THE VIENNESE MUSIC SCENE of the 1920s was given an added dimension through its relations with the cultural policies of the Social Democrats, something that can also be seen in some of the city's most prominent musicians. Although Arnold Schoenberg considered himself a member of the bourgeoisie, he was nonetheless convinced that his work was part of a historically determined process. He also had special friendships with several politicians influential in Red Vienna's cultural and educational policy. In turn, the most sociocritical works of the Second Viennese School were the operas Wozzeck and Lulu by Alban Berg. And the person most closely involved at the institutional level of Red Vienna was Anton Webern, who, as conductor and curator of some of the Workers’ Symphony Concerts series (Arbeiter-Sinfonie-Konzerte), had close ties to the Social Democratic Arts Council (Sozialdemokratische Kunststelle). In the quest for a new sound aesthetic for the modern age, composers such as Ernst Krenek combined the atonality and twelve-tone technique of Schoenberg's circle with other new sounds, particularly that of jazz.

The main person involved in the cultural program of the Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP) was David Josef Bach (1874–1947). The schoolmate and close friend of Schoenberg worked as a writer, journalist, and music critic for the daily Arbeiter-Zeitung. In 1918 he became the editor of its arts and literary section. Bach had already introduced the Workers’ Symphony Concerts in 1905 with the goal of exposing the proletariat to classical music and giving them opportunities to visit leading Viennese concert venues such as the Musikverein and Konzerthaus. Not least because of the success of this concert series, Bach became the director of the Social Democratic Arts Council when it was founded in 1919. The objective of the council was cultural education of all kinds, with the Workers’ Symphony Concerts series serving as a model. Bach was a staunch supporter of modern music, as was his fellow party member, the musicologist and composer Paul Amadeus Pisk (1893–1990). Both were important functionaries in the International Society for Contemporary Music and worked with Theodor W. Adorno on Musikblätter des Anbruch, a journal dedicated to new music. Pisk was also a board member of the Schoenberg circle's Society for Private Musical Performances (Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen) and served as its pianist.