o "Canaletto's
Vienna"--that is, to the group of thirteen Viennese views which were
painted about 1760 by the Venetian Bernardo Belotto (who, like his more
famous uncle and model, Antonio Canale, was generally called
Canaletto), and which are now hanging in one of the galleries of the
_Kunsthistorische Hofmuseum_ at Vienna. The spirit of those pictures
may be described, I am told, as one of stately grace. They are full of
Latin joy in life and beauty. They speak of an existence constantly
softened by concern for the amenities of life. It is just what survives
of their atmosphere that frequently makes foreigners speak of Vienna
with a tender devotion not even surpassed by that bestowed on Paris or
Rome.

An attempt to understand the atmosphere and spirit of modern Vienna
will carry us far toward a correct appreciation of Schnitzler's art.
And it is not enough to say that Vienna is one of the oldest cities in
Europe. It is not even enough to say that it preserves more of the past
than Paris or London, for instance. What we must always bear in mind is
its position as the meeting place not only of South and North but also
of past and present. In some ways it is a melting-pot on a larger scale
than New York even. Racially and lingually, it belongs to the North.
Historically and psychologically, it belongs to the South. Economically
and politically, it lives very much in the present. Socially and
esthetically, it has always been strongly swayed by tradition. The
anti-Semitic movement, which formed such a characteristic feature of
Viennese life during the last few decades, must be regarded as the last
stand of vanishing social traditions against a growing pressure of
economical requirements.

Like all cities sharply divided within itself and living above a
volcano of half-suppressed passions, Vienna tends to seek in abandoned
gayety, in a frank surrender to the senses, that forgetfulness without
which suicide would seem the only remaining alternative. Emotions kept
constantly at the boiling-point must have an outlet, lest they burst
their container. Add to this sub-conscious or unconscious craving for a
neutral outlet, the traditional pressure of the Latin inheritance, and
we have the greater part of the causes that explain Schnitzler's
preoccupation with the themes of love and death. For Schnitzler is
first of all Viennese.

* * * * *

Arthur Schnitzler was born at Vienna on May 1