Orchestral Concerts

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra first played for us at Covent Garden in September 1947 in the guise of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. In 1948 and 1949 followed orchestral concert series at the Royal Albert Hall under Furtwangler and Bruno Walter, arranged by Otto Harpner in association with Victor Hochhauser - a valuable co-operation which was to continue for future visits. In 1952 the Vienna Philharmonic returned under Clemens Krauss, in 1956 under Kubclik and again as part of the Vienna Hofmusikkapclle. After an interval of rare London appearances under other managements, they returned to us in 1976 under Karl Bohm and Abbado, 1978 with Bernstein, 1979 Karl Bohm again, and in 1982 EugcnJochum. Programmes ranged from the Vienna Philharmonic's famed Beethoven cycles to their inimitable playing ofJohann Strauss, from Mozart and Schubert to Bruckner's Seventh and Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, unforgetably sung by Kathleen Ferrier.

Many years of negotiation brought Austria's other famous orchestra, the Vienna Symphony, to London in October 1980. Under the baton of Wolfgang Sawallisch, they played Mozart, von Eincm and Bruckner in the Royal Festival Hall andJohann Strauss in the Royal Albert Hall. By far the greatest number of our orchestral concerts were by the resident London orchestras - LSO, LPO, RPO. Conductors included Josef Krips, Henry Krips, Thomas Mayor, Bernard Kccffe; singers Irmgard Seefried, Adele Leigh, Gabriele Fontana. Programmes were mainly of popular light music.

When we first brought the Spanish Riding School from Vienna we thought that they would be admirably introduced by the pomp and circumstance of the Household Cavalry and the music of a good British military band. The band, of course, had to include some famous k & k marches in its repertory, and this soon led to Festival Hall concerts of British and Austrian military music by the Band of the Blues and Royals and the State Trumpeters, and later, when their conductor George Evans became director of the Royal Military School of Music, by the Band of Kneller Hall.

Opera

Grand opera requires funds of monumental, or at least governmental, proportions. The most a mere music society can hope to do in this field is to plead the case for operatic productions and exchanges, and bring the rich and powerful together. Otto Harpner, intent on restoring the cultural links between Britain and Austria broken by the war, thought that visits by the Vienna State Opera and its famous orchestra (alias the Vienna Philharmonic) might be of help and used every opportunity to press his case. His endeavours were crowned with success when Covent Garden invited the Vienna State Opera for a short season in September 1947. His and the Anglo-Austrian Music Society's reward was a charity concert (shared with the Aid to Austria Appeal) given at Covent Garden by the Vienna Opera Orchestra - conductors Josef Krips and Clemens Krauss, soloists Hilde Konetzni, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Anton Dermota and Richard Tauber.

Harpner worked terribly hard for an early return visit, but had to wait until 1953 when the Royal Festival Hall was host to the Vienna Opera in a short Mozart season. In later years we strove to maintain contacts and to keep the discussion between opera managements alive, but the sums required grew ever larger and the proposed exchange of opera companies faded into the distant future.

On a more modest level of operatic exchange we took the director of the Graz opera house for an evening out at Glyndebourne to see The Rising of the Moon. He was enchanted and the Austrian premiere of Nicholas Maw's delightful opera followed next season.

In a rather different vein, we persuaded the 1988 Bloomsbury Festival to stage three performances by the Vienna Chamber Opera ofViktor Ullmann's concentration camp "opera The Kaiser ofAtlantis (Der Tod dankt ab) in the production by George Tabori.

The Society's role in the writing of Benjamin Britten's opera The Golden Vanity and the contribution of our Richard Tauber Scholars to opera houses here and abroad is mentioned elsewhere in this booklet.