Riding the Wave, 47. Music for the Soul

Every January 1st, we watch the New Year's Day Concert from Vienna. It's become a tradition in our home to watch it as we get lunch underway. Every year, I revel in the shots from different areas in Vienna and the Austrian countryside, accompanied by beautiful music. Every year I envy those sitting in the Golden Hall. Every year, I entertain thoughts of someday visiting Vienna, and if I'm very lucky, sitting and listening to that concert.

But sitting there is not that simple. First, you have to create an account with the Vienna Philharmonica, and sign up for tickets for one of three year-end concerts, between February 1st and the 28th. The three concerts are the Preview Concert, on December 30th, the New Year's Eve Concert, on the 31st, and the New Year's Day Concert. The prices are different, and are not that inaccessible. For the big concert on January 1st (the program is the same for all three), prices range from €35 to €1,200. I would imagine, however, that the cheapest ticket will get you a seat behind a column near the roof in a corner balcony, whereas the most money will get you a nice seat right in front of the orchestra. Only two tickets may be bought for New Year's Day, to give more people a chance at attending.

Of course, with the thousands and thousands of people who sign up, the probabilities of winning the lottery to buy the tickets are small. So, true music lovers who can travel to Vienna at the drop of a hat will probably sign up every year until they get lucky, if they do, since it's a blind drawing. 

This year, the concert will continue as planned, despite the pandemic, but without public. All those who were lucky enough to buy tickets, will have them refunded. No one will be allowed in the Musikverein to enjoy it. But, since the highlight of the Radetzky March at the very end needs the clapping of hands, they are allowing people to connect via the internet, and clap from home. (However, after finally finding a link to the registration page, I discovered it's been closed. There's a message, We thank all participants for the overwhelming interest in our intiative. Due to the high number of registrations, the registration has now been completed.) 

There has been a concert at New Year's in Vienna for over a hundred years, but the origins of the annual concert at the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, with an emphasis on the Strauss family, only began on the 31st of December in 1939.  Joseph Goebbels arranged it, as a way to get donations made to alleviate the first winter of the war for Germans and to boost morale in the German army.

After the Nazi annexation in 1938, the Anschluss, of Austria, almost half of the musicians belonged to the Nazi party. Even before, when the Nazi party had been outlawed in Austria, some were members. Of the Jewish musicians who were active before the Anschluss, five were deported to death camps, two died in Vienna, and eleven were exiled. Various others who were half-Jews, or married to Jews, were allowed to remain, but were under constant threat of termination and deportation. Like other public organizations, the Vienna Philharmonica was used by the Nazis as a tool to further their own interests. After the war, obvious politics was taken out. The Philharmonica has a section on their web page, where the biographies of those who were murdered and exiled can be read.   

The New Year's Day Concert may have had an inglorious beginning as a propaganda tool, but it now has a glorious present as a beautiful way to begin the year. Every January 1st, I try to get my husband to dance The Blue Danube with me, and we clap in time to the Radetzky March, and simply enjoy beautiful music that is eternal. To think that Strauss' music was once considered vulgar! In Vienna! Not any more.

Life continues.