Something I’ve noticed about traveling abroad is that it unleashes new areas of interest, sometimes unintentionally. My love for Mozart was one of them.
I started “chasing Mozart” by accident YEARS ago, when I took an intro course to classical music in college. I didn’t know we were going to cover Mozart and really most of my knowledge about his life was from the hit movie Amadeus. So it’s safe to say I didn’t know much.
Fast forward to 2012. We were staying at a hotel directly across from the beautiful Vienna State Opera House and thought it would be fun to attend an opera last minute but tickets weren’t available. We ended up finding tickets to a performance by a chamber group called the Vienna Residence Orchestra and they were playing at the near-by Palais Aversperg. We weren’t expecting Opera House quality but we were pleasantly surprised. The group played selections of Mozart ‘s works which gave us a flavor of old world Vienna. It was absolutely magical and I would recommend doing this to everyone, as it is a perfect way to experience the best of Vienna even if you are not big into classical music.
A few days later we toured the magnificent Baroque palace Schloss Schonbrunn. (This Palace is the most visited tourist attraction in Austria and a must-see if you haven’t been there). Our guide pointed out that a very young Mozart was brought here to play for the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa and her court. He kept referring to him through out the tour and his significance to Vienna, which was an added bonus to an already great tour!
Later on this trip, we took a relatively short train ride from Vienna to Salzburg – Mozart’s birthplace. We toured Mozart’s Geburtshaus (his childhood home now a museum). It was such an interesting place to see and learn about his early life – including his original instruments and compositions.
A few years later we went to Prague and heard that there were many affordable concerts (which is true, by the way). We decided on the “Best of Mozart in Old Prague” (which was a great choice). The performance was lovely and the setting was absolutely breath taking! It was in a chapel inside the Klementinum (a gigantic complex originally founded by Jesuits in 1556). We chose a small café outside of the church and had sparkling wine prior to the performance, which made the concert even more special! The price of concerts in Prague are significantly less expensive than Vienna so I highly recommend attending one.
During a walking tour we took in Prague, our tour guide pointed out that the city was a favorite of Mozart’s and took us to a few of his frequented “spots”. One that was really interesting to see was the original National Theater (now called the Newport Estates), which is where Mozart’s most famous opera Don Giovanni premiered in 1787.
I found it funny as we walked past his favorite hotel in Prague, the Golden Angel Hotel, which was named that way simply because it was a hotel that had a golden angel above the door (still there).
We left for Paris the next day and our last stop on this ad hoc Mozart tour was attending the opera composed by Mozart, Cosi Fan Tutti, in Paris, which I talked about in my last blog post.
All of these Mozart operas, tours (through Prague and Schloss Schonbrunn palace), and landmarks (Mozart’s Geburtshaus) were not planned together but connected because of Mozart. Either by design or accident, I am glad we visited these places and happy I got to know Mozart a little better. And now I even listen to his work for pleasure on occasion. I think you might enjoy following as well and getting to know him a little better too.
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