Thursday, May 26

This morning we held class in our hotel. In the Vienna class we talked about Johannes Brahms and also Johann Strauss II, and the incredible popularity of the waltz in nineteenth century Vienna. Since it was the midpoint of our program, we also had a mid-term exam. We don't have any way to connect our laptops to printers, or access to copy machines, so our exam was an oral one. Everyone did very well. The students are really soaking up a lot of information here. In the Opera class we talked about Verdi and the popularity of his operas here in Vienna, although he never had a physical connection with the city. We also talked about the Verdi opera in production here during our stay, Simon Boccanegra. Since one of our group, Joseph Sanchez, had already seen the opera, his mid-term exam consisted of telling the class about the plot and his experience at the opera house.

Our afternoon excursion consisted of tracing the life of Franz Schubert, the only one of the great composers associated with this city to have actually been born here, lived his entire life here, and died here. We first visited the apartment in which he was born.

Here is the front of the building.

Inside are some artifacts and items associated with Schubert. Catt and Bobby are photographing an actual pair of Schubert's glasses (they were broken!).

Here are some of the students looking at the artifacts.

Joy is playing "air piano" on the instrument owned by Schubert's brother, so most likely played by Schubert.

After the "birth house" we jumped on the Straßenbahn and headed across town to the house in which Schubert died.

The apartment belonged to Schubert's brother, and when Schubert came down with his final illness (typhoid fever) he moved into this apartment. This is the actual room in which he died.

This is the entrance to the apartment.

And this is the courtyard in the middle of the building.

That concluded our tour of Schubert sites. The students were released from "class" and were free for the rest of the day.

Several of us went to the Musikverein that evening to hear the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. They performed Mahler's 5th Symphony. It was a very good concert and a very good orchestra, not quite the level of the Vienna Philharmonic, but any city would be proud to have such an orchestra as it's main orchestra. Here the Vienna Symphony is Vienna's "second orchestra." This is a photo of the orchestra just before the concert began.

After the concert we got to see the Musikverein for the first time at night. The lighting was beautiful.