Classical Music, Vienna

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Go and see the statue of my favourite composer Beethoven. It is a geat place to sit and relax afte a bout of sightseeing.
It is just so lovely and for once the designer as managed to get the face of the composer right. So often statues etc of him do not manage to get his features correct.

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This is where there are a couple of houses where the composer Beethoven lived for some time. Probably the most important time, and certainly a very tragic and deeply unhappy time in his life was in 1802 when he was there and wrote "The Heiligenstadt Testament". Beethoven was then staying Probusgasse number 6, which is now known as the Heiligenstadt testament House. He was in Heiligenstadt in an attempt to cure his increasing deafness (which he had told no-one about), he wrote a long and despairing letter to his brothers giving a very moving account of his problem. Who could not be moved by the words "O ye men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do ye wrong me, you do not know the secret causes of my seeming, from childhood my feelings of good will, I was even ever eager to accomplish great deeds, but reflect now that for six years I have been a hopeless case, aggravated by senseless physician's Oh how harshly was I repulsed by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing, and yet it was impossible for me to say to men speak louder, shout, for I am deaf." The letter is to for his brothers Carl and Johann. Further along the Probusgasse is house number 26 where Beethoven stayed twice - during the summer of 1817 and in 1824.
The entrance to the museumis low so mind your head going in if you are tall. Koos IS tall and began his first visit with a bump on his head. On our first visit the curator was a little old lady who seemed to know everything about Beethoven, unfortunately she was not there on our last visit, but we remember just how friendly and helpful she was.
Not far from the Heiligenstadt House on Beethoven Ruhe is a beautiful statue of the man himself built in 1863. Behind the statue is a lovely park to wander through.
My copied drawing on the introduction to this is at Heiligenstadt.

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Look at the Mozart Memorial in the Hofburg Complex. Designed by Viktor Tilgner in 1896, it stands just inside the Ringstrasse entrance.
We were there once and "visited" him only to find he was being cleaned, the last time we visited we were lucky! The music sign at his feet is always done it colourful flowers and add a lovely touch to the park and to the photos. It is a great place to sit quickly and relax for a while during busy days exploring the city. It is a great place to sit and people watch.

walk through the Stadtpark and see the statue of Johann Strauss playing his violin. Johann Strauss (1825-1868) composed almost 400 waltzes and a lovely operetta Die Fledermaus. The park does contain other monuments to musicians and artists such as Emil Jakob Schindler a Viennese landscape painter, Franz Schubert and Franz Lehar. In the summer months there are concerts in the open air there.

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Visit the Eroica House where Beethoven wrote the Eroica symphony. It is a small museum but if you like Beethovens music it is worth visiting. There is a the plaque on the house. The interesting houses and museums all have the flag on them, which makes them easy to recognise.

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Visit the Mozart memorial in the St Marx Cemetery. He was buried in a paupers grave but there is a stone where they think he was buried. He was buried during a two year period when re-useable coffins were used and people were buried in mass graves so there is no personal grave. It seems a very strange and sad quirk of chance that one of the worlds most brilliant compsers last resting place is uncertain because he just happened to die in that two year period.

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Visit the Wahring park where Beethoven and Schubert were first buried. They were later moved to their final rsting place and memorial stones were placed against the wall in this park. Schubert was a great admirer of Beethoven and wanted to lie next to him although he felt unworthy to do so.

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Having visited the house where this great composer died you really have to visit the house where Schubert was born.
A small but interesting museum, his glasses are on show here. Photos (without flash) are allowed in the house.
I love his "winterreise" the music is so hauntingly beautiful.