13 November 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of Yella Hertzka's death, and although she played an important role in the field of international women's rights and made a significant contribution to Austrian music history in the 20th century as director and public administrator of the music publishing house Universal Edition, little is known about this Pioneer woman.

Born on 4 February 1873 to Ferdinand and Agnes Fuchs, Yella grew up as the youngest of seven children in an upper-middle-class Jewish family. She trained as a gardener at the Higher Horticultural School in Bad Godesberg, and in 1897 she married Emil Hertzka, who became director of the Vienna Universal Edition in 1909.

Yella Hertzka (1873-1948)

Involvement in the women's and peace movement

Yella Hertzka is still one of the most important protagonists of the international women's and peace movement, for she was involved in the bourgeois women's movement from 1900 onwards and described herself as a "women's rights activist". She not only took part in numerous international women's movement congresses and joined women's associations, but also founded the Neuer Frauenklub together with likeminded people and participated intensively in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (IFFF, WILPF). As a co-founder of the Austrian section of this league, she brought the international congress of the WILPF to Vienna in 1921, which she not only helped organise, but also participated in as a lecturer and leader of discussions.

Founder of a horticultural school for girls in Vienna-Grinzing

To enable young women to lead independent lives, Yella Hertzka founded a higher two-year horticultural school for girls in the 19th district of Vienna in 1912. The aim was to train the students to become good gardeners, and to prepare them for leadership positions. Yella Hertzka not only acted as the director, but also taught business administration in addition to floriculture, soil and legal studies.

At the same time, under her aegis, the artists' colony in Döblinger Kaasgraben was established, which, in addition to a boarding school for the horticultural school, was also home to representative villas inhabited by numerous artists. In the adjoining park, Yella Hertzka organised large festivals attended by the most important personalities of international musical life, such as Arnold Schönberg, Béla Bartók, Gustav Mahler and Ernst Krenek, which contributed to the international reputation of the artists' colony.

After the First World War, Yella Hertzka's pacifist stance gradually led to her estrangement from her long-time companions in the Federation of Austrian Women's Associations, as she was very critical of Austria's annexation to Germany in comparison to many of her former like-minded friends.

Administrator of Universal Edition

Yella Hertzka and her husband, the director of the Viennese Universal Edition Emil Hertzka, led an equal marriage for 35 years, which was characterised by mutual support - in personal as well as professional matters. Yella Hertzka's busy travel schedule for the Women's League resulted in numerous synergy effects from which the composers also profited. For example, at the opening of the congress of the International Women's League in Vienna in 1921, a work by Johanna Müller-Hermann was performed, whose String Quartet op. 6 had been published by the UE years earlier. Yella Hertzka acquired in-depth knowledge of music publishing over more than three decades and was on friendly terms with many of the UE composers who had come and gone in the Hertzka house. Correspondence with Arnold Schönberg and Alban Berg shows how much they appreciated her.

When Emil Hertzka appointed his wife Yella as universal heir in his will, thus securing her a decisive influence on the music publishing house after his death and subsequently giving her a seat on the board of directors as a major shareholder, she already had the necessary expertise in the management of an internationally active cultural enterprise and knew how to assert herself despite the precarious political situation.

However, with the annexation of Austria to Germany, radical changes occurred at UE. A provisional administrator was appointed and the predominantly Jewish shareholders had to sell their shares cheaply. Yella Hertzka fled into exile in London. Likewise, Alfred A. Kalmus, one of the managing directors of Universal Edition and Yella Hertzka's nephew, left Vienna and settled in London in the mid-1930s to establish a branch of Universal Edition there.

After the Second World War, Yella Hertzka was appointed public administrator in place of Alfred Schlee until the ownership situation was clarified. In return, she appointed Alfred Schlee as director of Universal Edition and until her death on 13 November 1948, the management of the music publishing house was in both hands.

Yella Hertzka's commitment to Universal Edition helped to re-establish relations that had been severed by the war and the Nazi persecution of former owners. At the same time, her re-entry into the company also made it easier for Alfred Schlee to re-establish contacts with displaced composers and employees. Furthermore, as a public administrator, she set the course for the restitution proceedings to be carried out in 1951, three years after her death.