European history has rarely met changes as rapid, dense and radical as those that have taken place in the regions of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire over the past hundred years. This cultural area has experienced political conflicts, the setting and dissolution of borders, and the construction of similarities, differences, and ever-new identities.Being tied to text, vocal music genres reflect such changes especially strongly. Operas and operettas, oratorios and cantatas, choir music, folksongs, and pop and rock hits have all helped to establish identities in many ways, connecting people on national, ethnical, local or social levels.The contributions to this volume represent the proceedings of the Annual Congress of the Austrian Society for Musicology (OEsterreichische Gesellschaft fur Musikwissenschaft - OEGMw) in 2014. They open multiple perspectives on the identity-relevant implications of every kind of vocal music from the last days of the Habsburg Empire to the present day. As such, the book places the extensively discussed concept of Nationalism in music in the wider context of identity building.

A quarter of a century ago, glasnost opened the door for a new look at Russian emigre culture unimpeded by the sterile concepts of Cold War cultural politics. Easier access to archives and a comprehensive approach to culture as a multi-faceted phenomenon, not restricted to single phenomena or individuals, have since contributed to a better understanding of the processes within the emigre community, of its links with the lost home country, and of the interaction with the cultural life of the countries of adoption.This volume offers a collection of critical articles that resulted from the international interdisciplinary symposium which was held at Saarland University in November 2011 as part of a one-week festival, "Russian Music in Exile". Scholars from around the world contributed essays reflecting current perspectives on Russian emigre culture, shedding new light on cultural diplomacy, literature, art, and music, and covering essentially the whole 20th century, from pre-revolutionary movements to the present. The interdisciplinary approach of the volume shows that emigre networks were not confined to a particular segment of culture, but united composers, artists, critics, and even diplomats. On the whole, the contributions to this volume document the fascinating diversity, the internal contradictions, as well as the impact that the largest and most durable emigre movement of the 20th century had on European cultural life.