“Verdammt Wir Leben noch!”
The Ghost of Empire in the Music of Falco Exploring the memories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the music of the 1980s artist by Claudia Lonkin
T
he Austrian singer Falco, born Johann Hözel in 1957, is perhaps his country’s most well-known musical export since Mozart. Although he is indeed Austrian, his music can best be described as neue deutsche Welle (German new wave), due to its combination of pop aesthetics, rap lyrical delivery, electronic instruments, and classical samples. As one might expect, not much secondary academic work has been written on Falco. There is one German-language collection, Falco’s Many Languages, dealing mostly with syntax, rather than thematic meaning, which was consulted by the author.1 This paper quotes extensively from the film historian Ewa Mazierska’s work on Falco, though the research presented here is differentiated by its historical methodology, namely extensive incorporation of primary source materials from the centuries-long history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Though Falco was born almost fifty years after the Empire’s dissolution, his music nonetheless contains strong echoes of everything from its grandest epochs to and darkest ages. In his music, Falco connects contemporary Austria to the Habsburg dynasty through musical heritage, the concept of an unchanging Viennese identity, and the persistent shadow of empire. These connections all serve to show the strength of Imperial memory, an anamnesis so strong it has leaked unwittingly into fields as remote as popular music. In one of his biggest hits, “Rock Me Amadeus,” Falco draws a direct connection between himself and court composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Er war Superstar Er war populär Er war so exaltiert, because er hatte Flair Er war ein Virtuose War ein Rockidol Und alles rief “Come and rock me Amadeus.”2 By referring to Mozart as a “superstar” and a “rock idol,” Falco places himself in the same category as the composer, implicitly stating that they are two of a kind, separated by only two centuries. They share in the experience of fame and popularity that shapes all star musicians. Mozart
himself went from being a child prodigy who, in 1762, declared himself “far from…all lies and bragging,” to a veritable superstar who, in 1791, wrote openly that “my musical talents, my works and my skill in composition are well known in foreign countries, my name is treated everywhere with some respect, and I myself was appointed several years ago composer to the distinguished Court of Vienna.”3 Just like a modern popstar of the 1980s, Mozart was swept off his feet by whirlwind popularity. Mazierska agrees, noting that “Rock Me Amadeus” exemplifies how one can connect to the past using a “matrix of the present” composed of a series of contemporary phenomena, in this case the hallmarks of fame and popular music.4 This network of references allows Falco to both evoke the storied Habsburg musical tradition and situate himself within it. A frequent subject of Falco’s music is the city of Vienna. His song “Wiener Blut” characterizes Viennese identity as frenetic, almost to the point of violence. In the chorus, Falco sings, Wiener Blut In diesem Saft die Kraft Die Wiener glüht… Wir haben die Medizin Der Dekadenz haben wir an Preis verliehen… Wiener Blut Mit Mord und Totschlag haben wir nix am Hut5 Falco depicts the Viennese as relishing their decadent lifestyle, not just in their personal dalliances, but as an omnipresent modus operandi. Indeed, one does not have to look very hard for examples of Viennese exuberance. William H. Stiles, the American chargé d’affaires to the Austrian Empire from 1845 to 1849, remarked that, after the March Revolution of 1848, “In Vienna the whole aspect of things seemed changed, as it were, by a magician’s wand. The people appeared to have passed at a bound from Egyptian darkness to “marvelous, light.”6 To further this point, Mazierska highlights the other “Wiener Blut,” an 1873 waltz composed by Johann Strauss, to make the argument that when Falco speaks of the coming together of “business, politics, and crime”
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