ABSTRACT
Austria is bordered on the west by Switzerland, the northwest by Germany, the northeast by the Czech Republic, the east by Hungary, the southeast by Croatia, and the southwest by Italy Nearly all its 7.5 million citizens speak German; just over half are urbanites, and 90 percent are Roman Catholic. Many citizens, when asked to specify the most Austrian music, immediately recite a list of composers of art music, awarding special honor to Mozart, Schubert, and the Strauss family. The reasons behind the widespread respect and knowledge of art music in Austria are straightforward. "Authentic" Austrian folk music is remarkably unified, though practitioners and scholars subdivide into distinct regional repertoires. The yodel — a family of song types that permeates alpine regions, within and near Austria—aptly illustrates connections and divergences in Austrian folk music. From 1945 until the mid-1980s, popular music in Austria was distinguished from German and Anglo-American models by specific responses, rooted in Austrian social and economic realities.
