Couple Dancing Between the Urban Stage and the Alpine 'other' in Der Tyroler Wastel (1796)

This paper examines the staging, cultural authenticity and transnational reception of Viennese couple dancing, taking as its case study the duet 'Tyroler sind lustig' from Haibel and Schikaneder's Singspiel Der Tyroler Wastel (1796). This opera, which popularized a Tyrolean theme in Vienna, appeared at a time when the Ländler was becoming increasingly popular in urban societies. The sociological question as to how the Viennese Singspiel stage constructed (or imitated) regional folk dance will form the basis of this investigation. In order to illustrate this, a contrast will be drawn between the duet and the contredanse immediately preceding it. This will enable a key hypothesis to be assessed – namely, that 'Tyroler sind lustig' constitutes an idealised and perhaps commercially motivated depiction of the alpine 'other' that deviates from an authentic reproduction of original Tyrolean dance. This analysis will be complemented by a consideration of the duet’s reception history, tracing its path from the Viennese stage to private collections (like the Sarasin Collection in Basel) and professional publications (Peters). In essence, the duet’s strong transnational reception sheds light on its likely function – that is, as an early example of satisfying the bourgeois need for escapism and nostalgia in the quest for a rural and unadulterated existence.

Jonathan Stark has been a PhD candidate in the research project NightMuse at the University of Basel, Switzerland, since 1 September 2024. After his studies (composition, music theory, and conducting in Vienna), he worked as a conductor on an international level (e.g., with the Volksoper Vienna and the Athens Philharmonia Orchestra) and taught music theory as a lecturer at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. From 2016 to 2018, he was a board member of the German Society for Music Theory and has mainly contributed to publications on orchestral and operatic music (Lexikon des Orchesters). In addition, he surveyed intercultural performance practice on research trips to Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, and Beijing. Due to his artistic background, his main research interests include music theater, the perception of music, and the development of musicological methods.