Building up a music program in Sittendorf, Lower Austria
By Anne Rothgeb-Peschek
"The large artisitic potential of a small community"
As music educators we have the privilege and duty to bring the wonderful world of music
to those around us in whatever form it may take. I found one opportunity in a small
Austrian village about 30 minutes on the super highway from Vienna, Austria, the
impressive city of music. My husband and I built a house in the Vienna Woods.
This is how we came to the little village of Sittendorf.
The village has a lovely church, the foundation of which dates back to
the 12th century. The church had an organ built in 1859 which formerly had hand
bellows but later an electric motor. In May 1998 a new organ was dedicated. It
was built by a Hungarian company and has 2 manuals and 7 registers.
There was no choir and no regular organist in this church. First I decided the church
had to have some beautiful music so I organized a choir. I asked one of the
villagers to do the first calling for as an "outsider" and "foreigner"
I felt I should just offer my talent and interest. The villager did an excellent job
and we soon had a small choir. After a few rehearsals one of the choir members said,
"that doesn't sound very good". I replied, "Just wait. You'll
see that we will sound very good someday". Sure enough at the church service
several months later she retracted her words. I gave each member of the choir a
cassette recording so that they could hear what they sounded like and they were pleased. I
must confess for the first appearance of our choir I brought a few of my voice students to
help fill in weak spots.
I kept hearing something about an Aula in the village. When I asked
the priest to show it to me I was delighted and decided there on the spot to organize a
concert series. I invited the choir for afternoon coffee to discuss the
possibilites. The priest had renovated a former barn, put in a wooden ceiling, built
a stage and put in rows of seats. It was like a small theater. With woods and
cement floors the acoustics were excellent. The hall seats about 110 with the
balcony and is very attractive. I could not have planned it any better myself. All
of my musician friends are enthusiastic when they see it and perform in it for the first
time. My choir sang in the mass at Advent and Christmas.
The first spring I organized a week of cultural events. We
started with a mass in which a renaissance group I know performed for travel costs.
The ensemble with which I perform came without pay to help start the
project. My choir gave a spring concert. I used all of the local talent and
asked the children who were studying music to perform solos. We took in a free-will
offering. Our first financing was there.
A few days later someone called to tell me about an article in the newspaper reviewing
our concerts. The critic sensed what we were trying to do. The heading of the
article read: "The large artistic potential of a small community".
Being encouraged by this newspaper article and the enthusiastic support of the villagers,
I decided to organize a summer series of concerts. This is a
beautiful area of the Vienna Woods for making walks so we decided on late Sunday afternoon
as a time for our concerts. In this way listeners from other areas and tourists
could come to our concerts and enjoy the area. The opening concert was given by a
young African tenor who has since gone on to make a fine career. He sang a beautiful
concert and performed the "Dichterliebe" by Schumann and contemporary south
African songs. I asked a villager who heard a song recital for the first time
in her life what she thought of the concert. "It was beautiful" she
said. There are so many young musicians wishing to perform for an audience and who
are glad to receive a small fee.
We have our villagers who are glad to have a chance to hear music. The scene was
set. The organization was exhausting and time consuming. We managed to get
announcements of our concert series in all of the newspapers. We mounted posters and
sent out invitations. We wrote to retirement homes, hotels, restaurants and other
organizations in the area to spread word of our concerts. The main purpose was not
to be a commercial enterprise but rather offer music for the general public with a basket
for freewill contributions at the door. In winter we organized a cultural society which
now has over 250 members. In spring we had another week of cultural events.
Many in our audiences were hearing concerts for the first time.
The ladies of the choir decided they wanted to make a "Dirndl"
typical of the area as a choir dress. At first we thought there was no original design for
our village but one lady found in her attic the bodice of a Dirndl belonging to a great
grandmother. It was lovely and an expert in native dress led a sewing course in
which each lady made the complicated garment. We wore them for the first time in the
spring concert and the effect was stunning. Sewing the Dirndl together was also an
enjoyable social event. For the concerts the ladies made cakes and sandwiches for
which we asked donations. This was always a popular intermission treat for the
audience and led to other social contacts. Later six members of the choir under
professional guidance built folk harps. We use these in our
concerts and church events.
In 1989 three small private music schools in the area consolidated and now are part of
the educational system of Lower Austria. I was asked to teach voice in this
consolidated school. There are over 380 students who are able to
receive music instruction in their own village rather than travel to larger cities nearby.
Musical activities are flourishing and there is no end to the potential and possibility
for projects which can be carried out.
This work in Sittendorf has taken on a concrete form with positive results. It
has been exciting to watch the development.
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