The First Viennese School
Our guide kept saying, “as you know, The First Viennese School blah-blah-blah,” so John and I pictured an actual school, but we didn’t really know, even though we nodded our heads and smiled. Upon further review, it is a virtual, historical description of the time when Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven were resident in Vienna. They were producing music for the court and other noble patrons willing to contribute to their stipends. So much was accomplished during the period 1750-1830: modern music theory, as well as structure of the forms concerto, symphony, sonata, trio and quartet were invented and still apply today. We saw homes where these guys lived, presented operas, played music, begged for more money and died. Haydn was the resident maestro, Mozart was the gifted class clown, and Beethoven was the underappreciated, socially awkward genius with a desperate problem…hearing loss starting in his early 30’s. Much earlier than I thought. We exhausted John’s appreciation for classical music with excerpts from symphonies, concertos and sonatas as we walked and visited the places of interest. The final straw was Mozart’s Missa solemnis, C-Dur, KV 337 (solemn mass in C-major, Mozart's last complete mass, written in 1780) with an orchestra and the Vienna Boys choir on Sunday morning. Early. Not just music, but the full regalia, yes-full on Catholic Mass. In Latin. And German. The last paragraph of the homily was repeated in German, Italian, French and then English. I understood a little more from each reading!
The contradiction of Vienna in the late 18th through the early 20th centuries as I see it is the backward-looking monarchy holding onto the ways of the past vs. the cultural intersection of a sprawling empire and its allies. Vienna was a place to be for culture, not exactly Paris or Rome, but surely the cultural center of Central and Eastern Europe. When Teddy Roosevelt asked Emperor Franz Joseph what the role of an Emperor was in the 20th Century, he answered, “to protect the people from politicians.” Classic.
Herr Proferror Reinhardt plays a little Mozart on our way from the hotel to Mozart's apartments. We were standing in the square where the current leaders of the country are trying to form a coalition government. The conservative party has the chancellorship, and their tea party is trying to form a coalition government with their democrats. Wishing them luck with that !
The Vienna Boys Choir, a 500 year old institution in Vienna performs a final song in front of the congregation in the Imperial Chapel. During the rest of the mass the choir and orchestra are in the thirds balcony behind, so not visible. I was glad we had a chance to see AND hear the singers.
An early piano model used by Beethoven...the dimensions weree not yet modern, and there were 5 foot pedals!
The Spanish riding school is another nearly 500 year-old tradition in Vienna. The Lipizzaner Stallions were presents from the Spanish Habsburgs to the Austrian Habsbergs. These horses can really dance the dressage. For all you Crimson Tide fans, these are the horses from Spain, not Portugal. Denzel Washington was right after all.