The Institute Vienna Circle held a conference in Vienna in 2003, Cambridge and Vienna – Frank P. Ramsey and the Vienna Circle, to commemorate the philosophical and scientific work of Frank Plumpton Ramsey (1903–1930). This Ramsey conference provided not only historical and biographical perspectives on one of the most gifted thinkers of the Twentieth Century, but also new impulses for further research on at least some of the topics pioneered by Ramsey, whose interest and potential are greater than ever. Ramsey did pioneering work in several fields, practitioners of which rarely know of his important work in other fields: philosophy of logic and theory of language, foundations of mathematics, mathematics, probability theory, methodology of science, philosophy of psychology, and economics. There was a focus on the one topic which was of strongest mutual concern to Ramsey and the Vienna Circle, namely the question of foundations of mathematics, in particular the status of logicism. Although the major scientific connection linking Ramsey with Austria is his work on logic, to which the Vienna Circle dedicated several meetings, certainly the connection which is of greater general interest concerns Ramsey's visits and discussions with Wittgenstein. Ramsey was the only important thinker to actually visit Wittgenstein during his school-teaching career in Puchberg and Ottertal in the 1920s, in Lower Austria; and later, Ramsey was instrumental in getting Wittgenstein positions at Cambridge.

The current blockbuster German TV series Babylon Berlin introduces viewers to the tumultuous period in German history known as the Weimar Republic. Critics have praised the series for its relevance to the present: it shows dark populist forces undermining a fragile democracy. While Weimar Germany makes a fascinating backdrop, its story does not inspire much hope for our present-day political and cultural woes. A fascinating contrast is the Austrian capital, Vienna. After the First World War the former imperial city elected a Social Democratic majority that persisted into the 1930s. "Red Vienna" undertook large-scale experiments in public housing, hygiene, and education, while maintaining a world-class presence in music, literature, art, culture, and science. Though Red Vienna eventually fell victim to fascist violence, it left a rich legacy with potential to inform our own tumultuous times. The Red Vienna Sourcebook provides scholars and students with an encyclopedic selection of key documents from the period, carefully translated and introduced. The thirty-six chapters include primary works from canonical names such as Sigmund Freud and Arthur Schnitzler but also introductions to lesser-known figures such as sociologist K the Leichter and health-policy pioneer Julius Tandler. The documents will be of interest to such diverse disciplines as economics, architecture, music, film history, philosophy, women's studies, sports and body culture, and Jewish studies. Rob McFarland is Professor of German Literature, Film and Culture at Brigham Young University. Georg Spitaler is a researcher at the Austrian Labor History Society. Ingo Zechner is Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Digital History.

This book examines nineteenth-century Viennese operetta and the historical context in which it was created.

This book brings vividly to life the courtiers and servants of the imperial court in Vienna and the royal court at Paris-Versailles. Drawing on a wealth of material masterfully set in a comparative context, the book makes a unique contribution to the field of court studies. Staff, numbers, costs and hierarchies; daily routines and ceremonies; court favourites and the nature of rulership; the integrative and centripetal forces of the central courtly establishment: all are seen in a long-term, comparative perspective that highlights both the similarities and the distinctiveness of developments in France and the Habsburg lands. In the process, most conventional views of each court - and of court life in general - are challenged, and an alternative interpretation emerges. Finally, by relocating the household in the heart of the early modern state, Vienna and Versailles forces us to rethink the process of statebuilding and the notion of 'absolutism'.

This book examines the impact of the daily life, political climate and artistic institutions of Vienna on its musicians and musical tastes between 1815 and 1830. Emphasis is given to Beethoven, Schubert, Paganini and Johann Strauss where their careers reflect typically Viennese musical life and when Viennese conventions may explain important turns in their lives. Attention is also paid to the incomes, service contracts and welfare of lesser-known musicians of the same period. An entire chapter is devoted to the regulation of music by the Austrian government, secret police and censors, since this period coincides with the height of Metternich's political power. Although the study is mainly intended for music historians and listeners, the book should also interest the Austrian, literary, theatre and political historian. Furthermore, the research presented here suggests that many of the intriguing questions and social issues in Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century, currently widely discussed by Schorske, Toulim and McGrath, are already present in Vienna in 1815.

The Vienna in which Franz Schubert lived for the thirty-one years of his life was not just a city of music, dance, and coffeehouses - a centre of important achievements in the arts. It was also the capital of an empire that was constantly at war in the composer's youth and that became a police state during his maturity.

Vienna is of central importance in the whole history of drama, opera and operetta, and for more than a century was the only German-speaking city to sustain a theatrical life comparable to that of Paris or London. This is the first general history in English of modern theater in Vienna, covering the period from its beginnings in the 1770s up to the present. It takes full account of the social, political and intellectual contexts of theatrical culture, and provides a wealth of factual information based on original documents and up-to-date scholarship. All quotations are given in English to promote maximum accessibility.