The case I briefly mention below involving Gertrude Rossbacher is
completely illegal under European law. The situation was brought to the
attention of Ioan Hollender, the Director of the Vienna State Opera, but he
refused to act, and in fact, supported the Vienna Philharmonic. I will be
writing more about this. He must be held accountable.
(After the Endnotes, some websites are listed with additional articles
about the Vienna Philharmonic and women in orchestras.)
__________________
Blind Auditions and Moral Misogyny
William Osborne
100260.243@compuserve.com
Two years ago the Vienna Philharmonic announced that it would allow
membership to women. At the same time, they gave their 2nd harpist, Anna
Lelkes, an official position, but since then no other women have been
employed. A year after Lelkes' appointment, _The Los Angeles Times_
revealed that the orchestra had prevented a highly qualified woman
candidate from the Berlin Philharmonic, violist Gertrude Rossbacher--who
was born in Vienna and trained at the Wiener Hochschule fuer Musik--from
even auditioning.[1] It might thus be useful to examine the audition
procedures of the Vienna Philharmonic, since they enable the orchestra to
continue excluding women.
The Philharmonic's auditions are held in three rounds. In the first two
the musician plays behind a screen, but in the third it is removed. This
allows the physiognomy of the applicant to be evaluated to make sure it
matches the orchestra's ideology that gender and ethnic uniformity give it
aesthetic superiority. After the Second World War the 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."[2]
The orchestra feels "that to the artist also belongs the person", and that
the individual's accomplishment, and -marketability-, are determined by
race and gender. They thus changed their auditions procedures so that the
applicant could be seen for the final round. The desire to "assure
objective judgments" was set aside to maintain a special form of orchestral
uniformity.
Many members of the Philharmonic have explained why they feel this
uniformity is necessary. In an interview with NPR, Hans Novak (a former
2nd violinist with the orchestra) said women destroy orchestral unity
because they cause intrigues: "... you can have people falling in love with
each other and all kind of jealousies."[3] Another second violinist,
Helmut Zehetner, also feels the Vienna Philharmonic has a special
"emotional unity" as an all-male ensemble. He was asked about the possible
entry of women into the orchestra:
"No, truthfully said, I wouldn't be indifferent. I would have an uneasy
feeling in the situation. And that is because we would be gambling with the
emotional unity that this organism currently has. My worry is that it would
be a step that could never be taken back."[4]
And concerning their 2nd harpist (the Philharmonic's only woman member) he
added:
"... my personal experience is that this instrument is so far at the edge
of the orchestra that it doesn't disturb our emotional unity, the unity I
would strongly feel, for example, when the orchestra starts really cooking
with a Mahler Symphony. There, I sense very strongly and simply that only
men sit around me. And as I said, I would not want to gamble with this
unity."[5]
This "emotional unity" is maintained by auditions which allow the male
musicians to start "cooking" without women around. Dieter Flury, the
orchestra's solo-flutist, agrees with Zehetner, and adds that ethnic
uniformity is also essential:
"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."[6]
In addition to the presumed aesthetic purity produced by ethnic and gender
uniformity, the Philharmonic specifically excludes people who are -visibly-
members of racial minorities. They feel such musicians would damage the
orchestra's -image- as an authentic representative of Austrian culture.
This belief, which is shared by some other Austrian orchestras, has been
documented by Dr. Elena Ostleitner, a Professor at the Institute for Music
Sociology of the Wiener Musik Hochschule fuer Musik. She 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 [for the final round], 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."[7]
The purpose of the visual criteria in the final round is clear. Another
Viennese sociologist, Prof. Roland Girtler, of the University of Vienna,
has made similar 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!"[8]
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. Similar beliefs 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".[9]
Wolfgang Schuster, a percussionist in the orchestra, also believes that
music has special qualities determined by gender: "Many musicians, even if
they won't admit it, secretly believe there's a difference in the sound
produced by a man and a woman. I know three conductors who say this."[10]
It's not necessarily an inferior sound, Schuster says, just different.
He also speaks of male musicians that have a feminine sound, lacking the
attack and strength that the orchestra wants: "I know a lot of men that
sound like women. But not with us, mind you. [...] This is something that
we label our personal style. And it is, if you want to characterize it,
masculine."[11]
They feel that all women and some men lack the requisite virility to play
in the Vienna Philharmonic. Ironically, among the world's major
orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic has one of the most soft, mellow
sounds, and one of the most rhythmically elastic styles--characteristics
generally coded as feminine.
The Vienna Philharmonic also serves as the orchestra of the Vienna State
Opera. On January 16, 1997, in response to the IAWM's protests, the
Opera's Director, Ioan Holander, said he would force the orchestra to allow
women to audition, but in an interview with the Austrian State Television,
he insisted that women are not appropriate for some of the more "masculine"
instruments:
"There are, indeed, differences that nature has made between man and woman.
Naturally, these differences have an effect on instrumental performance.
Naturally, there are different lung constellations between men and women,
and naturally there are different mouth constructions, and naturally there
are different lips between men and women. And for certain instruments,
women are less appropriate than men. That is a fact."[12]
These differences would presumably be noticeable behind a screen, but the
Vienna State Opera, which is owned and operated by the Austrian Federal
Government, refuses to use blind auditions, and even requires a photo with
the applications.
Dr. Elena Ostleitner has been fighting these attitudes for 20 years. She
is a Professor at the Institute for Music Sociology at the Wiener
Hochschule fuer Musik, and has led a campaign to end the Philharmonic's ban
on women. She says: "It's ridiculous to think there's any difference in
the musical performances of women and men. It's not true, it's absolutely
not true, and I'm sure if a woman is playing behind a curtain they won't
notice it, you cannot hear it, it's impossible."[13]
Shortly after the Vienna Philharmonic said it had changed its policies, she
predicted that the first women auditioning would still encounter prejudice
from the male judges: "After the first listening in the audition behind the
curtain, she will be in front of a curtain. And then they will say 'yes
she played very well, but the man was better because the sound is
different.' That will happen."[14]
Since the apointment of Lelkes appears to have been a political expedient,
and since no other women have been given membership in two years, Prof.
Ostleitner's suspicions seem to be well founded.
Until recently, these problems also existed in the United States. Prof.
Claudia Goldin (a Harvard Economist) and Princeton's Cecilia Rouse recently
completed a study of blind auditions in symphony orchestras in the USA.
They found that the use of a screen increased the chances of US women in
the first round of auditions by 50%, and in the final rounds by 300%. The
overall effect of blind auditions has increased the presence of women in US
orchestras over the last 20 years from about a 5% representation to 36%.
It is thus notable that the Vienna Philharmonic refuses to hold blind
auditions, even though it claims to have changed its ideologies.
In the music magazine _Strad_, Rainer Kuchl, a former concertmaster of the
Vienna Philharmonic, reveals how deeply embedded the orchestra's ideologies
are:
"Our goal has always been to employ people from regions where we have the
same 'feeling'. Nowadays new orchestras are formed with players from
totally different backgrounds, all stirred together in the same pot and all
with a totally different concept of tone. Then all they have to do is play
with precision and that's the current idea of a good orchestra. There's a
lot more to it than that."[15]
And _Strad_ asked: "So are all his players Austrian men? Are there no
Czechs, Slovaks or other central Europeans, perhaps those who have studied
in Vienna?" Kuckl responded: "We don't need such players. They might
play like gods but they wouldn't fit in."[16]
In the case of the most qualified women, even the removal of the screen is
not a sufficient safeguard to protect the unity of "feeling" Kuchl
describes. Some women are so much better than their male competition, that
their exclusion would be scandalously obvious if they were allowed to
audition. This was illustrated by the violist Gertrude Rossbacher. Never
mind that she plays like a god, and was born and educated in Vienna.
Gender and racial purity are still the ruling deities in the Vienna
Philharmonic.
William Osborne
100260.243@compuserve.com
ENDNOTES
[1] Jan Herman, "For Violist, the Rules Never Seem to Change," _The Los
Angeles Times_ (February 27, 1998).
[2] Otto Strasser, _Und dafuer wird man noch bezahlt: Mein Leben mit den
Wiener Phiharmonikern_ (Wien: Paul Neff Verlag, 1974)
[3] NPR "Morning Edition" broadcast on Friday, February 28, 1997.
[4] "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.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Elena Ostleitner, _Liebe, Lust, Last und Lied_ (Wien, Bundesministerium
fuer Unterricht und Kunst, 1995) p. 6.
[8] "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).
[9] "Von Tag zu Tag", broadcast by Austrian National Radio and Television,
December 11, 1996, 4:05-4:45pm.
[10] _Der Kurier_ (February 26, 1997)
[11] Ibid.
[12] "Achtung Kultur", February 24, 1997, 10:30 pm, Second Austrian State
Television.
[13] NPR "Morning Edition" broadcast on Friday, February 28, 1997.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Evelyn Chadwick, "Of music and men" _The Strad_ (December, 1997):
pp1324-1329.
[16] Ibid.
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
"Zap the VPO"
http://www.dorsai.org/~buzzarte/zapvpo.html