“Jewish History” beyond binary conceptions: Jewish performing musicians in Vienna around 1900

The article draws attention to similarity as a new concept in cultural studies. Its novelty consists in the abrogation of binary classifications and concurrent retention of differences. Similarity may serve as an important category of analysis in Jewish Studies in that it focuses on commonalities without neglecting the differences between Jews and non-Jews. This will be demonstrated by its application to a conflict among Viennese Volkssänger, that is, performing musicians who sang Wienerlieder and played short burlesques, in the early twentieth century. The Volkssänger dominated Vienna’s popular entertainment culture throughout the nineteenth century. This situation started to change when the emerging film industry and variety theatres eclipsed the attraction of the Volkssänger for the Viennese population. They, in turn, attempted to preserve their share in the entertainment sector by lobbying the Austrian government to prevent Hungarian ensembles performing in Vienna. When Albert Hirsch, one of the most popular Volkssänger, also known for his anti-Hungarian sentiments, invited an ensemble from Budapest to Vienna, many of his colleagues felt betrayed. They retaliated against Hirsch by rendering his Jewishness an issue. Hirsch reacted by questioning Jewish and non-Jewish boundaries. He did so by relating an experience in which he, as a Jew, had perceived more common ground with Karl Lueger, Vienna’s anti-Semitic mayor, than with other Jewish Volkssänger. Hirsch’s somewhat odd behaviour can be made intelligible by employing similarity as an analytical concept.