Skandalkonzert

The Skandalkonzert ("scandal concert") was a concert conducted by Arnold Schoenberg, held on 31 March 1913. The concert was held by the Vienna Concert Society in the Great Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna. The concert consisted of music by composers of the Second Viennese School.

During the concert, the audience, shocked by the expressionism and experimentalism of the music, began rioting, and the concert ended prematurely. Amid the unrest, concert organizer Erhard Buschbeck was said to have slapped a concertgoer in the face; this would eventually lead to a lawsuit against Buschbeck. The event also led to an alternate name for the Skandalkonzert: Watschenkonzert, from the Austrian German for "slap concert". Operetta composer Oscar Straus, a witness to the alleged assault, testified that the slap had been "the most harmonious sound of the evening."