Like the Tango, Fado, or Rembetiko "Schrammel music" developed in a city
and contains elements of both folk music and composed music.
That a whole musical style has been named for two brothers, the violinists Johann and Josef
Schrammel, demonstrates the uniqueness of "Schrammel music"
within the creative Viennese music scene at the end of the 19th century.

According to the illustrated "Wiener Extrablatt" of 7 October 1883:
...A fiddle bow is tapped three times on the sounding-board of a violin. Three magic strokes.
In no time the din turns to silence: a holy stillness reigns over the hall, which seems to have been
suddenly turned into a church. And all eyes are turned towards the podium, on which three men
are seated. Two draw their bows across the strings, and the third has placed his fingers
on the thick body of his guitar. Those are the Schrammeln. There is no claque,
no paid applause-manufacturers, no friends who are there to generate excitement.
There are only admirers and fanatics, who can become truly angry if anyone scrapes his chair or talks
loudly during a performance...

In 1878 the violinist Josef Schrammel convinced his older brother Johann to form a trio
with Anton Strohmayer, who played a contraguitar, a normal six-stringed guitar with seven additional
bass strings. The trio soon expanded into a quartet with the addition of the clarinettist Georg Dänzer,
who played a very high clarinet, called the Picksiaßes Hölzl. Later the Schrammeln also played
with the accordionist Anton Ernst.
During the short time of their productivity (the brothers died in 1893 and 1895, respectively),
the Schrammels were nevertheless able to complete many world-renowned compositions.
Schrammel quartets today, of course, don't restrict themselves exclusively to works by the Brothers
Schrammel. Works ranging from those by contemporaries of the Schrammels and great musicians
from the time between the First and Second World Wars (for example, the virtuoso Mikulas brothers)
to contemporary Viennese dances, marches, waltzes, character studies, songs, and the like,
make up their repertoire.

Peter Havlicek

Translation: Edita Nosowa