Carinthia, Styria, Burgenland

Oswald von Wolkenstein (ca. 1377-1445) was one of the last Minnesänger. Among his works there are several polyphonic ones in the style of the Italian late trecento music. The Wolkensteinkapelle in the church of Hermagor remembers him, but he spent most of his life in South Tyrol (see ITALY 2).

The monastery of Millstatt, once the cultural and spiritual heart of Carinthia, today presents yearly three festivals in succession, resulting in a continuous stream of concerts from May until September.

Carinthian summer festivals also take place in Ossiach and Villach.

The Berghof was from 1894 until 1920 the property of the father of Alban Berg and here the family used to spend its holidays. Since 1952 a camping site.

Alban Berg purchased the Waldhaus in 1932, three years before his death. Here he wrote the Violin Concerto and finished his second opera Lulu. The house is now a property of the Alban-Berg-Stiftung. A Berg monument was erected in front of the town hall of Schiefling.

In 1899 Gustav Mahler bought a large parcel at the Wörthersee and had a villa built on the shore (designed by Alfred Theuer) and a composing hut in the forest uphill. During the following summersfive of his Symphonies, the numbers 4 to 8, and a great deal of the orchestral songs were composed here ─ nearly half of his whole output. Together with Alma he had the best time of his life. But after the death of daughter Maria in July 1907 the idyll was over and also a serious heart ailment made the twenty minutes climb to his composing hut henceforth undesirable. His next and last summer residence became Toblach (> at7.59).

The front side of the villa and the Mahler plaque can only be seen from the lake. The composing hut can be visited.

Johannes Brahms spent his holidays of 1877-79 in Pörtschach at two addresses: Gasthaus Rapatz (1) and the warden’s house of Schloß Leonstain (2). Three important works came into being here: 2^nd Symphony (1877), Violin Concerto (’78) and 1^st Violin Sonata (’79), besides several piano works and songs. The inn has been adorned with a large fresco. After 1879 he didn’t return, annoyed of being gazed at by the tourists.

Johannes Brahms spent his holidays of 1879 in the warden’s house of Schloß Leonstain. In the garden of this castle – now a luxury hotel – a bust was placed (still without the beard, which he developed from 1878 on).

The concert hall and the Music Academy of the capital of Carinthia are in the same building.

The first theatre of Klagenfurt was a Ballhaus from 1709. The second from 1811 made place in 1910 for the imposing Jubiläums-Stadt-Theater, with 770 seats; its name derives from the 60^th anniversary of the reign of emperor Franz-Joseph in 1908. In the 1930s it was temporarily a movie theatre, now opera and ballet are on the program.Behind the building there are monuments of Schubert and the local hero Koschat (cf. next item).

Thomas Koschat (1845-1914) was a singer at the Vienna opera and Hofkapelle, but moreover the author and performer of a great repertoire of sentimental Carinthian songs, that became immensely popular. A whole museum is devoted to him (.4). Mahler adopted a Koschat melody in the Scherzo of the 5^th Symphony, thus honoring his beloved Carinthia. Koschat was buried at the Annabichl cemetery (.5).

The Webern family lived in Klagenfurt between 1894 and 1902, i.e. during Anton’s gymnasium years, at three different addresses: Südbahngürtel 9, Bahnhofstraße 4 and Hasnerstraße 5. In 1902 they returned to Vienna. The father lived again in Klagenfurt from 1912 until his death in 1919 (Schiffgasse 14).

These addresses have not been verified by the author of this website.

Walther von der Vogelweide was at the end of the 12^th century a frequent guest at the court of Duke Bernhard von Sponheim in St. Veit. The 17^th century fountain on the central square was afterwards dedicated to the great Minnesänger, who considered Austria as his artistic homeland: ‘Ze Osterriche lernt ich singen unde sagen’.

This originally Romanesque church has the disposal of the finest organ of Carinthia. It was made in 1743 by Cyriach Werner and has 2 manuals, pedal and 19 stops.

The father of Anton Webern inherited in 1889 an estate of 200 hectares, called Preglhof, and expected that his son, then six years old, would become its future manager; vain hope. The pleasant holiday resort of the family was sold in 1912.

The Webern family was buried at the cemetery of Schwabegg, with the exception of Anton; his grave is in Mittersill, where he died (> at7.23), but he is commemorated by a plaque on the family grave.

In the cloister of the monastery, near the entrance of the boarding school, a plaque remembers the stay of Hugo Wolf as grammar-school pupil, 1872-74. His study results however were disastrous, as they were on his next school, the gymnasium of Marburg (now Maribor, Slovenia). Finally he landed at the Vienna conservatory as a stubborn pupil of Robert Fuchs.

Hugo Wolf was born in 1860 in the then South-Styrian town Windischgraz, which became Yugoslavian in 1919 ─ regaining its native name Slovenj Gradec ─ and Slovenian in 1990. Wolf’s birthplace is close enough to the Austrian border to be admitted into this website. It houses the local music school. The old Yugoslavian plaque (see photo from the 1980s) has been replaced by a new one (second photo).

Styria

Birthplace of Emperor Ferdinand III (1608-1657). Being a pupil of Giovanni Valentini, he was a competent composer, the first of a series of composing Habsburg emperors. The east side of the castle has survived.

The Styrian capital, from 1379 a Habsburg residence and equivalent to Vienna, lost its courtly life in 1619, as Vienna became the only centre of the empire. Some of its grandeur returned when archduke Johann (1782-1859) settled in Graz. In the Alte Galerie of the Joanneum, which he had built, a fine collection of musical instruments is displayed. By the way: this Johann is a direct ancestor of the renownedpioneer of ancient music interpretation, Nicolaus Harnoncourt.

The Sackstraße counts three historical buildings close to another with a musical connotation.

Although Hugo Wolf lived in Graz only two years as a schoolboy (1870-72), he was born in former South-Styria (now Slovenia) and thus considered here a compatriot. A room in Palais Khühnburg at nr. 20, which houses the city museum, has been dedicated to him (Wolf-Zimmer).

In the adjacent building, the Reinerhof at nr. 18, Josef Haydn gave a public concert in 1787 ─ a rare event during his Esterházy years. Do the reliefs at the north wall, depicting the seasons, have a link to Haydn’s Jahreszeiten?

At the opposite side, the baroque Palais Attems is the office of the festivals styriarte and steirischer herbst (no capitals allowed).

Despite severe oppression, Protestantism flourished in Graz during the last half of the 16^th century. The Paradeishof was an Evangelical Stiftschule, at which Johannes Kepler (cf. at5.1.2) was a teacher from 1594 until 1599. Afterwards it became an apartment complex; the parents of Wilhelm Kienzl lived there (his father was the mayor of Graz, 1873-85). Today the historical building is incorporated in a shopping mall.

The main concert halls of Graz were built in 1885: Stephaniensaal and Kammermusiksaal, both in the Grazer Congress. The walls have been painted with portraits of composers and musical scenes by Julius Schmid.

The birthplace of the conductor and composer Robert Stolz, °1880, was demolished, but its location is marked by a plaque.

The parents of Robert Stolz had a music school at the beginning of the 20^th century. In this building a museum was devoted to their son. His popularity is not only based on his operettas, but on the extraordinary talent of his wife ‘Einzi’ for creating public relations. No 20^th century composer can boast on so many plaques and monuments, trains and boats named after him and special Stolz stamps from all over the world. The centre of this universe is the International Stolz Society, formerly in Vienna, now in Graz, Zahnstraße 48.

The Ferdinandeum was established in 1602 as a Jesuit school. Joh. Joseph Fux was a pupil of the seminar in 1581 but stole away (‘profugit clam’) in the same year. Today the building houses three schools.

The Schauspielhaus, presently a platform for spoken drama, was built in 1776 as Landständisches Theater, rebuilt in 1825 after a fire and devoted to the Italian opera repertory. In September 1827 Franz Schubert visited a performance of Meyerbeer’s Il crociato in Egito ─ which didn’t please him ─ and after three days appeared himself at the piano, accompanying some of his songs and choruses.

On the invitation of Karl and Marie Pachler, Schubert and his friend Jenger spent three pleasant weeks of September 1827 in Graz. The house where they stayed was demolished (plaque at the present building), but Pachler’s summer house, in the outskirts of Graz, is extant (> .18).

The large opera theatre, with room for 1800 spectators, was built in 1899 and stands out by progressive programming. Strauss’ Salome, not admitted in Vienna, had its Austrian première here in 1906. The conductors Clemens Krauss and Karl Böhm started their career in Graz, Karl Muck was Kapellmeister during some years in the 1880s; the latter is commemorated in the Karl-Muck-Anlage, with a Beethoven bust (why Beethoven? Wagner would be more obvious in connection with Muck).

Palais Merian was the house of archduke Johann from 1843 until his death in 1859. Since 1963 it houses the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (> www.kug.ac.at). A plaque in the foyer mentions its first honorary members, see photo.

House of the composer Wilhelm Kienzl from ca. 1884 until 1917. (The present state of the house hasn’t been verified.)

House of the composer Adolf Jensen from 1870 until ’75. Jensen (1837-79) distinguished himself with subtle songs and the unfinished opera Turandot, completed by Kienzl.

Birthplace of the late romantic composer Joseph Marx (1882-1967), highly esteemed in Austria and as averse to modernity as were Schmidt or Pfitzner; compare his Pierrot Lunaire settings with those of the somewhat elder Schönberg (resp. from 1909 and 1912).

Birthplace of the conductor Karl Böhm (1894-1984).

Summer mansion of Karl and Marie Pachler; Schubert enjoyed his visits here during his stay in their city house (> .9) in September 1827. Plaque inside.

The Mozart-Tempel in the garden of this house was erected in 1792 by an admirer named Franz Deyerkauf and is the very first monument in honor of the composer. It has been adorned by a Mozart fresco and in 1956 restored by the Grazer Mozart-Gemeinde. Unfortunately the object, a private property, cannot be visited.

Anselm Hüttenbrenner was one of the leading musicians in Graz and a friend of Schubert. In 1823 he received the manuscript of the Unfinished Symphony, which he didn’t make public until 1865; a serious negligence. Of course the friends met during Schubert’s stay in Graz in 1827. The house where he died in 1868 is extant (.22). He was buried nearby at the St. Veit cemetery (.23).

The statues in the Stadtpark summarize the musical history of Graz. On various corners of the park there are monuments of Kepler, Fux, Wolf, Joseph Marx, Stolz and ─ less Graz-related ─ Mozart.

This Villa Hansa was the house of Joseph Marx for the major part of his life, as a welcome relief from his obligations in Vienna. Most of his compositions originated here.

During his stay in Graz in September 1827, Schubert made a trip to this castle. Its inhabitants, the Massegg family, were related to Schubert’s hosts in Graz and as well admirers of his music. In the ‘blue room’ a Schubertiade probably has taken place.

Monument of the composer Robert Fuchs, born here in 1847. His birthplace, Schulgasse 13, was demolished in 1991. Fuchs was the teacher in harmony of an exquisite company of composers, incl. Wolf, Mahler, Sibelius, Schreker, Zemlinsky and Enescu.

Alban Berg stayed until 1932 often in the summer house of his parents-in-law Nahowsky. Wozzeck was written here in the summers of 1918-22.

The composer and music theorist Joh. Joseph Fux was born in Hirtenfeld in 1660. In 1904 a plaque was attached at the historic farm nr. 24, but it proved not to be his birthplace; he was born on the location of the present Polhammerhof, nr. 13 and there a monument with a mosaic was erected in 1960.

Leaving from Graz on the 20^th of September 1827, Schubert and Jenger pulled up in Fürstenfeld for a visit to mayor Wittmann. In the afternoon of the next day they continued their trip until Hartberg.

Schubert and Jenger stayed in Hartberg with the winegrower and former judge Anton von Zschock, 21-22.IX.1827. (The last station of their journey home from Graz was Schleinz, > at5.21).

The composer Franz Schmidt spent the holidays of the years 1923-26 in the Hartbergerhof, composing organ and chamber music. Up the street, in front of the music school, a Schmidt bust was placed.

In August 1921 Béla Bartók spent three weeks in Anger. On a postcard to his mother he complained about the shortage of milk and genuine coffee, but he enjoyed the walks through the countryside. He worked at the final orchestration of one of the 4 Orchestral pieces op. 12 and probably at the 2^nd Violin Sonata.

This castle ruin was the home of the Minnesänger Ulrich von Liechtenstein (13^th century). Song texts but no melodies of him survived; anyway one can doubt if all Minnesänger were composers as much as poets, but their contribution to the musical history is unmistakable.

Josef Hüttenbrenner, a friend of Schubert like his brother Anselm, lived alternately in Vienna and in this little castle. A autograph copy from 1819 of Die Forelle was dedicated to him. In Vienna he was helpful to Schubert in practical matters but the composer never visited Rothenturm.

Josef Strasser, the brother-in-law of Hugo Wolf, was tax inspector in the service of the Schwarzenberg family and lived in a former hospital behind the church. Wolf spent the summer of 1886 here and composed only the Intermezzo in E-flat major for string quartet.

In 1884 the sister and brother-in-law of Hugo Wolf still lived in this castle. Wolf stayed with them during the entire summer and worked at two pieces related to plays by Kleist: the overture to Penthesilea and the (unfinished) incidental music to the Prinz von Homburg.

The library of this monastery is the richest of its sort in Austria. Despite a fire in 1865 there remained ca. 700 works by 180 composers and liturgical works, dating back to the 11^th century.

Gustav Mahler, since 1897 director of the Vienna Court Opera and absorbed by this job, rented this villa in the summer of 1899 in order to continue the composition of his 4^th Symphony. Soon he realized that he couldn’t get along without the isolation of a composing hut of his own; from 1900 on he should have the disposal of one again (> 6 and at7.59).

On the 25^th of August 1882 in the Seevilla of Dr. Lászlo Wágner, Johannes Brahms and friends gave a performance of his Piano Trio op. 87 and String Quintet op. 88 before a public of admirers, friends and colleagues, incl. Brüll, Kalbeck, Hanslick and Goldmark. Afterwards Brahms visited Altaussee during his stays in Ischl. On the 25^th of August 1982 a plaque was attached on the villa, which in the meantime was renovated and turned into a hotel.

Wilhelm Kienzl is in his summer residence Bad Aussee amply commemorated. The house where he composed in 1894 his most popular work, Der Evangelimann, is adorned by a fresco (1) and his other house in the same street (2) by a plaque. Moreover a panorama terrace is called Kienzl-Plateau and in the Kurhaus there is a Kienzl-Saal. His first wife, the singer Lily Hoke, was buried in the parish church. Kienzl’s music, a mixture of Wagnerism and naïve romanticism, is comparable with that of Humperdinck.

The Gnadenkapelle in the Mariazell basilica is the most important pilgrim’s destination in Austria. Josef Haydn visited it as a 17 year-old boy and succeeded to penetrate into the choir and sing convincingly the alto part; his first biographer Griesinger mentions that the boy was given the profit of the offertory, 16 Gulden. In 1782 Haydn obtained a private commission to compose the Mariazeller Messe (Missa Cellensis, H xxii.8). In the treasury this fact is commemorated, not his earlier boyish prank.

Johannes Brahms spent the summer months of 1884 and ’85 here and composed the 4^th Symphony and several vocal works. Today the house (1) is the best Brahms museum of Austria, devoted to all of his summer holidays; its website www.brahmsmuseum.at provides ample information. At the opening of the museum in 1991, a recital by the Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau was planned, but just before the celebration the 88 year old maestro, already arrived in Mürzzuschlag, fell ill and died; his mortal remains were transferred to Chile.

Next to the building one finds the Brahms bust from 1910 by Maria Fellinger. A special footpath (Brahmsweg) of 4½ km. through the village and its surroundings has been marked by hedgehogs, the mascots of the composer.

At the town hall (2) a plaque has been attached for the pioneer of Austrian folk music research, Josef Pommer (1845-1918), born in Mürzzuschlag.

Burgenland

The yearly Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival was established by pastor Herowitsch and the Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer in 1982. It takes place in the medieval castle and in the parish church.

Lockenhaus also has a connection with Josef Haydn. He obtained his music paper from the Fürstlich-Esterházysche Papiermühle at the Hammerteich (not extant). Its watermark, the Lockenhaus deer, is helpful as for the identification of Haydn autographs.

Franz Liszt was born in 1811 in the Esterházische Meierhof of Raiding (Doborján in Hungarian). Early appearances as a pianist yielded some grants that enabled the family to move to Vienna in 1821, where Czerny became his teacher. From 1840, driven by homesickness, the composer sometimes visited his birthplace; in 1881 he was present at the unveiling of a plaque. The house, now a museum, has the disposal of a wealth of objects concerning Liszt’s life. Before the entrance gate a monument was erected.

In this church Liszt was baptized. The original font is extant.

In this church Liszt was baptized. The original font is extant.

The composer Carl Goldmark (1830-1915) lived here during his youth, from 1834 to 1844. In 1980 the house became a museum. Very modern: it is not manned, entrance by means of a cheque/bank card!

The powerful family of Esterházy has played a decisive role in the musical history. Pál Esterházy (1635-1713) was a composer of 55 cantatas (Harmonia Caelestis). In 1766 his grandson Franz Anton engaged Josef Haydn, who stayed in duty until 1790. Hummel was the Kapellmeister from 1804 until 1811; also Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt had connections with the Esterházys. In the chapel of the imposing palace Haydn’s church music sounded, his instrumental works were ─ and are ─ performed in the large hall,today ‘Haydn-Saal’.

Before the palace stands a huge Liszt monument by A. Jaray from 1936.

Haydn bought a house of his own in 1766, when he became Erster Kapellmeister, but sold it already in 1778; after all he could use it only during the winter because the whole court spent the rest of the year in the palace of Esterháza (now in Hungary ─ Eisenstadt was in fact a Hungarian town too, named Kismarton; the plaque on Haydn’s house from 1898 is in Hungarian!). The house is the present Haydn museum; there are also exhibits concerning Liszt and the famous dancer Fanny Elßler, a daughter of Haydn’s secretary.

To Haydn’s property belonged an area hinter dem Spital, with a kitchen garden and a small summer house, where the composer could retire for a while from his unsympathetic wife. The wooden house is still there.

From 1761 until ’66 and from 1778 until ’90 Haydn lived in the musicians’ house, Margaretum.

Haydn was buried for the first time in Vienna (> at4.03); grave desecraters stole the head in order to find the source of his genius. In 1820 the beheaded corpse was transferred to this church. The present Haydn mausoleum was inaugurated in 1932, but the definitive burial didn’t take place until 1954, when the missing skull finally was recovered. Next to the mausoleum is the gravestone from 1820.

At the 13^th of September 1807 Beethoven’s Mass in C op. 86 was performed for the first time. It had been commissioned by prince Esterházy, but the latter was not content; so the composer dedicated it to count Kinsky. Beethoven stayed six days with Jószef Baranyai, who lived in the present Haydngasse.

In 1766 Haydn’s Große Orgelmesse sounded here, but the organ in question moved soon to another church. Today it is in the Landesmuseum (next nr.)

The 18^th century organ from the Bergkirche (previous nr.) was installed here.

To commemorate Liszt, the blaue salon from his apartment in the Schottenstift in Vienna (> at1.80) has been reconstructed, with an authentic Bösendorfer grand piano.

The small 18^th century Orgelpositiv by Mallek was played by Haydn and stayed unharmed on its spot in this charming rococo chapel. For this organ the Kleine Orgelmesse was written.

Franz Schubert visited in October 1828 the grave of Haydn in the Bergkirche and ‘stayed there for a long time’, as wrote his brother Ferdinand who accompanied him. One month later Franz died.

Birthplace of the composer Michael Brand, °1815, who felt himself a real Hungarian and changed his name in Mosonyi (from the district Moson, to which the village belonged). Mosonyi is honored by the Hungarians as a pioneer of their nationalistic music.

Birthplace of the violinist Joseph Joachim, °1831. At 7 years he made his debut in Pest, but his career was in Germany. He is best known as friend and collaborator of Brahms.

A Seebühne (lake theatre) was built in this wine town after the example of Bregenz. An operetta festival is held during the summer months.