The Warmth Of Your Hand And A Cold Grey Sky - Vienna #3

 

A bust on display in the Pasqualati House. https://www.wienmuseum.at/beethoven_pasqualatihaus_en

"Ludwig Von" says Alex in A Clockwork Orange. 

Getting my geek on. Here is the dialogue from that scene in the film:

Alex: [narrating while being forced to watch a World War II movie with Nazis.] 

It was the next day, brothers. And I had truly done my best, morning and afternoon, to play it their way and sit like a horrorshow cooperative malchik in the chair of torture, while they flashed nasty bits of ultraviolence on the screen. Though not on the soundtrack, my brothers -- the only sound being music. Then I noticed, in all my pain and sickness, what music it was that, like, cracked and boomed. It was Ludwig Van -- 9th symphony, 4th movement.

Alex: [screaming] 

STOP IT! STOP IT, PLEASE! I BEG YOU! IT'S A SIN! IT'S A SIN! IT'S A SIN! IT'S A SIN! IT'S A SIN! IT'S A SIN!

Dr. Brodsky: Sin? What's all this about sin?

Alex: THAT! Using Ludwig van like that! He did no harm to anyone! Beethoven just wrote music!

Dr. Branom: Are you referring to the background score?

Alex: YES!

Dr. Branom: You've heard Beethoven before?

Alex: YES!

Dr. Brodsky: So you're keen on music?

Alex: [Emphatically] YES!

Dr. Brodsky: Can't be helped. Here's the punishment element perhaps. The Governor ought to be pleased...I'm sorry, Alex, this is for your own good. You'll have to bear with us for a while.

One portrait. 

His music stand.

Another portrait.

From Visiting Vienna:

"The house owner – Baron Pasqualati – was a friend and sponsor of Beethoven, and the composer lived in one of the apartments within at various times between 1804 and 1814. Here the great man worked on, for example, the opera that became known as Fidelio, several symphonies, and the famous Für Elise piano piece. What Beethoven did not do was live in the exact same rooms you can visit. Though he did live on the same floor.

So manage your expectations; this is not a former apartment or a comprehensive Beethoven museum (that’s here and highly recommended), but a kind of small homage and memorial to the composer.

The house sits on a raised site above the old city walls, and would have looked down across the green suburbs outside Vienna.

Such a view must have been an inspiring location for anyone with a creative bent."

Pasqualati House. https://www.visitingvienna.com/footsteps/beethoven-pasqualatihaus/

Front entrance.

His piano. 

Which symphony do you like best? Which conductor of his symphonies? 

This man, Austrian born? https://karajan.org/

He has his own Platz (Square) named after him. 

But not his own statue.

From the Evendo website:

"The Beethoven Monument, located in Beethovenplatz in Vienna's Innere Stadt, is a prominent tribute to Ludwig van Beethoven, who lived in Vienna for over 35 years. Created by sculptor Caspar von Zumbusch, the bronze statue was revealed on May 1, 1880, commissioned by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. The monument portrays Beethoven seated on a plinth, surrounded by allegorical figures, including Prometheus and the goddess Fama, symbolizing his artistic genius and impact.The Beethoven monument isn't the only memorial to the composer in the square; a more abstract bronze statue by Markus Lüpertz is also nearby. A short walk will also lead you to Stadtpark, where you can find monuments to other composers such as Bruckner and Schubert.Visitors can appreciate the artistry of the monument and reflect on Beethoven's contributions to classical music. The surrounding area, known for its musical heritage, enhances the experience, making it a must-see for music enthusiasts and tourists alike."

Views of buildings and Pasqualati House site known as Mölker Bastei.

The Mölker Bastei is a unique site. The block of houses is situated on top of the remains of Vienna's 16 th century city fortifications. The old cobblestones, the proximity of Baroque and Biedermeier houses, and the building's different heights have remained unchanged since Beethoven's time.

Moving on then from the Pasqualati House to Blood Alley (Blutgasse). 

It's not difficult to find. https://www.viennaitineraries.com/Blutgasse.html

The Blutgasse (Blood Alley) is located in an area called Blutgassenviertel. Right behind St. Stephen's Cathedral, it is one of the oldest and most picturesque areas in the city. The Alley runs from the Domgasse to Singerstrasse.

Can you imagine the Viennese in their wigs riding in or awaiting their horse-drawn coaches? Pause and allow yourself, if possible, to feel a presence, to hear from whence some of that music originated. 

From the Vienna Itineraries website:

    "The houses of Blood Alley go back to the Middle Ages, one of the oldest areas in Vienna. Since 1862, the official name of the area is Blutgasse. There are many fascinating, albeit dubious, traditions explaining the name, including the Knights Templar, who were slaughtered in 1342 and the area was filled with their blood.

    "The Blutgasse became rundown after WWII, and was renovated from 1989-1991. The area has been restored, revitalized and inhabited. It is filled with building complexes with beautiful interconnected courtyards. You can enter the gate in Blutgasse 3 and go through the magnificent courtyards that bring you to the street through the gate of Blutgasse 9."

Now to Dom Gasse and the Mozarthaus. Three floors of all the Mozart you could desire.

W.A. Mozart and Johann Strauss mean large doses of tourism.

From the Free-City-Guides website:

"Mozarthaus in Vienna is a grand city centre apartment which was home to Mozart whilst he composed the Marriage of Figaro. It was also the former home of Strauss though and he wrote the Blue Danube waltz here. Mozart actually lived in a number of apartments in Vienna, but this is the only one which still remains. He lived here from 1784 to 1787 which is longer than any other apartment."

Eight years old when he composed his first symphony. Mozart was an enfant terrible, of sorts. A child prodigy. One rare artist worthy of the label of genius, a word overused, as if genius is so common. It's not. It's astonishing to think of what Mozart accomplished before his death at the age of 35.

A BBC fun Mozart facts site here: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3jz912lTYJDPT9MCYFF3GkV/9-note-worthy-moments-from-the-life-of-mozart 

Dom Gasse. 

One link to Mozarthaus to help you: https://www.free-city-guides.com/vienna/mozarthaus/

And another: https://www.visitingvienna.com/entertainment/bosendorfer-saal/

 If you don't care for massive amounts of tourists, and they are hard to avoid in Vienna, it's best to visit out of season and to arrive to your destinations very early in the day. 

Imagine standing on the cobblestones and hearing one of Mozart's 27 piano concertos passing through a window slightly ajar. Finding out later that it was this young lad seated at the piano and that he'd written the composition himself.  

Where does that come from?

Who is your favorite musician or composer when it comes to Vienna? Someone from the Strauss family pictured above? We have Johann Strauss I, Johann Strauss II (also known as Johann Strauss Jr.), Josef Strauss, and Eduard Strauss.

A link to the Johann Strauss Society: https://www.johann-strauss.org.uk/strauss.php

And a link to Nashville Classical, with short bios and a breakdown of each prominent Strauss family musician: https://91classical.org/post/all-in-the-family-your-guide-to-the-strauss-musical-dynasty/

And this man from Germany? Johannes Brahms. 

Or this gentleman below?

One Anton Brucker: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anton-Bruckner

Or this master, as seen below on a plaque, originally from Poland?

One Frederic Chopin: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederic-Chopin

The airport in Warsaw is named after him. https://lotnisko-chopina.pl/en/

Or perhaps this composer above, from Bohemia, featured on a plaque? 

One of my favorite novels is about him, Dvorak In Love, by the late Josef Škvorecký, also one of my favorite authors.

From Goodreads:

"Josef Škvorecký, CM was a Czech writer and publisher who spent much of his life in Canada. Škvorecký was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1980. He and his wife were long-time supporters of Czech dissident writers before the fall of communism in that country. By turns humorous, wise, eloquent and humanistic, Škvorecký's fiction deals with several themes: the horrors of totalitarianism and repression, the expatriate experience, and the miracle of jazz."

Regarding the novel, this is from a publisher's synopsis posted on Blackwell's:

"Here is a wonderfully imagined picture of a little known period in American musical history. In 1892, at the height of his prodigious powers, Antonin Dvorak was persuaded to leave his native Bohemia to come to New York to be director of the National Conservatory for Music. In this exuberant novel, Josef Skvorecky tells the story of Dvorak's utterly requited love affair with young America, the anthem of which is his famous Symphony in E Minor, From the New World."

Back to Vienna.

A visit to this walk of fame, with stars ala Hollywood, which I guess I was glad to see though I really don't know what to make of it. Am I too elitist or snobbish to think plaques and statues are enough? Then again, maybe they're not. Who am I to judge? If they attract young people to classical music, then in my opinion they're a good idea.

I suppose I'm not alone in having mixed feelings about Wilhelm Furtwangler as a composer, though I enjoy many of his works, particularly his Second Symphony, his alleged masterwork. Unfortunately, due to the time period he worked in, some recordings of his compositions, and of him conducting, are not of the best quality. 

Here is a thread that examines his best and worst: https://www.talkclassical.com/threads/best-and-worst-recordings-furtw%C3%A4ngler.62735/

There's a live performance recording from 1942 of Furtwangler conducting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Adolf Hitler was allegedly in the audience that night. I own this recording on CD and I swear at one point, during a pause, I hear Hitler coughing. You know, in that way only tyrants can cough.

Here's more about Furtwangler from the Berlin Philharmic website: https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/about-us/orchestra/history/wilhelm-furtwaengler/  

Now to the alleged master of melancholy, a composer who certainly appeals to my more romantic inclinations. Franz Schubert deserves his star and his statue.

From Brittanica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franz-Schubert

From Holidays In Austria: https://www.austria.info/en-gb/profiles/franz-schubert/

Here below is a plaque honoring composer Karol Szymanowski, born in what is now Ukraine. A modernist, you may not have heard his music, or much about him. I think this is a shame. 

A link to the Polish Music Center: https://polishmusic.usc.edu/research/composers/karol-szymanowski/

And one to Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karol-Szymanowski

Though Szymanowski was enitrely of the 20th Century, if I'm to believe certain experts he was influenced by Johann Strauss. 

If you love a waltz or an operetta, Mr. Strauss is your man.

Above and below is where Johann Strauss lived and worked.

The front door entry, above, off the street.

His portrait.

His organ.

The view from his apartment. 

I stood in this room and looked out that window and I felt, I really did, the sway, the light rhythms from a large airy space full of natural light. It was easy to imagine Strauss composing there.

His violin.

His writing desk.

His piano.

And his death mask. 

Though I'd prefer to remember him as pictured below, memorialized in one of the city's loveliest statues. 

Vienna doesn't honor only her musicians and composers.  

Here above is Goethe: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe

Here is Schiller: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Schiller

Here is the landscape painter, Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller, whose many works are on display in the city's Belvedere Museum: https://www.belvedere.at/en/ferdinand-georg-waldmuller-0

Here above are honored three remarkable graduates of the same Vienna-based school.

Elise "Lise" Meitner, Nuclear Physicist: https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/profile/lise-meitner/

Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödingerr, awarded The Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933 jointly with Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac "for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory."

Here: https://archania.org/p/individuals/scientists/physicists/erwin-schr-dinger

And here: https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/scientists_schrodinger.html

Hans Kelsen, an Austrian and later American jurist, legal philosopher and political philosopher: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lawphil-theory/

I will finish this post with the statue below memorializing the Czech-born Franz Viktor Werfel, poet, playwright and novelist. 

Werfel is perhaps best known as the author of The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a novel based on events that took place during the Armenian genocide of 1915: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/franz-werfel