David Joseph Bach und das Wien der 1920er Jahre

David Joseph Bach Rediscovered The Box: Souvenirs of Vienna 1924

Austrian Cultural Forum
28 Rutland Gate
London SW7 IPQ
Tel.: 020 7584 8653
E-mail: culture(at)austria.org.uk
Online: http://www.austria.org.uk/culture/

13. Februar bis 5. März 2003

"A unique exhibition of hitherto unseen works by some of the greatest European composers, writers and artists of the 20th century will be the centrepiece of a series of events organised by the Austrian Cultural Forum, London, in February.
Presented to David Josef Bach, a pivotal figure of Vienna's cultural life, on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 1924, the collection of original works of art and musical and literary dedications has never been exhibited before and provides a unique snapshot of the rich and diverse milieu of which Bach was a part.

The collection of original works of art and musical and literary dedications by such major figures as Oskar Kokoschka, Arnold Schoenberg, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Stefan Zweig, John Galsworthy, Josef Hoffmann, Anton von Webern, Richard Strauss, Bela Bartok, Arthur Schnitzler and Hugo von Hofmannsthal has never been exhibited before and was originally presented to David Josef Bach, a pivotal figure of Vienna's cultural life in the 1920s, on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 1924. It had lain forgotten in a bank vault in Sussex until it was rediscovered two years ago. Providing a unique snapshot of the rich and diverse milieu of 1920s Vienna, it has now been analysed and researched and will be exhibited for the first time at the exhibition space of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Kensington.

The dedicatee of the collection, David Josef Bach (born Lemberg, 1874 of Jewish origins, died London 1947) was a gifted amateur musician and respected writer (he was editor and chief music critic of the Arbeiter Zeitung), and from childhood was a close friend of Arnold Schoenberg. In 1905 he founded the celebrated Workers' Symphony Concerts and in 1919 he was appointed Director of the 'Sozialdemokratische Kunststelle', which enabled him to develop a dynamic programme of artistic events and build friendships with the leading artistic figures of his time."

(Austrian Cultural Forum)