How to Split the Heritage when Inventing a Nation. Germany's Political and Musical Division

Abstract

After the end of the old Empire in the Napoleonic Age, the states which are now Austria and Germany have separated gradually. But due to the rivalry which had emerged between Prussia and Austria in the decades before the new German Empire excluded Austria, the concept of “Germany” had to be redefined by differentiation not only from France, but from Austria too. Promoting the idea of an inherently “German” culture without admitting the superiority of practically all European cultural centres and especially of Vienna’s rich cultural and musical heritage required a redrawing of the map of Europe`s musical memory with the help of great dividers like religion or gender roles. Germans liked to believe that they were, as predominantly Protestants, more intellectual, progressive, and masculine, as opposed to the decadent, traditionalist Catholics in Austria. This “othering” of Austria affected the reception of composers like Beethoven, whom Prussia appropriated as German, or Schubert as typically Austrian. Similar differences were constructed with the shifting relationships between Germany and Austria after the WWI and after National Socialism, and when Germany itself was divided once more.