Klarinet Archive - Posting 000115.txt from 1999/01

From: Neil Leupold <nleupold@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Any good recommendations? :)
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 20:24:08 -0500

On Mon, 4 Jan 1999, Soo Khoon Goh wrote:

> I will have a day or two free during the 3 weeks and if anyone can
> suggest some must see place to visit in Vienna, that would be great
> too! So if anyone's been there, of livethere, I welcome your sugges-
> tions! :)

While in Salzburg, try to visit the house where Mozart was born.
I believe it's in the Altstadt. On the other side of the river,
across the foot bridge, is the opulent house in which he and his
father lived later on. The latter includes a mobile audio tour
with headphones in your choice of languages. Entertaining and
informative. If you get a chance, try to catch a concert of the
Mozarteum orchestra. I managed to convince them that I was a
student, and they gave me a discount ticket rate. The concert I
attended was fabulous, including a performance of the Bartok Viola
Concerto. Heck, just seeing the inside of the Mozarteum concert
hall is worth the price of the ticket. So much gold leaf and
sparkling chandeliers. Really beautiful.

In Vienna, it's a very worthwhile trip to find Beethoven's
"Eroica Haus", where he lived and wrote the Eroica Symphony
in 1803. It's not entirely easy to find, but with a good
tour book of Vienna, you should be able to locate it. In
addition to the artifacts inside the house, there's a little
music table with recordings of some of his music. Odd to
me was that each movement of Eroica was performed by a
different ensemble under a different conductor. First move-
ment was Berlin/Karajan. Then Wien/Abbado for the second.
Back to Berlin/Karajan for the third, and then Wien/Bernstein
for the last. What's the point? I listened to Eroica, and
the other recordings, merely to sink myself into the moment
and come to terms with the fact that I was sitting inside the
house in which Beethoven wrote these pieces. It was surreal...
until other people broke my solitude by coming in from outside.

My final suggestion is to visit the Heiligenstadt Haus, where
Beethoven wrote his Heiligenstadt Testament. The house is
located on Probusgasse 6 and is probably even more difficult
to find than the Eroica Haus. But again, it is well worth
the effort. It's a little eery in there, because it contains
artifacts of his death, including a death mask in a glass case.
I don't remember what the mask is made of, but it may be bronze.
There's a music table in there, with other recordings I assume,
but it was broken when I visited. You can obtain a nice little
leaflet with the full hand-written Heiligenstadt Testament, as
well as a printed version in German and an English translation
on the other side.

I hope you enjoy your trip.

Neil

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