This was part of a Music History course trip…. did you visit any historical music sites? Go to any concerts/plays/operas?
We visited a lot of museums and archives in each of the cities, some museums being the actual homes of famous composers. Because the city itself was used as our “textbook,” we visited the living and birth houses of W.A. Mozart in Salzburg, as well as the homes of Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, and even the home of Sigmund Freud who had lived and practiced psychoanalysis in Vienna for a number of years. We attended quite a few concerts, some in beautiful and magnificent cathedrals, while others were in concert halls in the city or in an university. We made a few friends with the students at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and they invited us to attend the Faust opera production by other students at the school.
Since the class also included learning about the culture of the cities, we visited the museums in palaces such as Hellbrunn palace and Schönbrunn palace, homes owned by famous families and monarchies in Austria.
What were your three favorite moments of the trip?
I think my first favorite moment of the trip was in Salzburg, Austria. We attended the Mozart C minor mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral. The church was filled to the brim and we had to sit on the ground. The orchestra was seated above us in the back of the church by the organ. The performance was beautiful and it was amazing to think that the mass was performed in that exact church when Mozart came to visit his father and sister in Salzburg with his wife Constanze.
My second favorite moment was when we went up to one of the Alps! We visited the Untersberg Alp, and it also happened to be my birthday that day! The view was amazing and I had a lot of fun exploring.
My third favorite moment had to be just being in Venice. The city was surrounded by water and sunlight, and it was such an experience being there!
