Austria was the birthplace of many famous composers such as Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Johann Strauss, Sr. and Johann Strauss, Jr. as well as members of the Second Viennese School such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg.
Po letu 1918 so v času republike možje, kot so Theodor Innitzer in Ignaz Seipel, zavzeli vodilne položaje znotraj ali blizu vlade in okrepili vpliv med avstrofašizmom; Engelbert Dollfuss in Kurt Schuschnigg sta katolištvo obravnavala v glavnem kot državno vero.