CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 01/2016

SAVOIR VIVRE CHRONICLE
INFO
Deutsche Bundesfürsten beim 60jährigen Regierungsjubiläum
Kaiser Franz Josephs, 1908 in Schönbrunn.
Farbdruck nach Franz von Matsch, 1908.
German Federal Princes on the occasion of the 60-year
anniversary of the accession of Emperor Franz Joseph I,
at Schönbrunn in 1908. Color printing after Franz von
Matsch, 1908.
Franz Joseph I.
und die Massenmedien
Franz Joseph I and
the mass media
Der erste Österreichische
Kaiser des Medienzeitalters
bediente sich sehr
geschickt des neuen
Mediums Fotografie. In
genauestens inszenierten
Bildern, wurde über die
Presse und Postkarten
massenhaft das Bild Franz
Josephs in der Öffentlichkeit
gesteuert. Die
Nationalbibliothek zeigt
eine Auswahl ihrer über
10.000 Fotografien und
Grafiken sowie persönliche
Dokumente des Kaisers.
The first Austrian Emperor
of the media age skillfully
used the new medium of
photography. The public‘s
perception of Franz Joseph
was controlled by pictures
that had been staged and
then widely distributed
through the newspapers or
as postcards. The National
Library is showing a
selection of their 10,000+
photographs and graphics
of Franz Joseph as well as
some interesting personal
documents that had
belonged to the Emperor.
Der ewige Kaiser. Franz
Joseph 1830 – 1916
11.3. bis 27.11.2016
Prunksaal der Österreichischen
Nationalbibliothek
The eternal Emperor. Franz
Joseph 1830 – 1916
11 March to 27 November
2016, State Hall of the
Austrian National Library
onb.ac.at
Rudolf in einem Brief an Graf Latour 1881: „Ich sehe
die schiefe Ebene, auf der wir abwärts gleiten, kann
aber in keiner Weise etwas thun, darf nicht einmal
laut reden, ...“ Der Kaiser überlebte jedoch nicht nur
seinen liberal gesinnten Sohn, der sich in Mayerling
das Leben nahm, sondern ebenso seinen zum Thronfolger
nachgerückten Neffen Franz Ferdinand, der
1914 beim folgenschweren Attentat von Sarajevo erschossen
wurde. Österreich-Ungarn schlitterte in die
Katastrophe des Ersten Weltkrieges und letztlich in
seinen Untergang. Als Franz Joseph am 21. November
1916 im hohen Alter von 86 Jahren verstarb,
wurde für viele nicht nur der Kaiser, sondern auch
gleich sein Reich zu Grabe getragen. Ohne Zweifel
ging mit dem Tod Franz Josephs eine Epoche zu
Ende. Und es war schon klar, dass aus den Trümmern
des Krieges nur ein neues politisches System
steigen konnte.
Franz Joseph I. hat Österreich-Ungarn so lange
regiert, dass das Wort Kaiser im österreichischen
Sprachgebrauch bis heute Synonym für seine Person
ist. Das Jubiläumsjahr bietet Anlass zur kritischen
Auseinandersetzung mit dem zweitletzten Monarchen
der Habsburgerdynastie, entlang dessen Biografie
sich wie an keiner anderen Person die politischen
und gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen und
Brüche des 19. und beginnenden 20. Jahrhunderts in
Mitteleuropa ablesen lassen.
Franz Joseph I at the laying of the foundation
stone of the Vienna Technical Museum, surrounded
by men in tailcoats and top hats. “R.
Lechner, k. u. k. Hof- Manufactur für Photografie” can
be seen on the edge of the slightly yellow photograph.
Other photographs show the Emperor dressed in his
hunting attire and short trousers, sitting on a tree trunk
with a rifle on his lap, or in an open carriage on Mariahilfer
Strasse, or in front of a row of people cheering
when he visited Bad Aussee ... the 10,000+ photographs,
graphics and documents on Franz Joseph I at
the archives of the Austrian National Library have permanently
engraved the image of the “kind old emperor”
in Austria‘s collective memory, even to this day. No
other person‘s life in Austrian history has been documented
as extensively as his has, the first monarch of
the media age and long-standing emperor. During his
68 years of continuous reign not only were photography
and film invented, but also the light bulb, telephone,
car and air travel.
2016 marks the centenary of the death of Franz Joseph.
This year people will, therefore, come across the
Emperor quite often in numerous exhibitions, media
reports and centenary celebrations. The monarch is
present in everyday Austrian life anyway, e.g. in words
including the term “Kaiser”, meaning emperor, such as
“Kaisersemmel” (“Kaiser bread rolls”), “Kaiserschmarrn”
(ripped pancake) and “Kaiserwetter” (glorious
sunny weather). Every year, hundreds of thousands
of tourists and people nostalgic about the Habsburg
SCHLOSS SCHÖNBRUNN KULTUR- UND BETRIEBSGES.M.B.H. /ALEXANDER EUGEN KOLLER, ÖSTERREICHISCHE NATIONALBIBLIOTHEK
Frasquita
Operette von Franz Lehár
17. Juni – 27. August 2016
Das Dreimäderlhaus
Singspiel von Heinrich Berté
8. Juli – 4. September 2016
Jekyll & Hyde
Musical von Leslie Bricusse
und Frank Wildhorn
29. Juli – 2. September 2016
Das Dschungelbuch
Ballett nach Rudyard Kipling
4. Juni und 28. August 2016
dynasty come to Vienna and Bad Ischl to follow his
tracks. His portrait is printed on crockery, chocolate
and a number of other products. Often with his wife
Elisabeth whose popularity and glorification far exceeds
that of her husband‘s. Sisi and Franzl – the perfect
couple of the 19th century, the personification of
imperial Austria. But what was the emperor really like?
“We are trying to convey a balanced image of Franz
Joseph whose public perception was and still is shaped
by myths and clichés,” according to the historian Karl
Vocelka, who together with Michaela Vocelka is the
author of a new biography on Franz Joseph and is the
curator of the large-scale centenary exhibition at
Schönbrunn Palace and three other locations. Despite
the monarch‘s life having been extensively documented,
it is obvious that the historic personality of Franz
Joseph only partially corresponds to the huge amount
of pictures that the Imperial family carefully staged as
well as censured. The centenary exhibitions also reveal
more, partially controversial, facets of the man behind
the image of the kind old monarch. From being a hardliner
and advocate of an absolute monarchy, through to
someone who often put off making important decisions
as long as possible, to the pedantic bureaucrat who
had documents sent to him even when on holiday, to
the caring grandfather who at least discarded his distant
manner when he was with his grandchildren.
Barely 18 when he was acclaimed emperor in 1848
in the midst of the turmoil of the revolutionary year,
Franz Joseph was an uncompromising monarch with
an absolute claim to power when he started his reign
and did not shy away from pronouncing the death
sentences of numerous ringleaders of the Hungarian
revolution in 1848/49. The highly unpopular Franz
Joseph skilfully used the failed assassination attempt
in 1853 to improve his image, which peaked with the
grandiose dream wedding to his young cousin Elisabeth.
A perfect example of the difficult relationship
between these two very different personalities: even
the honeymoon was thwarted because of the outbreak
of the Crimean War. The Emperor who had been
brought up with a strong sense of duty would hurry to
the Hofburg Palace early in the morning to see to
government business. The freedom-loving empress
increasingly suffered from the rigid court etiquette
and the dominance of her mother-in-law and fled the
Jubiläum
110 Jahre
Franz Joseph I. beim Spaziergang
mit Katharina Schratt (um 1895,
Arthur Floeck).
Franz Joseph I, taking a walk with
Katharina Schratt (around 1895,
Arthur Floeck).
Spielzeit 4. 6. – 4. 9. 2016
www.buehnebaden.at
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Cercle Diplomatique 1/2016
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