The Logic Off Topic list

William Osborne wrote:

> The Special Characteristics of the Vienna Philharmonic's Racial Ideology
>
> by William Osborne
> 100260.243@...
>
> In this post I would like to briefly discuss specific aspects of the Vienna
> Philharmonic's racial ideologies, particularly in regard to the public
> relations campaign the orchestra has mounted since their views became
> widely known via the Internet.
>
> In early February of 1997 I released an article entitled "The Image of
> Purity: The Racial Ideologies of the Vienna Philharmonic In Historical
> Perspective."  It is available at:
> http://www.acu.edu/academics/music/archive/iawm.9701/0074.html
>
> The article documents the Vienna Philharmonic's policy of excluding people
> who are visibly members of racial minorities, and correlates those views
> with the orchestra's extensive and willing collaboration with National
> Socialism during the Third Reich.
>
> One week after I placed the article on the net, the President of Columbia
> Artists International (the Philharmonic's principle agent) flew to Vienna
> and told them that if they did not change their current policies of gender
> and racial exclusion he could not continue representing them.  In response
> to his threats and mounting international protest organized by the
> International Alliance for Women In Music, the Philharmonic made its second
> harpist, Anna Lelkes, the first woman member of the orchestra.
>
> They also hired a public relations consultant to help them cleanse their
> reputation as a sexist and racist institution.  These public relations
> activities have included some chamber music concerts for Jewish
> organizations in New York that were given in conjunction with the
> orchestra's opening of Carnegie Hall's 109th season.  They will also
> include a concert at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp on May 11, 2000.
>
> These public relations gestures are positive actions, but unfortunately
> part of their intention has been to mislead the public.  In the three years
> since the orchestra said it would open its doors to women, none have been
> admitted except for harpists.  This does not represent change.  The
> orchestra has always used women harpists.  And the gestures toward the
> Jewish community have a confusing and specious character, since the racial
> ideologies at issue are not -specifically- anti-semitic.   Before World War
> II, 18 members of the Vienna Philharmonic were Jewish, but now there are
> only two.  For that reason--if no other--anti-semitism is not a significant
> problem in the orchestra.
>
> The real issue at hand is the Vienna Philharmonic's post-war policy of
> remaining -entirely- white, because they feel that people who are -visibly-
> members of racial minorities would destroy the orchestra's image of
> Austrian authenticity.  (For a brief documentation see the information at
> the end of this post.)
>
> The Philharmonic's racial ideology is directed particularly toward Asian
> musicians, since many have reached the highest professional standards and
> pose a real "threat" at auditions.  Approximately half of the students at
> the Wiener Musik Hochschule are foreigners, and many of them are Asians who
> marry and settle in Austria, where they also have children.
>
> The Vienna Philharmonic is the only major orchestra in the world without a
> single non-white member.  It is not a coincidence that the orchestra is
> comprised of 149 white men and one white woman.  It is the result of
> overtly practiced racism.
>
> William Osborne
> 100260.243@...
> (You may forward this post.  Please include the documentation below.)
>
> A Brief Documentation of the Vienna Philharmonic's Exclusionary Policies
> (for more complete presentations see the websites listed at the end of this
> post.)
>
> After the Second World War the Vienna Philharmonic instituted blind
> auditions, but they were soon eliminated.  In his memoirs, Otto Strasser, a
> former Chairman of the Philharmonic, described the problems blind auditions
> caused:
>
> "I hold it for incorrect that today the applicants play behind a screen; an
> arrangement that was brought in after the Second World War in order to
> assure objective judgments. I continuously fought against it, especially
> after I became Chairman of the Philharmonic, because I am convinced that to
> the artist also belongs the person, that one must not only hear, but also
> see, in order to judge him in his entire personality. [...] Even a
> grotesque situation that played itself out after my retirement, was not
> able to change the situation.  An applicant qualified himself as the best,
> and as the screen was raised, there stood a Japanese before the stunned
> jury. He was, however, not engaged, because his face did not fit with the
> 'Pizzicato-Polka' of the New Year's Concert."[1]
>
> The Vienna Philharmonic believes that  Asian features do not fit with
> cultural authenticity in the rank-and-file of a symphony orchestra.  They
> thus changed their audition procedures so that applicants could be seen for
> the final round.  They also require a photo with job applications.
>
> The Philharmonic's views have been studied by Dr. Elena Ostleitner, a
> Professor at the Wiener Musik Hochschule's Institute for Music Sociology.
> She notes that, "Even in a renowned orchestra like the Vienna Philharmonic,
> it is difficult, if not impossible, to fill vacancies, because the
> Philharmonic members say the musicians applying do not fulfill their
> artistic requirements, or are visibly of foreign origin."[2]  The
> Philharmonic's views are shared by some other Austrian orchestras.
> Ostleitner recorded the following statement by an Asian woman:
>
> "I auditioned for an orchestra, and I led in the point tabulations as long
> as I played behind a screen. Due to my name it was not apparent that I am
> an Asian. But when the screen was removed, I was rejected without comment.
> Friends in the orchestra confirmed my assumption. They do not take
> foreigners, and if they do, then only those in which [foreign appearance]
> is not visible."[3]
>
> Another Viennese sociologist, Prof. Roland Girtler, of the University of
> Vienna, has made the same observations:
>
> "What I have noticed that is interesting, is that the Vienna Philharmonic
> would also never take a Japanese or such. If they took one, this also would
> somehow by appearances put in question the noble character of Viennese
> culture.  But this is not racist!"[4]
>
> It is not merely musical performance, but also the racial physiognomy of
> Asians that is the critical issue--though Girtler does not view this as
> racist.   His observations are confirmed by members of the Philharmonic.
> Dieter Flury, the orchestra's solo-flutist, notes that both gender and
> ethnic uniformity are essential to the orchestra:
>
> "From the beginning we have spoken of the special Viennese qualities, of
> the way music is made here. The way we make music here is not only a
> technical ability, but also something that has a lot to do with the soul.
> The soul does not let itself be separated from the cultural roots that we
> have here in central Europe, and it also doesn't allow itself to be
> separated from gender. So if one thinks that the world should function by
> quota regulations, then it is naturally irritating that we are a group of
> white skinned male musicians, that perform exclusively the music of white
> skinned male composers. It is a racist and sexist irritation. I believe one
> must put it that way. If one establishes superficial egalitarianism, one
> will lose something very significant. Therefore, I am convinced that it is
> worthwhile to accept this racist and sexist irritation, because something
> produced by a superficial understanding of human rights would not have the
> same standards."[5]
>
> Similar views were reported in a radio broadcast of the Austria National
> Broadcasting Corporation.  A public school teacher who had taken his class
> to a rehearsal of the Vienna Philharmonic reported that a girl in the class
> asked why only men were in the orchestra. Werner Resel, the orchestra's
> chairman at the time, answered that the "Vienna Philharmonic is an
> orchestra of white men playing music by white men for white people".[6]
>
> Statements such as these contradict the claim that the Vienna Philharmonic
> is just "coincidentally" the only all-white major orchestra in the world.
>
> ENDNOTES
> [1] Otto Strasser, _Und dafuer wird man noch bezahlt: Mein Leben mit den
> Wiener Phiharmonikern_ (Wien: Paul Neff Verlag, 1974)
> [2] Elena Ostleitner, _Liebe, Lust, Last und Lied_ (Wien, Bundesministerium
> fuer Unterricht und Kunst, 1995) p. 6.
> [3] Ibid.
> [4] "Musikalische Misogynie," broadcast by the West German State Radio,
> February 13, 1996. See also: Roland Girtler, "Mitgliedsaufnahme in den
> Noblen Bund der Wiener Philharmonicer Als Mannbarkeitsritual", Sociologia
> Internationalis (Beiheft 1, Berlin 1992).
> [5] "Musikalische Misoggynie" broadcast by the West German state Radio,
> February 13, 1996. See also: William Osborne, "Art Is Just An Excuse:
> Gender Bias in International Orchestras," _Journal of the International
> Allicance for Women in Music_ (Vol. 2, No. 3, October 1996):6.
> [6] "Von Tag zu Tag", broadcast by Austrian National Radio and Television,
> December 11, 1996, 4:05-4:45pm.
>
> For additional information about the Vienna Philharmonic and women in
> orchestras see these websites:
>
> "Art Is Just An Excuse: Gender Bias in International Orchestras"
> http://music.acu.edu/www/iawm/articles/oct96/osborne.html
>
> "The Image of Purity: The Racial Ideology of the Vienna Philharmonic in
> Historical Perspective"
> Part I: http://www.acu.edu/academics/music/archive/iawm.9701/0074.html
> (a link to Part II is at the bottom of Part I)
>
> "A Difficult Birth: Maternity Leave in the Vienna Philharmonic"
> http://www.acu.edu/academics/music/archive/iawm.9702/0092.html
>
> "You sound Like a Ladies' Orchestra: A Case History of Sexism Against Abbie
> Conant in the Munich Philharmonic"
> http://metro.turnpike.net/~iwbc/ladies.html
>
> In February my article "Symphony Orchestras and Artist Prophets: Cultural
> Isomorphism and the Allocation of Power In Music" will apppear in _Leonardo
> Music Journal_ (Vol. 9, 2000).
>
> This ZAPVPO website devoted exclusively to the VPO protest and can be found
> at:
>
> http://www.dorsai.org/~buzzarte/zapvpo.html

--
Guga Petri
http://www.msdesigns.com.br/lgpetri
Santos, SP, Brasil