A Composer for Every Country: Austria

In the world of music history, Austria needs no introduction. Vienna, alongside Paris and Rome, rose to great cultural influence during the 18th/19th centuries, due in no small part to the expansion of the Hapsburg Family. Not just music, either! Austria was the birthplace of a great many names that made history books: Christian Doppler, namesake of The Doppler Effect; Gustav Klimt, decadent artist extraordinaire; Fritz Lang, director of Metropolis and M; Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher of words and logic; uh... walking meme Arnold Schwarzenneger, body builder and erstwhile governor of California. It's a lot, is what I'm saying.

In the world of music, the list of famous composers is kind of exhausting. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Joseph Haydn. Franz Schubert. Anton Bruckner. Gustav Mahler. Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Christoph Willibald Gluck. The of course, the Vienna Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan stood as symphony and conductor par excellence. Not one but two Viennese schools of composers? It's kind of insane to think about, but I guess that's what happens when you have successive generations of musically trained emperors dump obscene amounts of wealth into the arts.

Local tradition and popular music of Austria is no less far reaching. Like... Have you heard a waltz, don't say anything the answer is "yes." Why? Because not one, but two Strausses decided to become the GOATs of the waltz, and one of those waltzes ended up being The Blue Danube and was put into countless cartoons and also 2001: A Space Odyssey. Also, Strauss II has a golden statue in his image. Not just the waltz, but also yodeling. Ok, so maybe not everybody's favorite, but to demonstrate the reach of Austrian culture, I want to point out Takeo Ishi, a Japanese guy who yodels with chickens. I hesitate to say he is "famous." I just bring him up to make a point.

Then, for some reason, lederhosen were a prominent detail in Ren and Stimpy because... just because, I guess.

My composer for the day is Marianna Martines (1744-1812). Ok, she's not strictly Austrian, because her father was Spanish, but she was born in Vienna and lived there her whole life. As a child prodigy, she frequently performed for Empress Maria Theresa. Her musical education was secured by the poet and librettist, Metastasio (Pietro Trapassi), who also saw to it she received an excellent general education, as well. Now, in a little game of "find the connection," let me tell you this: Marianna Martines lived with her family on the third floor of a building in Michaelerplatz, a plaza constructed in 1725. On the first floor lived the dowager princess of the Esterházy family. In the attic, Joseph Haydn. I'll leave it to your imagination how Haydn was introduced to his future employ (hint, it was Marianna). The cantata I've chosen as a likely demonstration of her ability as a singer, but she was also an excellent keyboardist.

Her harpsichord/keyboard concerti are quite wonderful, as well.