Better remembered for its architectural monuments, such as the Karl-Marx-Hof, the cultural policies in Vienna of the era between the two world wars also created a unique musical environment that brought past and contemporaneous forms of music to people coming from the working class. To this end, leading socialist leaders and musicians (including those otherwise not particularly associated with party politics) were engaged in establishing concert series for workers, educational events, and in extensive literary output on aesthetic and sociological issues concerning the ideological function of music. Proletarian Voices explore those activities and their implications for the use of music and its emotional impact as a means of political mobilization. Central to the project are the biographies and achievements of Josef Scheu (1841-1904), founder of the Austrian Workers' Music Movement, and David Josef Bach (1874-1947) who significantly influenced musical life and cultural politics of "Red Vienna". Composers and musicians who, one way or another, stood in contact with Bach and his musical initiatives included Anton Webern, Paul Amadeus Pisk, and Arnold Schoenberg.
David Josef Bach (1874-1947) Josef Scheu's grave in Vienna Central Cemetery
“It is […] the power of music that overwhelms us so immediately, the music that takes us to the highest peak of feeling, where all details fade away and only the great, the sublime, stands before our gaze. The highest of our solidarity, the enthusiasm for the sacred cause, around which the masses gather fraternally in order to live united and, if necessary, to die united – one cannot speak of this, one must sing it.”
With this statement, Victor Adler, founder of the Social Democratic Party in Austria, succinctly points to the aspect that makes music useful for the viewpoint of political mobilization. Known for his capacity to unite people of different ideological inclinations, Adler acknowledged the fundamentally emotional power of music in creating a sense of community. The uses – and potential abuses – of this power were a central concern of the musical politics of the Austrian labour movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Although Adler refers here to songs – and specifically to songs by Josef Scheue – the point he raises is of relevance to other musical genres examined in the project, including instrumental music of the classical and romantic eras as well as works of modern music.
In the period between the two world wars, several composers and musicians associated with Viennese modernism were actively involved in promoting musical education among the working class. Perhaps most surprising is the engagement of Anton Webern – better known for his cerebral twelve-tone compositions – as director and conductor for the Arbeiter-Symphoniekonzerte from 1922 to 1934 and as director of the choir of the Sozialdemokratischen Kunststelle, headed by David Josef Bach.
The composer Paul Amadeus Pisk, who immigrated to the US in 1936, was another important advocate of the ideals of the labour movement in music in the interwar years. Alongside his activities as a lecturer in the Viennese Volkshochschule (1922-1934), he also conducted several concerts of the Arbeiter-Symphoniekonzerte and served as a music editor for the Arbeiter-Zeitung. In his articles from the 1920s, such as "Neue Musik dem Neuen Menschen," he positively stressed the significance of those aspects of modern music connected with mass culture such as folklore, the radio, and popular dances as a way out of the isolation of the modern composer.
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