A Woman's Life at the Dawn of a New Epoch

Chamber Music by Vilma Webenau

Vilma Webenau was, as far as we know, far from wealthy during most of her lifetime, and was hardly known, even in musical circles. That said, her image has in recent years been fleshed out a little more, not least due to the enormous interest in her most famous teacher: the hitherto most comprehensive account of her career was published in 2019 as part of a study by Elisabeth Kappel on the topic of "Arnold Schoenberg's female pupils". Some of the details were already in the public domain, and many gaps in the narrative still remain. All the same, we now have a relatively conclusive picture of a woman whose life and work can in no way be defined as the norm for an average citizen.