Austria Art Culture Profile 2012

Austria is a state culture of early twentieth-century origin (1919). It was formed out of the six German-speaking provinces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the city of Vienna. An eighth province, containing many Hungarian and Croatian speakers, Burgenland, was added in 1945.

The national culture is formed by a communication system that tries to produce implicit harmony on a small set of values, particularly those emphasizing historic, linguistic, and cultural similarities. This system includes the centralized curriculum of the schools, the programming of the national media monopoly, the discourse surrounding national and provincial elections and similar issues reported in the popular press, and customs of various types, including those regarding clothing, food and drink, recreational tastes, and use of dialect. In spite of these linguistic and cultural similarities, the provinces retain social, political, and ideological identities that have resisted complete integration. Also, the national culture is rejected by a growing minority that seeks unification with Germany. The forging of a national identity has fallen disproportionately on the urban centers, notably Vienna.

Athough each province has a documentary history stretching back to the Roman occupation, the events relevant to the formation of the national culture begin after the First World War. After losing the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated into a number of nation-states—Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia—based primarily on language affiliation. The German-speaking provinces, some with sizable non-German populations, became the (First) Republic of Austria. Other provinces, some with large German populations, especially in the regional centers, were ceded to Italy (South Tirol), Poland (Galicia), and Romania (Transylvania) . National integration was hampered by postwar famine, disease, the loss of provincial markets and areas of supply, and the inflationary cycle and depression of 1926-1938. Pan-German nationalist political ideologies that linked the small, vulnerable Austria to the more powerful German state to the north were popular alternatives to Austrian nationalism, and in 1938 a majority of the country welcomed "Anschluss," the annexation of Austria by the Third Reich. The struggle between German and Austrian nationalism led to cultural warfare that severely damaged—or even, in some cases, destroyed—the country's Jewish, Gypsy, Croatian, and Slovene communities during World War II. After the war, the four Allied powers each occupied a separate sector of the country and of Vienna. In 1955, sovereignty was returned to Austria under the condition of perpetual political neutrality. The war experience, the failure of Pan-Germanism, the Permanent neutrality, and the legacy of the destruction of the minority communities became the basis for a new national identity in the Second Republic of Austria.

Germany remains the most significant cultural focus outside Austria. The Austrian schilling is tied to the German mark in international money markets. German corporations are heavily invested in the Austrian economy. The German press is read and German trends in government, society, and consumption are closely monitored. Austria also has Important relationships with Hungary and the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. Although relations were strained after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the erection of political barriers in the 1950s and 1960s, the three countries now maintain a cordial association. Currently, their citizens may freely cross their frontiers without visas. Ethnic conflicts have created difficult relations with three other neighbors. In northern Italy (South Tirol), German-speaking Tirolese separatists still wage guerrilla actions against Italian institutions from Austria.

Although the Austrian government deplores these actions and has successfully prosecuted offenders, relations with Italy have been strained for many years. German nationalist sentiment has also antagonized Yugoslavia. Croatian minorities in Burgenland and Slovene communities in Carinthia have been subject to discrimination by local and provincial officials. Of all its neighbors, Romania has the most strained relations with Austria. A large number of Protestant Upper Austrians migrated to Transylvania after the Counter-Reformation, but they maintained links to their original communities. These new communities were under the direct threat of "Romanianization" and the destruction of their ethnic identities. After the 1989 rebellion in Romania, however, the threat was mitigated and relations between the countries improved.

The most outstanding contribution of Austria to world culture has been in the field of music. Since the 18th century Austria has been a center for musical development. Many notable composers either have been Austrian or have worked in Austria. Among them are Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (18th century); Schubert, Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler (19th); and Schoenberg, Webern, and Berg (20th). Waltz music reached its height in Vienna in 1825–99 under Johann Strauss the Elder and the Younger. Well-known 20th-century orchestra conductors are Herbert von Karajan, Hans Richter, and Felix Weingartner. One of the greatest music festivals in the world is the Salzburg Festival, held in the birthplace of Mozart.

Among Austrian artists Oskar Kokoschka and Gustav Klimt have received international recognition. The most famous art collection in Austria is the former Hapsburg Collection, housed in the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna.

Austria has many fine examples of architecture, particularly of the Baroque style. Two of the great architects of the Baroque period, J. B. Fischer von Erlach and Lukas von Hildenbrand, were Austrian. In or near Vienna are the Schönbrunn Palace and the Karlskirche (Church of St. Charles), both by Fischer von Erlach, and the Belvedere Palace, by Hildenbrand.

Austrians have made notable contributions to the theater. The 19th-century playwrights Arthur Schnitzler and Hugo von Hofmannsthal were Austrian. The Austrian-American theatrical producer Max Reinhardt for many years staged an annual presentation of the medieval mystery play Everyman at the Salzburg Festival.

Psychoanalysis began in Vienna with the work of Sigmund Freud. The psychiatric theorist Alfred Adler was also Viennese. Other Austrians noted for their contributions in various fields of science include the botanist Gregor Mendel; the physicists Erwin Schrödinger, Ernst Mach, and Lise Meitner; the pathologist Karl Landsteiner; and the chemist Baron C. A. von Welsbach.