gustav mahler was the last of the great austrian romantic composers.
the last of the great austrian romantic composers?
gustav mahler
after jews were admitted to mainstream society in england (gradually after their return in the 17th century), france, austria-hungary, the german empire, and russia (in that order), the jewish contribution to the european music scene steadily increased, but in the form of mainstream european music, not specifically jewish music. notable examples of jewish romantic composers (by country) are charles-valentin alkan, paul dukas and fromental halévy from france, josef dessauer, heinrich wilhelm ernst, karl goldmark and gustav mahler from bohemia (most austrian jews during this time were native not to what is today austria but rather the outer provinces of the empire), felix mendelssohn and giacomo meyerbeer from germany, and anton and nikolai rubinstein from russia. singers included john braham and giuditta pasta. there were very many notable jewish violin and pianist virtuosi, including joseph joachim, ferdinand david, carl tausig, henri herz, leopold auer, jascha heifetz, and ignaz moscheles. during the 20th century the number of jewish composers and notable instrumentalists increased, as did their geographical distribution. jewish composers were most heavily concentrated in vienna and other cities in pre-nazi austria and germany. during the late 19th century and early 20th century, after jews moved out of the austrian-hungarian provinces into vienna, they "comprised a third of the students of the city’s conservatories and more than half of its music audiences. jewish children acquired musical instruction at rates exceeding three times that of the non-jewish population. beyond vienna, jews were also to a certain extent prominent in paris and new york (the latter's jewish population being heavily multiplied by waves of immigration). during the rise of the nazis in the 1930s, when works by jews were labelled as degenerate music (not only because of the jewish origins of the composers but also their association with modernism), many european jewish composers emigrated to the united states and argentina, strengthening classical music in those countries. sample jewish 20th-century composers include arnold schönberg and alexander von zemlinsky from austria, hanns eisler, kurt weill and theodor w. adorno from germany, viktor ullmann and jaromír weinberger from bohemia and later the czech republic (the former perished at the auschwitz extermination camps), george gershwin and aaron copland from the united states, darius milhaud and alexandre tansman from france, alfred schnittke and lera auerbach from russia, lalo schifrin and mario davidovsky from argentina and paul ben-haim and shulamit ran from israel.
secular jewish music
at the center of the park stands the neoclassical theseus temple by pietro di nobile, completed in 1821. this small-scale replica of the temple of hephaestus in athens was originally designed to house antonio canova's "theseus" sculpture. canova was also involved in the construction of the temple. in 1890, canova's sculpture was moved to the museum of fine arts.





















































the cortisches coffee house was built between 1820 and 1823, also by peter nobile. austrian romantic composers johann strauss i and joseph lanner performed here.
volksgarten, vienna