Gertraud Cerha

Gertraud Cerha Collection:

As early as 2010, extensive materials from Gertraud Cerha were handed over to the Archives of Contemporary Arts as part of Friedrich Cerha's estate. This collection grew continuously and was supplemented in 2023 by a donation from Gertraud Cerha. From this point on, it is listed as the Gertraud Cerha Collection. The bequest primarily documents Gertraud Cerha's publication and lecture activities, the conception and organization of symposia, her achievements as a musician and her teaching activities. The collection includes drafts of texts, presentation documents (slides, transparencies, music samples etc.), research material, recordings of broadcasts (ORF), correspondence, press reports, concert programs, schoolbooks, material on school projects and photographs.  

Particularly noteworthy is the material on Gertraud Cerha's lectures as part of the concert cycle “Wege in unsere Zeit” (1978-83). As the couple Gertraud and Friedrich Cerha repeatedly worked together on projects, the two bequests are interwoven in many places, particularly with regard to material on the ensembles die reihe and Camerata frescobaldiana.

Gertraud Cerha (née Möslinger) was born in Markgrafneusiedl, Lower Austria, in 1928 and grew up in Gmunden, Upper Austria. In 1946, she began studying piano and music education at the Staatsakademie für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (now the University of Music and Performing Arts) and history at the University of Vienna. In 1955 she studied harpsichord. 1950 to 1980 she taught music at what was then the Bundeserziehungsanstalt (BEA/now BRG Wien III, Boerhaavegasse) and was involved in setting up the music department there.  From 1961 to 1987 she taught basso continuo at the „Abteilung für Tasteninstrumente” at today's University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In 1952, she married Friedrich Cerha, whom she had met during her studies. After attending the “International Summer Courses for New Music Darmstadt” in 1958, the couple founded an ensemble for new music with Kurt Schwertsik, die reihe, in order to perform contemporary compositions in Austria and at the same time to make the marginalized music of the Viennese School known again. Gertraud Cerha was actively involved in the ensemble as a musician, music educator and organizer.

Together with Friedrich Cerha, she developed a cycle of concerts entitled “Wege in unsere Zeit”, which took place in the Vienna Konzerthaus in the 1978-1983 seasons. As part of the concerts, Gertraud Cerha gave extensive and highly acclaimed multimedia introductory lectures, which she later revised and presented herself for a series of programmes on Austrian radio. From 1960, Gertraud Cerha also performed with her husband in the jointly founded ensemble for early music, Camerata frescobaldiana, and worked with him on the edition of works of the Italian Early Baroque, which were published by Doblinger.   

As an active participant and observer of the new music scene for decades, she became an expert on music cultural developments in Austria after 1945 and is still in demand today as a speaker and author in this context. She organized a pioneering symposium to accompany the first Wien Modern Festival in 1988. In 2009, she was awarded the Austrian "Cross of Honour for Science and Art" for her services.