Lippazaners & Vienna Boys' Choir
 

At www.srs.at, I found an 80 minute Lippazaner performance scheduled for Sunday, May 2, 11am. But the seats are expensive. Also appears the tickets need to be ordered & paid for in advance, which can be risky if we don't feel like going once we are in Vienna.

Anyone seen the performance & care to share what they thought?

How about the seats? Which ones are the bad / the good?

Vienna Boys' Choir - only performance during our stay is at Sunday mass. How long is the mass? Can we listen to some of the singing & leave, or is the seating such that our leaving would be improper?

Thanks, Julie

Sorry, I tagged this incorrectly. Obviously, it should be tagged as Austria, but I don't think I can change it.

You can sent a note to the editors ([email protected]) and ask them to change the tag from Germany to Austria.

Mass is about 45 minutes. You'll be seated in the gallery with everyone else and will see the boys on a monitor although you'll be able to hear them very well. I guess you could leave part way through if you don't disturb people such as if you are seated in the middle of a row. But then you'll miss some of the singing.

I enjoyed the Mass and listening to the singing.

The Vienna Boys Choir tour in the US. After I listened to them in Vienna I got tickets to a concert locally.

I forgot to tell you the seating is upstairs on the long side of the church and the choir is at the back of the church (opposite the altar). That's why you won't be able to see the choir during the service. This might help you make a decision.

Seeing the Lippazners perform is brilliant - if you like horses, are familiar with dressage and will understand what you are seeing. (I have seen people walk out because they were expecting something else: perhaps show jumping or a rodeo? Performances typically sell out far in advance and IMHO only the best seats are worth it. If you wait to buy tickets you will probably be shut out except for premium priced tickets through your hotel concierge.

Re: Vienna Boys Choir during Sunday Mass

You didn't say when you're going, but you need to email them for tickets in advance as they're quite popular.

The following is an excerpt of what I wrote in my trip report when we went in April 2009:
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M (my cousin) had emailed in advance for tickets for the Sunday Mass at Hofburg Chapel, featuring the Vienna Boys' Choir. Email address is:
[email protected]

There are 6 prices, ranging from €6 - €29. The Choir sits on the 3rd floor balcony, so very very few seats offer a view of them. The most expensive tickets offer a good view of the altar. We opted for the cheapest 5 euros tickets.

The Mass begins at 9:15am, but we had to pick up our tickets by 8:45, or they would be sold to the standby line.

Even though our seats have no view, there is a projection screen in the room so we could still see the service and the choir. The sound is not bad, and the Vienna Boys' Choir really sound fantastic. The instrumentalists are all members of the Staatsoper orchestra, and the adult men choir are from the Staastoper as well.

View of the altar from our level (only the first row - more expensive - can see this, and only if they LEAN way forward):
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...9/IMG_3292.jpg

The service is fairly long, and in German and Latin (I think). But the choir sings several times in between, and at the conclusion of the service, they descend from their balcony down to the front of the altar to sing the last piece. The entire service lasted about 1.5 hours. The piece performed that morning was Hadyn's Grosse Orgelmesse (Great Organ Mass) by the Hadyn Choir of the Vienna Boys' Choir.

Even though we had to sit through the mass, I still think it is a great experience. However, I wouldn't pay for the more expensive seats.
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Link to the above segment:
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...omment-5646003

I saw the Vienna Choir Boys at Sunday Mass at the Palace... I stood in the vestibule and watched both them and the Mass on the monitor... church was full, so from there you could leave early without disturbing anyone. At the end of Mass, the choir comes up to the altar and sung a song (or two?). They split the monitor during Mass when the boys are singing so on half you can see the Mass and on the other 1/2 you can see the boys.

When I was there in October, the Lippazners were performing at 11am on Sunday... so I was able to leave Mass at its conclusion and walk around the Palace to the Spanish Riding School. I had 'standing space' tickets (no seat). It was fine and I really enjoyed seeing them.

Thank you everyone for being so informative.

nytraveler, we do have experience with showing horses & we are aware of what the performance will be; thanks for the 'heads-up'! Never thought of that, but I'm sure a lot of people may not know what to expect.

joannyc, while we are in Vienna, the Boy's Choir mass & the Lippazaners are on the same morning & I thought we would have to decide on seeing one only. But, are you saying the locations are next to each other & we can see both - sounds like that is what you posted. That would be great. Also, I was not aware of standing space for the Lippazaners. How does that work - order in advance? Is it a single standing row or are there rows of standing people in front of you & therefore, blocking your view?

adrienne, thanks for the editor info & the 45 minutes & the rec. for the choir. 45 minutes would be ok with us. We just didn't know if it was 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

yk, before posting this, I had found your trip report & I thank you very much for it. I got so much good info from it, which I promptly copied & pasted into my siteseeing travel doc that we will have with us. Your report was appropriately detailed & such a help. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

Thanks again everyone, Julie

Julie - maybe I was wrong in my remembrance of how long the Mass lasted as someone above said 1.5 hours but it didn't seem all that long to me. There are a lot of people so it takes some time to get everyone seated but you can talk during that time and I don't count it as part of the Mass.

If you do go and decide to leave early the best time would be when they pass the collection plate. The only other time to leave would be just before communion. I thought it was worth staying for the whole thing.

I was in the vestibule of the chapel so didn't get to see a great deal of the inside but all the attendees that I saw were on the same level as I, if I recall correctly,... someone above mentioned that the seating was upstairs on the long side of the chapel which I don't recall seeing. I do imagine that the Choir was upstairs in a balcony in the back of the church which is very typical.

The priests will come out to the vestibule to serve Communion, if you can receive it. I wouldn't leave before Communion is finished as it would be disrespectful. Also, the remainder of the Mass is quite short and the Choir will sing a number of beautiful pieces.

Yes, you can do both the Boys Choir and Lippazaners on a Sunday morning. After Mass, you walk around the Palace grounds to the entrance of the Spanish Riding School. I purchased my 'standing room' reservation at the ticket window on the prior day, Saturday. There are two types of 'standing room' (you don't request either one when buying your ticket... you just grab the best viewing spot when you arrive), neither which have a formal structure. Some areas have rows of seats in front and you will stand behind them, there may be multiple rows of people standing. And, the other doesn't have any rows of seats in front (you may be right up against the railing in the 'first' standing row) but also with the non-structured standing so people may be pushing up against you to see. You just need to find the best view once you get in there based on the crowd and not let anyone push you out of the way (except for a quick photo op!).


If you have the time available, you could drive to the Piber Stud Farm where the raise and retire these beautiful horses! A gorgeous area!

Enjoy!