Many of you here may be interested to read about my recent trip to Vienna August 8th-11th 2003. I had been before as a teenager but on that occasion only got to see the main touristy bits - this time I was determined to concentrate on the musical sights! The weather throughout the trip was intensely hot and sunny around 37C - there was a heatwave throughout Europe with many temperature records being broken. Getting around the city is easy with the excellent trams, buses and underground - clean, punctual and frequent - just one ticket lasting 72 hours gave me access to all for the price of 12 Euros! Vienna's history spans a period of over 2000 years. The ancient town of Vindobona (the name is of celtic origin) was one of many fortified outposts guarding the frontiers of the Roman empire. After the Romans, the city was conquered by people from Asia. Under Charlemagne Vienna became the capital of the 'Ostmark', and in 1276 it became an Imperial city under the reign of the Habsburgs. From this time onwards, the policy was of annexing the surrounding nations into the empire. Geographically, Vienna was well placed for a meeting place between east and west and this fusion of German, Latin, Slav and eastern cultures has left its mark on the city. Vienna suffered two invasions by the Turks (1529 and 1683), but although they penetrated as far as the city walls, they did not succeed in conquering the city itself. From then on until the end of the 18th century, the Baroque flourished in Vienna and is reflected in the astounding wealth of aristocratic palaces, elegant middle class town houses, churches and chapels, monuments and fountains that adorn the city. Thanks to a genuine interest and enthusiasm for all culture, the arts flourished - especially music, with many of the world's greatest composers living in Vienna - Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, & Mahler being just some of the many illustrious names to the city's credit. In the 19th century the waltz became the rage with the Strauss family captivating Europe. Vienna boasts an ancient university and has actively contributed to science, technology and medicine; Freud laid the foundations of modern psychology and many important discoveries took place here. Between 1858 and 1865, the old bastions were demolished to make way for a broad avenue encircling the centre, known as the Ring, along which important and monumental buildings of great splendour were erected together with beautiful parks, luxuriant gardens and promenades. Today Vienna is a modern metropolis with a cosmopolitan character, an international centre of music and the arts - a meeting place of creative spirits.
My companions on this trip were two fellow members of the Beethoven forum, Andrea (originally from the US but now living in Vienna) and Bernard from Scotland. On day one we all met up for the first time in the lobby of my hotel The Carlton Opera in Schikanedergasse, named after the impressario Emanuel Schikaneder (you may remember him from the film 'Amadeus' - Papageno the birdcatcher!)
Please click on images to enlarge
First up on the itinerary was the Pasqualati house on the Molkerbastei where Beethoven had lived intermittently between 1804-1814 : Loads of items such as his clock, music stand, salt and pepper cruet, sugar tin, manuscripts, paintings and the life mask. From the guide book I rather disappointedly learnt that these were not the actual rooms occupied by Beethoven - "so far it has not been possible to incorporate Beethoven's quarters into the commemorative rooms" - someone obviously refuses to move out!
Then we went on to the site of the Schwarzpanierhaus (demolished early 1900s) where Beethoven lived from October 1825 until his death on March 26th 1827 and the Dreifalteskeitkirche where the funeral service was held.
Next we headed for Dobling and
Heiligenstadt where we climbed the stairs to
Andrea's apartment - Bernard had the unenviable task of
climbing the 6 floors twice as his sunglasses made a
rapid descent the first time! Andrea's husband Reinhold
endured the incessant Beethoven chat amazingly and after
listening to Cooper's realisation of Beethoven's '10th
symphony' (and none of us liking it!) it was onward to
the museum in the Probusgasse where Beethoven composed
his Sym.#2 and wrote the moving Heiligenstadt Testament
in October 1802. After a prolonged lunch at nearby
Grinzing, time was pressing on
and as Bernard was going to a recital later that evening
we had to pass on a trip to the Kahlenberg hill which
provides the most spectacular view of Vienna (oh well -
next time!). So we walked back through Heiligenstadt
park, pausing at the Beethoven statue before making our
way to Schubert park.
Schubert park was the original burial site of Beethoven and Schubert and it was then known as Währing cemetery. The main gates (where Anschütz had read Grillparzer's moving funeral oration on March 29th 1827) were locked but Bernard had been the day before and knew another way in around the back! It was quite intimate as only Beethoven and Schubert's tombstones remain in the much appreciated shade by a wall. For a while we sat on the bench opposite and contemplated the many great names who had paid hommage to this site in the 19th century. This after all was the place Schumann found a pen lying on Beethoven's grave and subsequently wrote his 1st symphony with! In 1863 on Oct13 Beethoven's body was exhumed and reburied. Finally on Jun 21st 1888 he was dug up again and his remains reburied in the Zentralfriedhof.
The following day we started off at the vast Zentralfriedhof (central cemetery) with its thousands of outstanding monuments to Vienna's famous and not so famous! The Viennese jokingly claim that while their Zentralfriedhof is only half the size of the Swiss capital Bern, it's twice as amusing! The Zentralfriedhof is the second largest cemetery in Europe at 3.1 square kilometers and was opened in 1874. There are 330,000 graves and over 3,000,000 people have been buried here. The Zentralfriedhof has a special section (the so called Ehrengräber) where composers, writers, artists and politicians are buried. Here are just a few of the ones we stopped at, Czerny,
Salieri, Gluck, Hugo Wolf, Suppé, all the Strauss
family, Brahms, Schubert, Nanette Streicher and of course
Beethoven (whose remains were placed here on June 21st
1888). In the centre of the cemetery is the impressive
Jugendstil-styled Dr. Karl Lueger Memorial Church,
designed by Max Hegele who also designed the magnificent
main gate. The large church interior is richly decorated
with mosaic ornamentation as well as large stained glass
windows. It provided welcome relief from the heat!
Then we went on to the Haydn
museum which was the house Haydn lived in from
1797 until his death in 1809 'from exhaustion and
senility' according to the guide book! - delightful place
with a charming courtyard. Here he wrote his last 6 great
masses and the two oratorios - 'The creation' and 'The
Seasons'. Amongst the inevitable manuscripts, death mask
and paintings were some nice touches such as Haydn's
pencil, visiting card and an inventory of Haydn's art
objects which included 'a living parrot from the race of
the clever Jako, the size of a pigeon, grey with red
tail' purchased 19 years earlier by Haydn in London! The
museum also (rather oddly) had a room devoted to Brahms
which included Haydn's piano (which Brahms had owned), as
well as some interesting items of furniture, paintings
including his wash basin!
It was an incredibly moving and powerful experience -
Pastoral Symphony, Ah Perfido, Gloria from C major mass,
4th piano concerto, 5th symphony, Sanctus and Benedictus
from the mass, an improvisation in the style of Beethoven
(based on themes suggested by the audience - mine wasn't
chosen!), and the Choral fantasy - all on period
instruments which made the whole thing even more
realistic - closing my eyes I was back in Dec 22nd 1808
and Beethoven was playing! The atmosphere was electric
and the audience went wild at the end with a 20 minute
ovation - a one off experience that I shall remember all
my life.
Bernard and I then went to a cafe in
the Ressel park near the magnificent Karlskirche
where without the assistance of Andrea there was some
confusion over the drinks order! Taking a longer walk
than necessary back to my hotel I passed the site of the
house Brahms had lived in, the Imperial hotel where
Thomas Mann, Richard Wagner, Sarah Bernard, Alfred
Hitchcock, Herbert von Karajan, Luciano Pavarotti,
Charlie Chaplin, Arthur Rubinstein had all stayed.
Mussolini was secretly shepherded into the hotel through
a backdoor on 13 September 1943, shortly after his
spectacular escape from his Italian prison. Then past the
Opera house where Mahler was conductor in the 1890's, a
house connected with Vivaldi and the house Schubert died
in.
The following day I had breakfast
sitting out in the Graben and had great
difficulty in finding the Köhlmarkt (despite the fact it
leads off the Graben!) - my German pronunciation being
met with a look as if I were from Mars. Climbed the
stairs of Artaria (one of Beethoven's first publishers in
Vienna) only to find it closed. Walked round the city
centre and went inside St.Peter's - just breathing in the
atmosphere of the streets that they all knew so well -
through the gates of the Imperial palace onto the
Ringstrasse and the new Karajan centre where I purchased
a few cds - had to have that designer bag! Then off to
the airport and a nice lunch - I heartily recommend
Vienna airport as one of the best. Then back home to
England via a nightmare transfer at Brussels which
involved an incredibly long hike from one terminal to the
other and prevented me from having time for a much needed
beer!
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