Tuesday, May 31

Today in the Vienna Class we talked about the turn of the 20th century in Vienna, the artistic movement known here as Jugendstil (elsewhere as Art Nouveau), and the composers Anton Bruckner, Hugo Wolf, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern. In the Opera Class we covered in depth the style of light opera called the Operetta, which had a huge flowering here in Vienna in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Two of the greatest operettas were composed here: Die Fledermaus ("The Bat") by Johann Strauss II (which many of us saw this past weekend); and The Merry Widow, by Franz Lehar.

In the afternoon we visited the house Joseph Haydn bought with the money he made from his first concertizing trip to London in 1791-92. Later he added a second story after his second trip to London in 1794-95. It was here where he wrote his two great oratorios The Creation and The Seasons. It is also the house in which he died.

Michael with Haydn's piano.

We're all taking photos!

Haydn evidently had a collection of musical canons which he had displayed on his wall. Here's Natalia with the canon collection and a Haydn piano.

Haydn especially loved his garden, which has been recently restored to look like it did during Haydn's last years.