Vienna and the Great War

Donald Macleod explores Johanna Müller-Hermann’s musical ascent during World War I.

Johanna Müller-Hermann once held a significant place as a composer and teacher in Vienna, yet has been largely forgotten over the decades since her death in 1941. Radio 3 has been working to unearth her music and story through its Forgotten Women Composers project, in collaboration with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Dr Carola Darwin. This week, Dr Darwin and Professor Robert Evans join Donald Macleod to explore this fascinating composer and her times. Their series includes many specially recorded works by Müller-Hermann that have sat neglected in dusty archives for decades.

Müller-Hermann was greatly celebrated in her own lifetime and moved in eminent musical circles. She studied with Zemlinsky, befriended Alma Mahler, and also corresponded with Arnold Schoenberg. She went on to teach at Austria’s New Vienna Conservatory where students travelled from as far away as America and the UK to study with her. She became a pivotal figure in Vienna’s cultural scene and her music was regularly performed and published during her lifetime.

In the build up to World War One, life in Vienna was growing increasingly difficult with rioting and political instability. Nevertheless, this was a period of significant growth for Müller-Hermann, thanks to her studies with the Czech composer Josef Foerster. He encouraged Müller-Hermann to start composing orchestral music, which she did to great acclaim. Soon, Müller-Hermann found her music being regularly performed in Vienna. In 1918 Foerster returned to Prague, leaving his teaching post at the New Vienna Conservatory. Müller-Hermann was appointed to replace him.

Heroic Overture, Op 21 (excerpt)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Ilan Volkov, conductor

Alle die wachsenden Schatten, Op 9 No 3 (Drei Chöre)
BBC Singers
Benjamin Nicholas, conductor

Violin Sonata in D minor, Op 5 (excerpt) UK Broadcast Premiere
Jennifer Pike, violin
James Baillieu, piano

Heroic Overture, Op 21
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Ilan Volkov, conductor

String Quintet in A minor, Op 7 (Adagio con expressione)
Pawel Zalejski, violin
SongHa Choi, violin
Klaus Christa, viola
Danusha Waskiewicz, viola
Kajana Pačko, cello

Produced by Luke Whitlock