Vienna in the late 19th and early 20th centuries experienced an explosion of creativity in music, art, literature, philosophy, and science. These dramatic transformations from traditional to avant-garde forms of expression played out in coffee houses, salons, galleries, and concert halls.

This seminar examines these changes through the works of artists, musicians, architects, and writers.

 Also considered is the cultural and historic milieu that led to the transformation from medievalism to modernism in just a couple of generations, instead of hundreds of years as in other parts of Europe.

9:30 to 10:45 a.m. 19th-Century Backgrounds

The social, political, and artistic dynamics in the ascendancy of the Viennese middle class after the abortive revolution of 1848, as Vienna transforms into a city of high culture.

The music of Johann Strauss (father and son); Johannes Brahms; Richard Wagner; and creation of the Ringstrasse.

11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The Viennese Secession

Vienna’s rebuilding is accompanied by restless new art forms, led by artist Gustav Klimt, architect Otto Wagner, and members of the Wiener Werkstatte (Vienna workshops).

Anton Bruckner and Hugo Wolf counter Brahms, and Gustav Mahler conducts the Vienna opera and symphony.

12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Lunch

Participants provide their own lunch.

1:30 to 2:45 p.m. From Ringstrasse to Art Nouveau

Klimt becomes master of the Viennese art nouveau; Arnold Schoenberg nurtures post-Romanticism; Mahler explores personal expression on a symphonic scale; and Richard Strauss collaborates with poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

3 to 4:15 p.m. The Second Secession

Artists Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka introduce edgy forms and themes of Expressionism; the radical architect Adolf Loos and his modernist experiments; Arnold Schoenberg’s experiments with non-tonal music; and Franz Lehar’s operetta, The Merry Widow, is a hit.

George Scheper is a faculty associate in the Advanced Academic Programs of Johns Hopkins University. Music professor Saul Lilienstein was artistic director and conductor of Maryland’s Harford Opera Theatre.