The Great Tradition and Its Legacy: The Evolution of Dramatic and Musical Theater in Austria and Central Europe(4 Austrian and Habsburg Studies)

Both dramatic and musical theater are part of the tradition that has made Austria - especially Vienna - and the old Habsburg lands synonymous with high culture in Central Europe. Many works, often controversial originally but now considered as classics, are still performed regularly in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, or Krakow. This volume not only offers an excellent overview of the theatrical history of the region, it is also an innovative, cross-disciplinary attempt to analyse the inner workings and dynamics of theater through a discussion of the interplay between society, the audience, and performing artists.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations Preface Richard L. Rudolph Notes on Contributors DRAMATIC THEATER Introduction: Rethinking Drama and Theater in Austria and Central Europe Halina Filipowicz 3 Part I: The Enlightenment and the “New Beginning” Chapter 1. “By and By We Shall Have an Enlightened Populace”: Moral Optimism and the Fine Arts in Late-Eighteenth-Century Austria Ernst Wangermann Chapter 2. Taming a Transgressive National Hero: Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Nineteenth-Century Polish Drama Halina Filipowicz Chapter 3. Nestroy and His Naughty Children: A Plebeian Tradition in the Austrian Theater Carl Weber Chapter 4. Pantomime, Dance, Sprachskepsis, and Physical Culture in German and Austrian Modernism Harold B. Segel Chapter 5. Populism versus Elitism in Max Reinhardt’s Austrian Productions of the 1920s Michael Patterson Part Two: Post-Holocaust and Postmodern Theater Chapter 6. Elfriede Jelinek’s Nora Project; or, What Happens When Nora Meets the Capitalists Christine Kiebuzinska Chapter 7. George Tabori’s Return to the Danube, 1987–1999 Hans-Peter Bayerdörfer Chapter 8. Thomas Bernhard’s Heldenplatz: Artists and Societies beyond the Scandal Alfred Pfabigan Chapter 9. Pulling the Pants Off History: Politics and Postmodernism in Thomas Bernhard’s Eve of Retirement Jeanette R. Malkin MUSICAL THEATER Introduction: Conflict and Crosscurrents in Viennese Music Michael Cherlin Part III: The Emergence of the Classical Style Chapter 10. Vienna as a Center of Ballet Reform in the Late Eighteenth Century Sibylle Dahms Chapter 11. The Viennese Singspiel, Haydn, and Mozart Eva Badura-Skoda Chapter 12. Displaying (Out)Rage: The Dilemma of Constancy in Mozart’s Operas Gretchen A. Wheelock Part IV: Some Major Transformations of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Chapter 13. Karl Goldmark’s Operas during the Directorship of Gustav Mahler Peter Revers Chapter 14. A Break in the Scenic Traditions of the Vienna Court Opera: Alfred Roller and the Vienna Secession Evan Baker Chapter 15. Schoenberg’s Music for the Theater Michael Cherlin References Index

About the Author :
Michael Cherlin is Professor of Music Theory, University of Minnesota.