The world of Berlin
cabaret is extremely well known, but
what of the situation in Vienna? Vienna
was, if anything, an even more vibrant
hotbed of artistic inventiveness.
These were exciting
times, when music, art, theatre and
literature were being transformed by
modern ideas. In Vienna, there was a
counterculture of creative souls who
embraced the new and irreverent: fertile
ground for subversive new art forms.
Thus evolved the world of Viennese cabaret
and satirical song. The German counterculture
was perhaps more politically astringent,
with adherents like Wedekind, Brecht
and Weill. The Austrian version coated
its bite with the Viennese air of insouciance,
but beneath the surface affability,
it too had trenchant points to make.
This recording is something of a first
because it brings the distinctly Viennese
cabaret into focus.
Wolfgang Holzmair is
a singer of international stature. He
is also a musicologist and is respected
for his carefully researched championship
of Austrian culture and music. He was,
for example, among the first to record
Eisler and Krenek songs for a wider
audience. Thus, any recording by him
of relatively unknown repertoire is
an event to pay attention to.
Preiser Records, the
innovative Austrian recording company
is famous for imprints like Lebendige
Vergangenheit, but its charismatic founder,
Otto Preiser, had his roots in the Viennese
cabaret scene. Preiser Records took
out a half page advertisement in Gramophone
magazine to publicise this recording,
knowing its significance. And they are
right in terms of its excellent quality.
It may need, however, a little more
directed, specific publicity to attract
a non-specialist audience to its considerable
charms.
Viennese cabaret is
still a thriving tradition, but its
origins lie in the popular theatre and
literature of the nineteenth century,
if not earlier. Johann Nepomuk Nestroy
(1801-1862) created a form of satirical
theatre based on brilliantly inventive
use of language, wordplays and literary
allusion. Three Nestroy poems are set
here, two from the play "Eine
Wohnung zu vormeiten" (apartment
for rent) and one from "Der
Talismann". The vigour in the
rhyming couplets, and the deft use of
dialect is hard to capture on paper.
Alas, there is no translation, not even
an attempt thereon. Musically, though,
the words are set with verve and wit,
so something of the flavour comes across.
Many non-German speakers
are familiar with Max and Moritz, a
pair of tearaways whose adventures were
told in rhyming couplets, illustrated
by impish cartoons. Their creator, Wilhelm
Busch (1809-1894) produced many other
books, full of wry, anarchic humour,
with witty observations on daily life.
For example, in Der eifersüchtiges
Schmetterling (The jealous butterfly),
a shy butterfly loves a flower but is
too shy to take her nectar Then along
comes a donkey and eats the flower:
so much for dreams. A family, in Heimliche
Liebe (Secret love), goes to bed
early because the old aunt is "frightfully
tired", so two lovers get to spend
a long night canoodling. There are translations,
which rhyme, even though the meaning
is changed somewhat. Although the inspiration
behind these songs is literary, it is
after all, a recording of music.
Franz Mittler was a
pianist who played for Karl Kraus, (1874-1936),
the raconteur and cabaret artiste extraordinaire.
His journal, Die Fackel was the leading
satire magazine in early twentieth century
Vienna. Kraus could not write music,
so when he sang, his pianists had to
play the melodies over until he learned
them, and then keep closely to the score
so he would not falter. Sometimes he
"dictated" the music to them,
sometimes, they wrote their own. In
this recording, the songs are entirely
written by Franz Mittler.
Mittler was a composer
and pianist who emigrated to the United
States after the Nazis invaded Austria,
but returned in his retirement to teach
at the Mozarteum in Salzburg – where
Holzmair himself teaches today. Two
of Mittler's non-vocal works are here,
the Trio in G-Dur, Op. 3, written
in 1912, and Charakterstücke
für Klavier. from the 1920s.
They predate his relationship with Kraus,
and show his work on its own terms –
cheerful, affable and charming. Indeed,
the three Charakterstücke
are titled Humoresque, Fantasie
and Die Spieluhr der kleinen Nana
(Little Nana's toy clock). They are
performed here by Diana Mittler, the
composer's daughter.
Mittler's best known
composition is a song to a poem by Rilke,
called Volksweise. It was praised by
Bruno Walter and performed in front
of President Roosevelt in the White
House in 1940. It's a charming song,
with more than a nod to folk music,
but Holzmair's firm rendition lifts
it beyond sentimentality. Indeed, it
is his performance that makes the whole
recording work. Simple as the melodies
may be, some of the texts are fiendishly
hard to articulate, and the emotions
expressed are complex. Precise, clear
diction is needed to make the complex
word plays come to life. Holzmair's
light, lyrical baritone has the flexibility
to capture the "Viennese"
nonchalance without ever lapsing into
the twee-ness some of the more gentle
songs might descend into, if sung by
a less cerebral interpreter. Congratulations
to Preiser for sponsoring this recording,
and for choosing a singer as capable
of making the most of the material.
The notes, however, could be more informative
and better organised, and a good, professional
translation of the Kraus and Nestroy
texts would be invaluable.
Anne Ozorio
Wolfgang Holzmair, (baritone) Russell Ryan (piano)