Martin Eybl: Cultural Transfer of Music in Vienna, 1755–1780

Martin Eybl (Bécs): Cultural Transfer of Music in Vienna, 1755–1780: Music Distribution, Transformation of Pieces, Involvement of New Consumers

The concept of cultural transfer was developed in the 1980s. Originally focused on processes of cultural exchange between Germany and France in the eighteenth and  nineteenth centuries, it has been expanded, comprising transfers between religious denominations, social levels, regions and cities, before 1700 and after 1900 as well.

The current project aims to record the distribution and transformation of music in and from Vienna that was transferred from one geographical or social place to another in the time span from 1755 to 1780. The project is focused on those kinds of transfer that reflect new political, social or economic developments: the political alliance of Austria and France, the awakening interest for German literature, the increasing activity of the so-called ‘Second Society’ (middle-class) in literary, visual and performing arts along with the corresponding emergence of concert life and music market.

The study focuses on four interrelated key-aspects: 1. from Court Chapel to Kärntnertor-Theater: the changing social background of the oratorio; 2. monasteries as clients on Vienna’s music manuscript market; 3. instrumental music from Vienna printed in Paris; 4. opéra-comique in Vienna 1765–1780. Each deals with different kinds of transfer: social transfer between court society and middle class; regional transfer between Austrian centers and periphery; profit-oriented commercial transfer; and international transfer between two European metropolises.

The key-aspects of the investigations focus on strategies and participants of cultural transfer, the kind and extent of transformations, motivations, continuity as well as resistance and the limits of transfer. All four key-aspects of the project are based on musical manuscripts or prints as primary sources. The coordination and competition of different networks will be analyzed in case studies; this essential part of the project ought to benefit research in cultural transfer in general.