This thesis examines the debate over Austrian national identity in the interwar period (1918-1938), and deconstructs key components of national identity. These components include economic, historical, linguistic and certain cultural factors, the concept of a nation's mission, and the "national individual". The final area examined is tourism. It is postulated that tourism permits exploration of the bonds between humans and the environment which they inhabit, and has significant implications for national cohesion. Sources include contemporary and historical texts on the concept of nationhood and related areas; political, social and cultural histories pertaining to the First Republic; and primary source materials including parliamentary and cabinet minutes; the League of Nations' economic reports on Austria; newspapers, particularly those of pressure groups; individual monographs (of economists, teachers, politicians, theorists); as well as cultural output (literature, poetry, cinema, art, and satire). The two sides of the debate can be grouped into arguments pertaining to Austria's relationship to Germany, and arguments placing Austria into a wider European context. The roles of internal cohesion and the influence of the outside world on national identity are addressed. It is shown that the contribution of this period to the development of Austrian national identity has been underestimated: that the foundations for an independent Austria were laid in these years. The concept of national identity is explored and elucidated.

In Vienna from about 1918 until the 1930s, contemporaries perceived a high point in the music-historical significance of Mahler's works, with regard to both the history of compositional style and the social history of music. The ideas and meanings that became attached to Mahler's works in this milieu are tied inextricably to the city's political and cultural life. Although the performances of Mahler's works under the auspices of Vienna's Social Democrats are sometimes construed today as mere acts of political appropriation, David Josef Bach's writings suggest that the innovative and controversial aspects of Mahler's works held social value in line with the ideal of Arbeiterbildung. Richard Specht, Arnold Schoenberg, and Theodor Adorno embraced oft-criticized features in Mahler's music, regarding the composer as a prophetic artist whose compositional style was the epitome of faithful adherence to one's inner artistic vision, regardless of its popularity. While all three critics addressed the relationship between detail and whole in Mahler's music, Adorno construed it as an act of subversion. Mahler's popularity also affected Viennese composers during this time in obvious and subtle ways. The formal structure and thematic construction of Berg's Chamber Concerto suggest a compositional approach close to what his student Adorno described a few years later regarding Mahler's music.