THE SOUND OF MONARCHY - HOW MUSIC COAGULATES INTO POLITICS

Cathrin Kahlweit in conversation with Philipp Ther

THE SOUND OF THE MONARCHY

HOW MUSIC COAGULATES INTO POLITICS

The somewhat different New Year's concert

The renowned historian and Wittgenstein Prize-winning author Philipp Ther, who heads the Institute for Eastern European History at the University of Vienna, has published a new, unusual book: In the monograph „The Sound of Monarchy - A Musical History of the Habsburg Empire“, he combines the musical history of the empire and its most famous protagonists with the political development of the multi-ethnic state in a way that is as entertaining as it is knowledgeable. He shows how nationalism, war, revolutionary pathos and populism were reflected in the music of the time or even helped to drive historical developments. He also shows how the Second Republic stylised the echoes of „Habsburg pop“ as the founding myth of a new era and of Austria as a cultural nation. The discussion withP hilipp Ther about music as an identity-forming moment far beyond the Empire will be accompanied by the musicians Alexander Cachée and Steffi Huber from the duo HuberCachée.

Philipp Ther, Historian, university professor at the University of Vienna, winner of the Wittgenstein Prize (2019) and founder of the Research Centre for the History of Transformations (RECET)

 Cathrin Kahlweit, SZ correspondent, publicist and presenter for many years

Philipp Ther
THE SOUND OF THE MONARCHY
A musical history of the Habsburg Empire
Suhrkamp, 2025, 32,00 €