Austrian writer on music.

Career Summary

Botstiber studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Robert Fuchs, and privately with Zemlinsky, wrote a dissertation (1901) on Pachelbel under Guido Adler at the University of Vienna, and in 1896 became Eusebius Mandyczewski's assistant at the library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Appointed Secretary of the newly-founded Wiener Konzert-Verein (Vienna Concert Society) in 1900, from 1913 to 1938 he was General Secretary of the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft (Vienna Concert House Society). He made significant contributions to the musical life of Vienna through his work with the Vienna Concert Orchestra and the Wiener Konzert-Verein. In 1938, he emigrated to England.

Botstiber and Schenker

Botstiber appears for the first time in Schenker's diary on August 13, 1906 in company with Schenker, Adalbert Seligmann, and Moriz Violin at the Mozarteum, and on December 16 of the same year he clashed with Schenker in the street over Richard Strauss's ability as a conductor. The two men met when, in summer 1914, the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft asked Schenker to deliver lectures on the Beethoven sonatas, but Schenker set his price too high for the Society, Schenker remarking that "the Concert House Society would have preferred to have seen from me an act of local patriotism."

Correspondence with Schenker

Two items of correspondence from Botstiber to Schenker survive in OJ 9/19 (1913 and undated), and four letters from the Wiener Konzerthausgesellschaft to Schenker survive in OJ 15/19 (1914-24).

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