In this city famed for its love of music, Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer's glaring involvement in who will run Vienna's flagship opera house has made him a target for criticism that he is spending too much time on affairs of the stage instead of the state.
The Austrian government leader is a Socialist — a party whose rank and file still is drawn from the European working class with a musical preference more Beyonce than Brahms. And the stocky son of working-class parents makes no secret of his origins.
In a biography on his party's Web site, he tells of how he beefed up his allowance using his bike to deliver lettuce grown by his grandmother. And in this buttoned-down European capital, he raised eyebrows after winning the Oct. 1 national elections by sitting down to a post-vote interview in a Red Sox track suit, fresh from a jog.
But Gusenbauer, 47, is also a regular at premieres of the prestigious Vienna State Opera, where Vienna's well-heeled and influential inner circle — most over 50 and politically conservative — rub tuxedoed and gowned shoulders during breaks over canapés, dainty Viennese pastries and bubbly.
Certainly, no once can fault "Gusi" — who says that the first record he ever bought, at age 15, was a long-playing vinyl disc of Beethoven's 5th — for his love of the classics in a city that was home to Mozart, Brahms, Mahler and other musical titans.
Many are irked, though, by the prominent public role he has recently assumed in the search for a new State Opera director — a position of enormous influence in Vienna, which still draws music lovers from the world.
The city's class acts include three opera houses, two acoustically and visually stunning concert halls and dozens of other venues. But its musical centerpiece remains the Vienna State Opera, whose enviable sales record — despite ticket prices that can exceed $270 — is close to 100 percent. It also serves as the venue for the annual Opera Ball that draws celebs from around the world.
Gusenbauer initially made no secret of his preference as a replacement for Ioan Holender, the opera icon who announced last month that he would not extend his contract when it runs out in three years. (Story Continues On Next Page..
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