The recently released album Music for a Viennese Salon by the chamber ensemble Night Music transports listeners to one of Vienna's leading musical salons during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.Footnote ¹ The host of the musical gathering is Fanny von Arnstein (1758–1818), a Jewish salonnière, notable amateur keyboardist and singer, music patron, and founder of Vienna's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.Footnote ² According to Steven Zohn's liner notes for the album, this imagined performance in Arnstein's salon took place in 1801, two decades after Arnstein began hosting her salon (p. 4). During her nearly 40-year tenure as a salonnière, Arnstein became one of the best-known salon hosts in Viennese society. This album, then, offers a glimpse into the musical activities of a central figure in the city's musical identity and ongoing legacy.

The musical portion of this 1801 salon gathering includes three multi-movement works for chamber ensemble. Joseph Martin Kraus's Quintet in D for Flute and Strings (VB188; 1799) begins the concert with three movements (I. Allegro Moderato, II. Largo, III. Finale: con brio). The next work attendees hear is Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf's Duetto in E flat (Kr219) for viola and violone (I. Allegro, II. Menuetto I, III. Adagio, IV. Menuetto II, V. Andante [Tema con variazioni]). Johann Peter Salomon's 1801 arrangement of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G major ‘Surprise’ (Hob1:94) serves as the finale to the evening's performance (I. Adagio – Vivace assai, II. Andante, III. Minuetto, IV. Allegro di molto).

Arnstein's salon was active in two main periods – one beginning in 1780 and the second in 1803; this album thus emulates the musical performances that took place in the earlier salon. Lauded for its elaborate style and long guest lists, Arnstein's salon gatherings during this earlier period were originally modelled on the grand French salons of the eighteenth century, like many other late eighteenth-century salons in Germany and Austria.Footnote ³ During the two decades of her earlier salon, Arnstein established a reputation for herself as one of the only successful Jewish salonnières in Vienna, a city in which religious freedom for the Jewish population had only been legally granted in 1781.

Each of the musicians on the recording perform on period instruments or replicas of instruments dating from 1680 to 1794, including performances by Night Music co-directors, Heather Miller Lardin and Steven Zohn, on the violone and eight-keyed flute.Footnote ⁴ Though Arnstein's physical salon is no longer standing, the musicians were able to reconstruct some of the possible acoustic attributes of her salon space. Recorded at Immanuel Highlands Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware, this performance takes place in an acoustically live space with stone walls and floor. Surviving visual representations of many Viennese aristocratic homes during the early nineteenth century often include carpeted floors, papered walls, and wooden furniture with covered cushions (like that pictured on the album cover) – all of which would have contributed to a more subdued acoustic environment. Arnstein's salon, however, might have been more akin to the large, resonant space in which Night Music recorded this album. Since Arnstein's gatherings were said to include as many as 400 guests at a time, the ‘Palais Arnstein’ on the Graben, one of the most sought-after streets in Vienna's city centre, likely featured a vast salon space with elaborate architecture and live, resonant acoustics.Footnote ⁵ Though the recording site for this album may differ from the domestic spaces typical of many upper-class homes during this time, the size and acoustics of this modern recording space are likely appropriate for a salon such as Arnstein's. The acoustic qualities of this recording also raise important questions about the ways in which such recordings and performances might further reflect the experience of attending Arnstein's salon gatherings: What other sounds might have accompanied these musical performances? Zohn's liner notes briefly hint at such questions by describing the conversations Arnstein might have witnessed during a performance in her salon: ‘More than once during the thrilling, theatrical finale, Arnstein had to stifle guests’ stage-whispered commentary’ (p. 4). If the Night Music ensemble had included such whisperings in their recording – or perhaps even additional sounds that might have occurred in the salon space – what additional insights might we be able to glean about the experience of attending a Viennese salon?

For his liner notes, Zohn relies on informed speculation to offer readers a glimpse into the experience of attending one of Arnstein's Tuesday evening musical gatherings. The engaging text accomplishes the difficult task of bringing to life details of private musical experiences that were largely left out of the written record. The narrative Zohn creates reflects the need for informed speculation when reconstructing music salon practices and traditions, offering one possible avenue for bridging this gap in the historical record. Readers follow the journey and experience of Caroline Pichler, a prominent Austrian writer, musician, and salon host who was also a regular attendee at Arnstein's gatherings.Footnote ⁶ Pichler is described as hastily manoeuvring through the busy city on her way to one of Arnstein's weekly salon gatherings. After her arrival, the music begins, and the reader is privy to Pichler's impressions of the musicians’ performances and the merit of the three compositions heard. Pichler is said to leave Arnstein's salon feeling inspired by the musical possibilities for her own salon, foreshadowing the influential salon gatherings Pichler would host in the decades to come. Zohn's creative liner notes are translated from their original English to German and French. Though the purpose behind these translations was likely a marketing strategy, they might also be understood as a reflection of the cosmopolitan nature of Arnstein's salon gatherings, which attracted visitors from across Europe. Most notably, during the 1815 Congress of Vienna, Arnstein's salon would become a central site for political leaders and nobility from around Europe, serving as an important site for international political discourse.

The recording features two works for flute and strings and one duet for viola and violone. All three of the composers held personal or professional ties to Vienna, making their performance at one of Arnstein's weekly gatherings all the more likely. Joseph Martin Kraus's Quintet in D for Flute and Strings (VB188; 1799) begins the private concert with an Allegro moderato movement.Footnote ⁷ This opening movement features playful and unexpected changes in character and brief soloistic passages for the flute. At more than 14 minutes in length, the first movement exceeds the duration of the remaining two movements combined, making the playful character and contrasting stylistic figures throughout the opening movement all the more welcome. In contrast, the following Largo features a theme and variations form with a lyrical melody that is passed from strings to flute. The performers emphasize a sudden, two-bar delve into the minor mode with a slight rallentando followed by two beats of silence, serving as a dark, though short-lived, foreshadowing of the otherwise unexpected minor section to come. Throughout the third movement, Finale: con brio, the Night Music ensemble effortlessly trades demanding scalar figures with one another in an exciting, conversational finale. Written in 1783, while Kraus was living in Vienna, his Quintet in D for Flute and Strings (VB188) was still being heard in Viennese salons in the late 1790s. A surviving letter by the Swedish diplomat, Frederick Samuel Silverstolpe, records details about one such salon gathering in Vienna in 1797:

Though Silverstolpe does not identify the other two ‘masters’ whose music was performed at this salon gathering, it is likely that one of Haydn's compositions were performed. The inclusion of a work by Haydn – who was said to have been a fan of Kraus's music – on this album, then, seems all the more fitting.

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf's Duetto in E flat (Kr219), performed by Daniel Elyar on viola and Heather Miller Lardin on violone, offers a change in texture and timbre, serving as a nice juxtaposition to the rest of the album. Playing on a fretted replica of a 1748 violone, Miller Lardin makes full use of the instrument's Viennese tuning by highlighting the vibrant tone and resonance of the violone across its range.Footnote ⁹ The simplicity of the first two movements allows Elyar and Miller Lardin to showcase their chamber playing skills, carefully reacting to one another's nuanced interpretations and subtle changes in tempo and colour. In the third movement, Adagio, the reasoning behind the players’ decision to not repeat the second half of the movement is unclear; the result is a seemingly asymmetrical binary structure. Perhaps most intriguing is the fourth movement of the duet, Menuetto II, where Elyar and Miller Lardin emphasize an instant change in character between the Menuet and Trio sections, as what began as a galant style movement suddenly gives way to an ominous section, featuring chromatic, ascending lines and military-like triplet figures. Given that one of Arnstein's contemporaries noted her inclination for ‘the most learned and difficult compositions’, she might have found the rapid, demanding passagework of the final movement especially enjoyable.Footnote ¹⁰ The inclusion of this work by the Viennese court musician and composer Dittersdorf, who was both an ennobled bureaucrat and professional composer, is also reflective of Arnstein's guest lists, which often included members of both the old and new aristocracy, as well as the various middle classes.Footnote ¹¹

The final work on the album is an arrangement for flute and string quartet of Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94 in G major ‘Surprise’ (Hob1:94; 1801) by Johann Peter Salomon. Travelling to Vienna in 1790, Salomon secured Haydn's 1790–91 and 1794–95 visits to London and, by 1801, had arranged all 12 of Haydn's London symphonies for flute, string quartet, and pianoforte, including the ‘Surprise’ symphony heard here. For this recording, Night Music substitutes the violone for the optional keyboard part in Salomon's arrangement. To account for this change, Zohn suggests in the liner notes that Arnstein would have played the keyboard but chose not to due to mechanical issues with the family's Schantz piano (p. 5). However, primary accounts suggest that Arnstein gave up playing keyboard at her musical gatherings by 1797.Footnote ¹² Regardless, this substitution speaks to the flexibility likely needed in many salons regarding instrumentation. Particularly for smaller salons and hosts with limited funds or connections, utilizing the instruments and personnel available likely meant making alterations to the original instrumentation. This substitution also highlights the adaptability required of nineteenth-century professional performers, not to mention twenty-first-century musicians. Arrangements such as Salomon's were also vital for making performances of larger works possible in smaller, more intimate salon settings.

In the conclusion of his liner notes, Zohn poses a worthwhile question regarding the genre and style of these works in the context of a salon performance: ‘Where might one draw the line between chamber and orchestral music, especially given a quintet marked by symphonic writing and a symphony featuring so many solo passages’ (p. 5)? Zohn's observation points to the wide range of musical works performed in salons across Europe, which included small, chamber works like those found on this album, full-scale symphonic works, and occasionally oratorios and fully staged opera scenes. Taking Zohn's inquiry a step further: Where might Arnstein and her guests have drawn the line between music of the public sphere and music of the private sphere, especially if salon gatherings like Arnstein's could include as many as 400 guests? And how might recordings such as this challenge our own perceptions of these distinctions in the twenty-first century?Footnote ¹³

While music salon scholars, including Anja Bunzel, Carola Bebermeier, Rebecca Cypess, and many others, continue working to uncover the details of performances and activities experienced in salons such as that of Fanny von Arnstein, recordings like Night Music's Music for a Viennese Salon serve as useful forays into the possible repertoires, physical spaces, musical interpretations, and personnel that might have participated in Viennese salon culture in the early nineteenth century.Footnote ¹⁴ Thus, this album raises useful questions for considering what it might have been like to attend Arnstein's famous salon gatherings, and how much further future recordings might go to replicate the multi-sensory experience of these performances, all of which might help us better understand the activities, purpose, and cultural impacts of salons such as Arnstein's.