Arnold Schönberg and summer retreat antisemitism in the Salzkammergut
Online memorial exhibition
Villa Nora
Object #4
Villa Nora
Mattsee, ca. 1912/13
The Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
Villa Nora was commissioned in 1911 by Max Ott and named after his wife Eleonore. It was built on the Wartstein, a prime location. Schönberg’s brother Heinrich, who was an ensemble member at the New German Theater in Prague, spent many summer vacations in the villa (now at Burghard-Breitner-Weg 1). He was the son-in-law of Max Ott, who held the office of mayor of Salzburg from 1912 to 1919 and was the vice-governor of Salzburg Province from 1918.
At the instigation of Schönberg’s sister-in-law Berta, a domicile was rented for the composer and his family at Vorderwartstein (Mattsee No. 56, now Burghard-Breitner-Weg 16), near the villa. Called the “Zimmerhansl” House, it was described as a “very pleasant lodging” with a garden in a list of dwellings from the Mattsee Seasonal Association.
Because of his brother Heinrich’s repeated recommendation of the place, no direct correspondence with the community or in-depth study of literature relevant to the area was necessary; thus, Schönberg missed a crucial fact which would undoubtedly have decided him against Mattsee as a summer retreat destination: the firm rejection of Jews as vacationers.
Cf. Therese Muxeneder: Arnold Schönbergs Konfrontationen mit Antisemitismus (III), in: Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center 16/2019. Edited by Eike Feß and Therese Muxeneder. Wien 2019, p. 165–254
Introduction
This year’s tourist season in Mattsee
Object #1
Heinrich Schönberg with his wife Berta and his daughter Margit
Object #2
Come visit me
Object #3
Villa Nora
Object #4
It’s lovely here
Object #5
Harmonielehre
Object #6
A popular vacation destination
Object #7
Arrogance and Oriental Allures
Object #8
Row-boating
Object #9
Summer retreat free of Jews
Object #10
He is in good humor
Object #11
Heil Salzburg! Salzburg wants the Anschluss!
Object #12
How are you and yours in Mattsee?
Object #13
You will be pleased with me
Object #14
Kaiser-Elisabeth-Bahn
Object #15
Convivial gatherings
Object #16
Antisemitic scandals
Object #17
For rent to Aryans
Object #18
Disharmony
Object #19
Away with the Jews!
Object #20
They are doing well there
Object #21
Arnold Schönberg: Felix Greissle
Object #22
Arnold Schönberg: Harmonielehre
Object #23
Arnold Schönberg: the theory of coherence
Object #24
It must be splendid there
Object #25
I am not staying a day longer
Object #26
Threat in his own house
Object #27
Anti-Jewish proclamations
Object #28
The composer’s baptismal certificate
Object #29
Arnold Schönberg: on Zemlinsky
Object #30
The Jewish colony in Mattsee
Object #31
That outrageous, incredible thing
Object #32
The community physician
Object #33
An Aryan summer vacationer
Object #34
A summer retreat free of Jews
Object #35
Einstein’s propaganda speech
Object #36
The revolting press notice
Object #37
Sedition
Object #38
Antisemitic racial attitude
Object #39
All is calm within me
Object #40
Imaginary and material damage
Object #41
Guests of Max Ott
Object #42a
Guests of Max Ott
Object #42b
Arrival in Traunkirchen
Object #43
Departure
Object #44
Very ugly at the end
Object #45
Domestic and foreign newspapers
Object #46
Villa Josef
Object #47
Arnold and Mathilde Schönberg
Object #48
Shaken awake
Object #49
Such circumstances
Object #50
Arnold Schönberg: Baroness Löwenthal
Object #51
Traunkirchen
Object #52
Arnold Schönberg: Prelude
Object #53
A ridiculous matter
Object #54
Hegemony in the sphere of music
Object #55