Tuesday 24 May: “Overstimulation of the Senses”

The sound of Vienna during Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert can still be heard today though the hustle and bustle of city life. How often are we overstimulated? Everyday! Our day to day lives are constantly full of stimuli for our senses, and it’s only when we are cognizant of this can we understand how much we are stimulated.

Today’s class was very much in this line of reasoning and discussing how these sounds made it into their compositions. For example, in Schubert’s Winterreise’s final movement, he mimics the sounds of the hurdy gurdy often played by the poor beggars in Vienna.

Performance by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) and Alfred Brendel (pianist).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIIS-UgixGE

For more about the hurdy gurdy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyBYRlB6VW4

After discussing a few more pieces by Schubert in which he mimics the sound scape of Vienna and Hungary, we went to tour the Haydnhaus not far from the hostel. Haydn’s how which he lived in during his final years was originally in the Viennese countryside, just a bit from the city. In those days, event that trip was a challenge for some as there was no public transportation and the roads were not always the best. When the structure was purchased, it was only one floor, but Haydn added an additional floor after his purchases. The simplistic structure gives one a feeling for what it was like in the Viennese suburbs.

After the tour, we took an extended route to the Italian cathedral and then to lunch in a biergarten around the Heiligendasdt area. The food was delicious, albeit a tad more expensive than I would have wished, but there was a price range for everyone on the menu.

Afterwards, I went to Café Sperl for apfelstrudel and a Meister Kaffee which is a mokka coffee with brandy. Café Sperl is decorated the same as the day it was open. The atmosphere is of the Viennese second class during the later years of Franz Joseph with a strict, almost militaristic décor. For a Viennese institution which has been featured on Rick Steves programs and guide books, it is a very relaxed and inexpensive trip located just a few blocks off the Naschmarkt.

Back at the hostel I read a bit in one of my books and made notes for a possible side trip during the free weekend.

Today was a short walking day with steps at: 14,118/ 6.1 miles