Götterdämmerung and Goethe

Wednesday, May 22 (Day 16)

I woke up in a panic this morning after realizing that it was already 7:40am and my housemates were leaving in five minutes.  Always fun when you turn off your alarm in your sleep!

Annika and I got ready in a flash, and Lilo drove us to the Hietzing tram stop.   We made it to the institute in lots of extra time.

I spent the morning doing homework and updating the blog.

As usual, Abigail and I became ravenous around the same time.  We went to Coffee Day together, where we both had a lovely cup of tea.  I had a big ole sandwich, and Abigail had an "Austrian breakfast."  We met another friend there very briefly, as she was getting food to go.

For class today, Dr. Reisinger took us on a Schubert walking tour.  After a transportation fiasco trying to get all 11 of us to the same place at the same time, we finally got together and set off to see Schubert stuff.

First we rode a tram to Schubert's birth house, which is now a small museum.  He was one of more than 13 children (some died earlier in life), and they lived all together in the small apartment. In the museum, they have pictures of Schubert and his family, as well as some original scores.
Abigail and I basically geeked out the whole way through the museum, especially when we found the score for his Symphony no. 8, the "Unfinished." UNREAL.  We also saw the piano on which he may have learned to play, as well as more pictures of Schubert and his friends, with whom he spent a lot of time and with their help, composed (and published) a lot of his music.

We left the museum and made our way to Schubert's church, where he learned to play organ, performed, conducted, and premiered his first mass.  Besides being breathtakingly beautiful on its own, the church was almost overwhelming. To be in the same space where such great music was created; to see the place where 200 years ago such a great man was developing as a musician - it was incredible. There were gorgeous paintings on the ceiling and walls, showing different biblical events. The church was ornate and incredible. We were blown away.

The organ where Schubert learned to play!!

There was a program outside the church for an upcoming concert, where the orchestra would be performing Mozart's "Magic Flute" and get this: the finished version of Schubert's "Unfinished" symphony - the world premier.  HOLY MAN, THAT'S COOL.  We couldn't get tickets :(









Dr. Reisinger took us around the district a little more, showing us the American Embassy, the house of an opera singer (known for forgetting his lines as soon as he got onto the stage), and a well-known stairway, where we took some glamour shots.

Work that, Jar-bear.

Heading back towards the institute, we walked past another section of the Universität Wien, including the engineering school.  We saw the plaque commemorating where Vivaldi's grave had been; the cemetery was no longer there, but they had a big picture of Vivaldi instead.  Cool cool cool.

Dr. Reisinger left us at this point, instructing us to go to the next street and find Brahms' apartment, and then to go to the Belvedere and find Bruckner's residence.

After wandering around, getting cranky, and getting lost, we did neither of these things.  Yikes.


Back at the institute, which we accidentally found while trying to go to the Belvedere, Abigail and I decided that it was time to buy snacks.  We picked up pastries from Aida (which were absurdly delicious), which cheered us up considerably.

The Staatsoper was showing Wagner's Götterdämmerung (the Ring Cycle) yesterday, so many students from the trip watched from the projector outside in the sunshine.  It's a long, heavy production, so we only made it through the first half before 6:30pm (after starting at 4:30).  It was incredibly well-done and very powerful.  The performers were incredible.

After the show (I was the last Hope student left), I took an early subway home, stopped at a grocery store for snacks, and got home a little after 8pm.   I worked on homework for a while by myself until the other girls showed up, and then we all had a study party together!  It was a fun night.