer who worked in leading positions in Vienna (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Wiener Konzerthaus). He had to go into British exile in 1938 because of his Jewish origins. He edited the yearbook from 1907 to 1911.

Josef Reitler (1883-1948) was a music journalist and director of the New Vienna Conservatory who worked in Vienna. He was a co-founder of the Salzburg Festival. He went into American exile in 1938 because of his Jewish origins. In the last yearbook he wrote a critique of the Bayreuth Wagner successors' claim to absoluteness.

Contents and Assessment

In the musicological part of the yearbook, the articles mainly dealt with aspects of the music history of Austria as part of the German Empire or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. One cannot deny that the authors have a certain arrogant tone, as if this region—compared with other countries—were the musical center of the world with Vienna as its heart. However, this view completely contradicts the real, often disrespectful behavior of the Viennese population towards the important musicians within the walls of their city during their lifetime. Almost all of the yearbook's authors were at the center of artistic or administrative activities of the imperial-royal or private institutions of the capital. Portraits of composers from the Baroque period to the present day as well as questions of new music and its acceptance are discussed. In the documentary aspect, an emphasis is placed on the publication of collections of letters: La Mara with letters from Viennese court musicians from the 16th to the 19th century, Richard Batka with letters from Ignaz Mosel. The department also focuses on instrumental histories: Alfred Korczirz on the guitar in Vienna, Ferdinand Scherber on the viola d'amore in the 18th century.

The chronicle department publishes statistical surveys on concert and opera events throughout the Danube Monarchy during the past season, sorted by Vienna and other cities in the Empire, and within the cities by the organizing institutions or ensembles. The statistics department records many of the current internal conditions as well as the historical development of as many active musical, artistic and music-educational institutions in Vienna and throughout the Austrian Empire with all its inherited crown lands, in other European countries, and on overseas continents. The claim to also compile music statistics for non-Austrian countries was abandoned with the last volume in 1913.

The yearbooks are based entirely on the self-confidence that Austria was the most important and active musical country in the world and that its traditions are exemplary. They also benefit from the fact that the capital Vienna had a great attraction and was able to captivate the most talented musicians. In presentation and assessment the focus was on diversity and neutrality, but a certain affinity with the Wagnerism of the time cannot be denied. Many of the editors and authors were themselves promoters and representatives of Viennese musical life and were friends with living or recently deceased composers who lived in Vienna, including Brahms, Bruckner, Liszt, Mahler, and Schönberg.

The RIPM index is based on copies from the Music Library of Stanford University.

Contributors

Almost all contributors published only one article each during the ten years of the yearbook's publication, sometimes as a serialized article over two years.

David Josef Bach (1874-1947) was a music and theater critic, arts editor of the Wiener Arbeiter-Zeitung, editor of the magazine Der Merker, head of the Social Democratic Art Office in Vienna, went into exile in London in 1939. He wrote a report on the Vienna Workers' Symphony Concerts for the MBU.

Ferdinand Bischoff (1826-1915) was a lawyer and legal historian who, in his free time and after his retirement, was very active in music societies in Olomouc, Vienna, Lemberg and Graz. He wrote an article for the MBU about Beethoven's efforts to publish a complete edition of his works.

Ernst Decsey (1870-1941) was a music critic, musician biographer and writer who worked in Vienna. He was dismissed from his positions at newspapers and at the Vienna New Conservatory in 1938. At the MBU he wrote a Hugo Wolf Miscellany.

Otto Erich Deutsch (1883-1967) was an Austrian-British music historian and Schubert and Mozart researcher who worked in Vienna and in exile in Cambridge. For the MBU he wrote about Haydn's relationship with Emperor Joseph II.

Hans Effenberger (1884-1950) was a musician, gallery owner and author without a fixed profession and with places of residence scattered across Europe (Prague, Vienna, London, Paris, Warsaw). He wrote a presentation of newer Czech composers for the MBU.

Robert Fischer (1886-1962) was a music researcher with a legal career working in Vienna; in the MBU he wrote an article about the musical work of art in Austrian copyright law.

Max Graf (1873-1958) was a musicologist and critic working in Vienna and in American exile. For the MBU he wrote about the early Bruckner, who was Graf’s teacher.

Alfred Heuss (1877-1934) was a musicologist, critic and magazine editor who pursued a German nationalist, anti-modern and anti-Semitic tendency. In the MBU he wrote about instrumental passion music of the 17th century.

Ludwig Karpath (1866-1936) was a music writer who worked in Vienna. He wrote an article about Wagner's homes in Vienna for the MBU.

Oswald Koller (1852-1910) was a historian and Germanist, as a music researcher he was self-taught and yet became a pioneer of musical medieval studies, and as an employee of Guido Adler he became co-editor of the Monuments of Music in Austria and librarian of the musicological library at the University of Vienna. At the MBU he wrote about Leonhard Lechner and Paul Hofhaimer.

František Václav Krejčí (1867-1941) was a Czech cultural journalist and writer. After Dvořák's death in 1904 he wrote an essay about him for the MBU.

Marie Lipsius (La Mara) (1837-1927) was a popular music historian and editor of musicians' letters. In the MBU she published letters from musicians at the Viennese court from the years 1577-1815.

Erwin Luntz (1877-1949) was a music researcher who, in addition to holding a number of administrative offices, was also a member of the editorial board of the Monuments of Music in Austria. For the MBU he wrote a description of the life and work of H. I. F. Biber.

Eusebius Mandyczewski (1857-1929) was a musicologist and composer of Romanian (Bukovinian) origin who worked in Vienna. In the MBU he published a description of the library of Brahms, with whom he was a friend.

Ferdinand Mencik (1853-1916) was a librarian and art historian of Bohemian origin who worked in Vienna. For the MBU he wrote articles on the biography of Haydn.

Richard von Perger (1854-1911) was a composer and conductor who worked in Vienna and, for a time, in Rotterdam. In the MBU he published a report about the last days of Brahms, with whom he was a friend.

Rudolf Réti (1885-1957) was a music writer and composer of Serbian-Jewish origin who worked in Vienna and, after his exile, in the USA. Organizer of the Salzburg Chamber Music Festival and promoter of new music, in the MBU he published an article about modern music in the mirror of Bach.

Ludwig Scheibler (1848-1921) was an art historian who worked in Cologne and Berlin, who retired to Bad Godesberg in 1904 and became a self-taught music historian and critic. He wrote an essay for the MBU about Schubert's monophonic songs.

Ferdinand Scherber (1874-1944) was a music writer and composer who worked in Vienna. In the MBU he wrote about the viola d'amore in the 18th century.

Anton Seydler (1850-1908) was an organist, composer and university lecturer who worked in Vienna. For the MBU he wrote an article about the Motu Proprio of Pope Pius X.

Richard Specht (1870-1932) was a writer and music critic who worked in Vienna, co-founder of Der Merker, program editor of the Vienna Philharmonic and lecturer at the Vienna New Conservatory. In the MBU he wrote about the present and future of opera on the occasion of the 100th birthdays of Wagner and Verdi.

August Stradal (1860-1930) was a German-Bohemian pianist and arranger who worked in Vienna, in Weimar with Liszt and in his Bohemian homeland and was traveling a lot. He wrote a report for the MBU about his collaboration with Liszt.

Max Vancsa (1866-1947) was an archivist and regional historian who worked in Lower Austria. In the MBU he published a portrait of Franz Stelzhamer and his views on music.

Egon Wellesz (1885-1974) was a musicologist and composer who worked in Vienna and, after his exile, in Oxford. A student of Guido Adler and Arnold Schönberg, he was a co-founder of the International Society for New Music. In the last volume of the MBU he wrote an article on the problems of new music.