Vienna week two

City panorama

Redoutensaal

We have now finished our language classes.  Two weeks is not that long, but I do feel like I have learned a good deal of grammar, which is sticking reasonably well.  Vocabulary still seems to leak out of my brain at an alarming rate.  We both have ambitions to continue our studies, but we will see how well we keep our resolutions.  Let the sightseeing begin!

Historic Redoutensaal

Actually, the main thing that has already begun is music attendance in earnest.  We went to a totally marvelous Strauss concert in the Redoutensaal of the Hofburg Palace.  In addition to Straus waltzes and polkas, there were four pieces by Mozart, and one each by Verdi and Donizetti.  There were 5 soloist singers, occasionally singing in duets and all together for the finale.  The program showed off Strauss’s popular side with a number of pieces having some very funny bits performed by the percussionist.  The director had the audience clapping along on one piece.  The room itself has many historical associations, being the site of performances by Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, Paganini, Salieri, etc.  It was also the site of the renowned balls and concerts held during the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15.  Sadly, in 1992 a fire destroyed most of that wing of the Palace, so all that remained were the exterior walls.  The building has been restored, but they have not tried to imitate its former opulence.  

Donauturm

On Sunday after our Hofburg tour, we had wandered around some of the old city on our own.  We went into a Croatian Church, St. Michael’s, where the walls were covered with little plaques giving thanks for prayers answered.  We found the Shoa (Holocaust) memorial in Judenplatz – a stark large block of stone with the names of the concentration camps chiseled into the pavement.  Austria was one of the many European countries which evicted the Jews in 1492, so there is a long history of anti-Semitism.

Around the corner, we also found a vegetarian restaurant, the Bio Bar, so we returned there for dinner before the Strauss concert.  It is always nice to be able to order anything on the menu.

Salvador Allende

We returned to Karlskirche for a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth that was quite overwhelming.  Even though we were worried that the piece is too familiar, it sounded very inspiring in that beautiful setting. 

Saturday, we went on another expedition offered by ActiLingua, our language school; this time, an exploration of the Danube.  We met at the Vienna International Center (VIC), which has a large United Nations complex and many other buildings on a large island in the Danube.  It is one of the few areas of the city with skyscrapers.  I don’t believe I have mentioned that that is another similarity between Washington DC and Vienna – they are both low, spread out cities without tall buildings.  From the VIC, we walked through many concrete spaces and then through a large park. 

View of the hills north of the city

There are many streets and plazas named after various international political figures, including a monument in the park to Salvador Allende.   We continued on to a space needle sort of building called the Danube Tower (Donauturm).  The observation deck is 150 meters high.  We were blessed with a beautiful mild clear sunny day, so we had a great view around the city, suburbs and out into the countryside.  There is also a bungee jumping platform up there, but luckily it was closed.  Then we took another long walk back to the underground station, a short hop across the river and then over to where river cruise boats left.  The boat turned out to be full, so we had an hour to eat lunch before the next boat came.  We were with a good group (about 30), with most people trying to speak German most of the time.  We

Guarding the entrance to the canal

had nice chats with a number of students from our groups, and met a new ActiLingua member about our age from California.  This is the second year he has come to Vienna.  So we invited him along as we walked down the river bank looking for a restaurant, which was surprisingly hard to find, but finally we were successful, had some sandwiches and returned to the group on time.  The Danube cruise went upstream along the city and then turned into the Danube Canal, which runs through a section of town.  Sitting in the lock took about half an hour.  One of the main sights along the way is a rather gaudy trash burning municipal power plant.  They are quite proud of their low emissions standards.  I also find myself impressed with the quality of a lot of the graffiti in Vienna – very artistic, most of it.

Today, Sunday, we went to hear mass in the Jesuitenkirche of St. Augustine.  We went to it as a concert performance of the Hofkapellmeistermesse by Antonio Salieri with the church choir, but it was indeed a full mass.  It was actually quite appropriate to hear it in context.  Again, the acoustics in the church were amazing.  We were in the back row of the packed church and the sound was beautiful.  Only when the organ played was the rest of the choir and orchestra hard to hear.  It was also a good opportunity to hear German in a context that I am a little familiar with.  I could tell that the Old Testament reading was Genesis about the creation of Eve, because of the phrase “flesh of my flesh” (Fleisch von meinem fleisch).  I could tell that the New Testament reading was about Kinder, and there aren’t that many of those passages.  The sermon had a lot about Menschen, Fraus and Kinder.  Ron said it seemed to be in support of the traditional family.  I like that there is a hand shake

Jesuitenkirche painting of a dome

in the Catholic Mass.  This church also is a marvel of marble columns, painted ceilings, including a trompe l’oeil dome in the center, and a beautiful carved wooden pulpit.  The painting behind the altar is Mary ascending into heaven “gaudant angeli” as the inscription said on the very large crown held up by two angel statues.  In fact, I am struck in all the church paintings I have been seeing at how the air is full of angels everywhere.  I can see how with all this visual evidence surrounding you, one could easily believe.  All these churches that we have been in are huge, by the way, and yet all of them are parish churches.  We have not been in the Cathedral yet.  Some of the churches have glassed in balconies in the altar area for any royalty that might attend.

After the mass, we went to the nearby Mozarthaus, an apartment where he and his family lived from 1784 to 1787.  Among other works, he composed The Marriage of Figaro there.  It was a well done audio tour, giving a good overview of the life, times and works of Mozart.  Much of it is rather sad, with only two out of six children surviving, and his own early death.  He lived here during the height of his fashion and spent all his money lavishly.  The Marriage of Figaro did not go over well as a satire of aristocratic mores, plus there was a war, so his fortunes decreased, and they had to move.  They loved him in Prague though.  An interesting character mentioned was Angelo Soliman, a slave from Nigeria, but also a fellow Freemason.  He did very well in the household of the Prince of Liechtenstein, and was viewed as a very accomplished person, but he still died a slave, and his body was stuffed and displayed in the Curio cupboard of the Prince until the building was burned down in 1848.