The University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna (German: Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1819. With a student body of over three thousand, it is the largest institution of its kind in Austria, and one of the largest in the world.
History
Calls for a music conservatory in Vienna started in 1808. In 1811 an "outline for a music education institution" for Vienna was published. A year later the Society for the Friends of Music was formed, with the foremost aim of establishing a conservatory. The Vienna Conservatory was founded in 1817. It was meant to be modeled on the Paris Conservatory, but, due to a lack of funds, it began solely as a singing school. Antonio Salieri was the conservatory's first director. In 1819, it employed violinist Joseph Böhm, and by 1827 offered courses in most orchestral instruments.
The conservatory's finances were very unstable. Tuition fees were introduced in 1829, but by 1837 the institution was bankrupt. The state eventually funded the conservatory from 1841 to 1844 and from 1846 to 1848. In 1848 political circumstances caused the state to discontinue funding, and the Conservatory did not offer courses again until 1851. With support from the state and the city, finances again stabilized after 1851. Despite growing state subsidy, The Society for the Friends of Music, which founded the Conservatory, remained in control of the institution. However, by a January 1, 1909 imperial resolution the school was nationalized and became the Imperial Academy of Music and the Performing Arts (k.k. Akademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst). (Until then its name was the Konservatorium der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.)
Until 1844, when Gottfried Preyer, professor of harmony and composition became director, the director of the conservatory was not a member of faculty, but a member of the Society for the Friends of Music. Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr. was director from 1851 to 1893. When the conservatory was nationalized in 1909, the administration was assigned to a state-appointed president, an artistic director and a board of trustees. After the end of World War I, the State Academy was again reorganized. President Karl Ritter von Wiener resigned and conductor Ferdinand Löwe was elected director by the teachers. In 1922, Joseph Marx took over. He wanted the Academy to be granted University status.
After the Anschluss, many teachers and students were dismissed on racial grounds. In 1941, the Academy became a Reich University (Reichshochschule). After World War II, the institution became a State Academy again. In the process of Denazification, fifty-nine teachers were dismissed; by November 1945, sixteen were reinstated. Only five of the teachers dismissed in 1938 were reinstated.
By laws introduced in 1948 and 1949 the institution was granted the status of "Art Academy." In 1970, the "Law on the Organization of Art Colleges" effectively gave all Art Academies University status, and in 1998 the title of "Art Academy" was changed to "Art University."
Notable teachers
External links
- Official homepage (German) (English)
- History (German) (English), by Dr. Lynne Heller, English translation by Andrew Smith
- Entry at the Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon ONLINE
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