- Wiener Moderne
The Wiener Moderne (IPA|ˈviːnɛʁ mɔˈdɛʁnə) or "Viennese Modern Age" is a term describing the culture of
Vienna in the period between approximately 1890 and 1910. It refers especially to the development ofmodernism in theAustria n capital and its effect on the spheres ofphilosophy ,literature ,music ,art ,design andarchitecture .Background
Characteristics of the Wiener Moderne
ignificant personalities and works
Philosophy
Architecture
The architect
Otto Wagner wrote a book titled "Moderne Architektur von 1895" (en: Modern architecture of 1895), in which he declares the era and predominance of thehistoric style (especially the buildings on theRingstraße in the neo-greek, neo-roman andneo-baroque styles) to be over. He did not know of the term "Moderne" yet, he only spoke of the necessity for architecture to keep up and adapt to new technological developments. Otto Wagner himself would make use of new building materials such assteel andiron and encompass it into his work.Art
Literature
The most notable literary grouping of this period was the
Young Vienna movement, a society of "coffeehouse literati" centred on thewriter andcritic Hermann Bahr . Bahr's 1890 work "Zur Kritik der Moderne" ("On Criticism of Modernity") established the wordmodernism as a literary term, whilst "Die Überwindung des Naturalismus" ("The Surpassing of Naturalism") published the following year, declared the then current style of naturalism to be at an end. He was influenced in this by developments inFrench literature , notably symbolism, which he had encountered his studies inFrance (1888 - 1890) where he had come to know the works ofavant-garde writers such asJoris-Karl Huysmans ,Paul Bourget andMaurice Barrès . Bahr proclaimed a new "Romantik der Nerven" (romanticism of the nerves), which concentrated on the impressions and sensations of the human soul; in this he referred back to developments in the still new science ofpsychology and his critical writings were consequently influenced not only by literary writers but also by psychologists, notablySigmund Freud , and the philosopher of scienceErnst Mach . The literary consequence of this "Romantik der Nerven" was the encouragement of literary forms that foregrounded the perceptions of the individual, among them theunreliable narrator and theinterior monologue .Bahr used his position in Vienna as a theatre critic and
feuilleton ist to promote other members of the Young Vienna circle, most notablyHugo von Hofmannsthal , who met at theCafé Griensteidl and later at theCafé Central . Other members of the group includedArthur Schnitzler ,Peter Altenberg ,Felix Salten , andStefan Zweig , all of whom, though disparate in styles and interests, demonstrate different facets of the character of the "Wiener Moderne" in their writing. Schnitzler created one of the earliest examples of modernist stream of consciousness writing in "Lieutenant Gustl " (1900), and his most famous work, "Reigen" ("La Ronde") (1897), is typical of the fin-de-siècle interest in sexuality. Hofmannsthal's early poems show the influence of the French symbolists andStefan George 'saestheticism , whilst his work as alibrettist forRichard Strauss reflects the interpenetration of the different branches of the arts typical of the epoch. Theaphorist Altenberg is notable as much for his archetypically bohemian lifestyle as for his writing. Salten, best known nowadays for his later children's books, is widely regarded as the author of the infamous pornographic novelJosephine Mutzenbacher , a sign arguably of thedecadence that was associated with the period. Zweig (also a librettist for Strauss) was, in addition to his own stylistically polished writing, a noted translator of the symbolists, and later a passionate defender of a collective European culture in the face of aggressivenationalism , reflecting the openness of the epoch to foreign cultural influences and indeed the melting pot of different cultures that was part of fin-de-siècle Vienna.The other dominant voice in Viennese literature during this period was the satirist
Karl Kraus . Originally Kraus had been associated with the Young Vienna writers but he broke with them and attacked them in his 1897essay "Die demolierte Literatur" ("Demolished Literature"), which was written after Café Griensteidl burnt down. In his periodical "Die Fackel " (The Torch), Kraus regularly satirised lazy journalism, which he considered to be exemplified in the feuilleton writing of many of his contemporaries, but his interests ranged over many of the other issues which were prominent in the cultural life of fin-de-siècle Vienna, among themZionism ,psychoanalysis , political corruption andnationalism , all of which he attacked in the pages of "Die Fackel". The antagonism between Kraus and other leading Viennese cultural figures, which in the extreme case of his criticism of Felix Salten's feuilletons lead to Salten assaulting him in the street, but also encompassed spats with Freud,Theodor Herzl and Hugo von Hoffmansthal among others, might be seen as a sign of the vigorous debate characteristic of the period.Music
Legacy
External references
*Literature
** [http://www.sbg.ac.at/lwm/frei/frameset.htm Literatur in der Wiener Moderne] -University of Salzburg
** [http://cgi-host.uni-marburg.de/~omanz/forschung/modul_main.php?f_mod=Ah06 Hermann Bahr] -University of Marburg
** [http://www.theabsolute.net/minefield/kraus.html Karl Kraus - Hypocrisy or Merely Contradiction]
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