The Sound—and Sights—of Music

The Sound—and Sights—of Music

What closer association to Vienna is there than music? Saturated with musical history and boasting one of the world's greatest concert venues (the Musikverein), two of the world's greatest symphony orchestras (Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony), and one of the top opera houses (the Staatsoper), it's no wonder that music and the related politics are subjects of daily conversation.

Music lovers can tread in the footprints of the mighty, seeing where masterpieces were committed to paper or standing where a long-loved work was either praised or damned at its first performance. Many former musicians' residences are open as museums. The most famous apartments are where Mozart wrote his last three symphonies and Beethoven's Pasqualatihaus. Unlike most of Vienna's composers, Schubert was a native of Vienna and you can visit Schubert's Birthplace (Nussdorferstrasse 54, 9th District. 01/317-3601. U-Bahn: U2/Schottenring; Streetcar 37 or 38 to Canisiusgasse) as well as where he died at 4th District. 01/581-6730. U-Bahn: U4/Kettenbrückengasse. Joseph Haydn's house (Haydngasse 19, 6th District. 01/596-1307. U-Bahn: U4/Pilgramgasse or U3/Zieglergasse) includes a Brahms memorial room and is open Wednesday and Thursday 10-1 and 2-6, Friday-Sunday 10-1. Beethoven's Heiligenstadt residence (Probusgasse 6, 19th District. 01/370-5408. U-Bahn: U4/Heiligenstadt; Bus 38A to Wählamt) is where at age 32 he wrote the "Heiligenstadt Testament," an anguished cry of pain and protest against his ever-increasing deafness. All the above houses contain commemorative museums. Admission is EUR 2. Most are open Tuesday-Sunday 10-1 and 2-6, but note there are exceptions. The home of the most popular composer of all, waltz king Johann Strauss the Younger, can be visited at Praterstrasse 54 (2nd District. 01/214-0121. U-Bahn: U4/Nestroyplatz); he lived here when he composed "The Blue Danube Waltz" in 1867. Opening times here are Tuesday-Thursday 2-6, Friday-Sunday 10-1. On Sunday all houses but the Mozarthaus offer free admission.