Attention focused on the proletariat during the twentieth century after Karl Marx’s call to unite. Previous eras had ignored the workers. The Henry Wood Orchestra was established in 1895 to entertain Londoners too poor for a holiday, and became the Proms. On the Continent, in 1900, the Wiener Symphoniker, Vienna Symphony, was founded on similar grounds. Musicians in both cities were available because the opera houses closed during the summer when the toffs repaired to the country although it was always rather infra dig for members of the city’s specialist opera orchestra, the famous Wiener Philharmoniker, Vienna Phil, to turn out for the Symphoniker. In both cities, cheap tickets and educative programmes of classics and new music were on offer. In Vienna, Schoenberg premi
31 July 2014, The Tablet
Music for the workers
Bregenz Festival, Austria BBC?Proms
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