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For
centuries, Vienna was the glittering capital of a great empire where the
potential sponsorship of the Habsburg dynasty and many of the aristocrats at the
imperial court created an excellent environment
for musicians and artists. It is not surprising that many great composers were attracted to the city – they came, stayed and wrote immortal music. The Viennese musical tradition has continued for centuries, from one great composer to the next, from Haydn to Mozart, from Mozart to Beethoven, from Beethoven to Schubert and onward far into the twentieth century. There are many places associated with famous composers, such as their birthplaces, residences, monuments, tombs and burial sites – and, of course, the many places where their music was (and still is) performed: concert halls, the Vienna State Opera, the Volksoper, Theater an der Wien and many other venues “My
language is spoken throughout the world,” said Joseph Haydn
(1732 – 1809), the doyen of the “Vienna Classic” period. And his music still transcends language and other barriers.
Haydn’s reputation was such that Mozart dedicated six string quartets to him;
Beethoven came all the way from Germany to take lessons from “Papa
Haydn.” This giant of music composed more than a hundred symphonies, a great
number of chamber music works, and numerous oratorios and masses. Haydn started out in Vienna as a choir boy at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, but
spent most of his career in the service of the music-loving Prince Esterhazy
outside of the capital. At 65, he settled in Vienna, where he spent the
remaining twelve years of his life. In
1781, one of Haydn’s greatest admirers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791), moved to Vienna, the city at whose imperial court he had
enjoyed such great success as a child prodigy; he remained in Vienna until the
end of his life. To his father, he once wrote of his “irrational affection”
for Vienna. Indeed, Mozart’s happiest and most productive years were spent in
Vienna. This is where he composed his most famous operas, such as “The
Marriage of Figaro,” “Così Fan Tutte” and “Don Giovanni,” his last,
“Die Zauberflöte,” had its successful premiere at Theater auf der Wieden
shortly before his untimely death. “Perhaps
heaven will permit me not to have to give up Vienna as my permanent abode,”
wrote Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
about the city to which he had moved from his native Germany. The passionate
composer’s wish was fulfilled in more ways than one: all in all, Beethoven
changed residences 69 times during his thirty-five years in Vienna. Many of his domiciles are marked with memorial plaques, two of which are of particular interest: the building where he composed his Third Symphony, the “Eroica,” and the house where he wrote his “Heiligenstädter Testament,” a document that bears witness to the musician’s deep love of humanity. His oeuvre – written almost exclusively in Vienna – includes symphonies, chamber music, concertos and just one opera, “Fidelio,” which premiered at the quaint Theater an der Wien. Apparently
the grandiose Beethoven and his ardent admirer Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828)
never met. Who, looking at the
chubby, diminutive Schubert, nicknamed “Schwammerl” (mushroom) by his
friends, would have expected him to write the heavenly music that flowed from
his pen during his all-too-short life span. At
his death at 31, he had composed almost a thousand musical works, among them
more than 600 lieder, 9 symphonies (the eighth, “The Unfinished,” was
deliberately never completed), glorious chamber works and challenging piano
music, some of which was never performed during his lifetime.
Schubert and his friends celebrated musical evenings together, called
“Schubertiaden,” a tradition that has since been revived in Vienna and
elsewhere. Born
in Upper Austria, Anton Bruckner (1824
– 1896) lived and taught in Vienna for many decades. He lived in a side tract
of the Upper Belvedere Palace. Known by many as “God’s Musician,” the
devout Bruckner’s glorious symphonies have often been praised for their
imposing grandeur. During his
lifetime, Vienna split into two factions: Bruckner’s followers and the
admirers of Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897), the composer of great music who was
born in Northern Germany and chose Vienna to pursue his musical ambitions.
Towards the end of the last century, one simply could not belong to both camps.
In the admiration of today’s audiences, the two composers happily coexist.
Brahms
was, by his own admission, somewhat envious of Johann Strauss Son
(1825 – 1899). Asked for an autograph by Strauss’ wife, Adele, he wrote
the first bars of “The Blue Danube” and, underneath, “Alas, not by –
Johannes Brahms.” Like the rest of the musical world, Brahms bowed to the
genius of Vienna’s undisputed Waltz King. Of course, he was not the only
Viennese composer of waltzes and operettas – Johann Strauss Father
(1804 – 1849) had already written his famous “Radetzky March” and his
brothers Josef (1827 – 1870) and Eduard (1835
– 1916) also contributed to the musical form that the world ultimately came to
know as quintessentially Viennese. Gustav Mahler (1860 – 1911) deserves his commemorative plaque in the Vienna State Opera House. It is not generally known outside of Austria that this singular composer – who did not achieve world-wide recognition until well after his death – held the coveted post of artistic director of the Wiener Staatsoper for ten seasons. Viennese
musical tradition did not come to a halt with the end of the nineteenth century:
world-renowned modern composers such as the inventor of twelve-tone music,
Arnold Schoenberg (1874 – 1951); Anton von Webern
(1883 – 1945) and Alban Berg (1885
– 1935), the composer of “Wozzeck,” also hailed from Vienna. The oeuvre of
these and a number of other composers was originally known as Die Zweite Wiener
Schule (Second Viennese School), but today is referred to simply as the
“Viennese School.” After
the beginning of the New Year, Vienna’s ball season starts in earnest and,
with it, numerous musical events; concert halls such as the Musikverein and the
Konzerthaus put on outstanding performances almost every night. The Vienna State
Opera offers a variety of great operas from its impressive repertoire from the
beginning of September through the end of June. The
Volksoper caters mainly to operetta lovers but also to fans of musicals. Lately,
the Volksoper, which used to put on all operas in German, has taken a new
artistic direction,
presenting exciting new productions and performing some lesser-known works in
their original language. In
Vienna, festivals seem to be the order of the day: they start in January with
Resonances, the festival of early music; in April, Vienna celebrates the rites
of spring with its very own Spring Festival at the Musikverein and The Sound of
Easter in Vienna. And in May and June, the most impressive of them all, the
Vienna Festival, renowned for its superb international theatrical performances,
also invites musical ensembles and opera companies from all over the world, in
addition to staging many Austrian musical productions. Within
the framework of KlangBogen
– literally, the “Arch of Sound” – numerous concerts are
performed throughout the summer, some in unusual and interesting historic
locations all over the city, from old churches to lovely old courtyards of
beautiful Biedermeier houses. Chacun à son Goût (“To each his own”), sings Prince Orlofsky in “Die Fledermaus.” It seems appropriate that Vienna celebrates the end of the year by performing this most beloved of all operettas, often in both opera houses – a fitting prelude to the joyous beginning of the new year, when the famous New Year’s Concert is performed by the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) and broadcast all over the world. These two events symbolize Vienna’s musical season in different ways: by celebrating the old and welcoming the new; and by demonstrating that music, in Vienna, is a year-round preoccupation. Companion articles . . . . Vienna - Fine Arts & Other Rarities For
additional information, follow this link to Vienna
Tourism For additional information, follow this link to the Austrian National Tourist Office Our thanks to Vienna Tourism for the nformation used in this article.
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