Two hundred years ago today,
on May 31st, 1809,
in a room behind one of these windows,
the great Austrian composer Joseph Haydn
died at age 77,
in the presence of his faithful servants,
"in a blessed and gentle manner".
Haydn passed away
"not quite three weeks
after the second French invasion"
of Vienna.
"The attack
had utterly worn him out.
"In the early morning of May 12,
Napoleon's troops were assembled close by
on the Mariahilf Line of Defence.
"Haydn's servant reports:
'the bedroom door leapt right open
from these shots
and all the windows shook,
and our good Papa took fright at all this, ...
*
Photographed by Merisi
on May 30th, 2009,
at the Haydn House in Vienna,
Haydngasse 19.
The Haydn House
is open to visitors
Tues-Sun, 9am-6pm
Free entrance on Sundays
Clicking on the pictures
will lead to various
performances of works by
The Master.
NPR - National Public Radio - celebrates
"A Feast Of Haydn String Quartets"
at WGBH Boston:
Click here
to read Cathy Fuller's article about Haydn
and to listen to the music.
Enjoy!
Quotes:
"Haydn's Last Years"
Edited by Werner Hanak-Lettner und
Alexandra Hönigmann-Tempelmayr
on behalf of the Wien Museum
ISBN-978-3-902312-17-7
Only an hour's drive from Vienna,
Baroque architect Lucas von Hildebrandt's
magnificent palace for Prince Eugene of Savoya
would well be worth a visit on its own,
but there is so much more to enjoy!
Baroque gardens beckon with great vistas into
the Lower Austria countryside and
a large Manor Farm - composed of beautiful buildings
and its own extensive gardens, orchards and meadows -
sits next to the palace on the fertile land of the Marchfeld.
Prince Eugene's Orangerie,
one of the largest and most innovative
when it was built at the end of the first quarter of the 18th Century,
has been recently restored and is open to visitors again.
The beloved Prince Eugene of Savoy -
one of Austria's greatest heroes and a lover of the arts -
provided unlimited funding
to architect von Hildebrandt's genius.
A feeling of grandezza of spirit and devotion to the arts
surrounds even these utilitarian buildings.
An espaliered grapevine
holding onto a trellis,
the wooden lattice
and its shadows
play at painting their own image.
A wooden bench
offering shade and a view
of the pond and the Orangerie below.
Linden and potted trees
lining the path to the riding stables,
immersed in their own introspective game.
A fig tree,
leaves caressing the manor building,
offers shade to the visitor
who for too long has been out
under the unrelenting Marchfeld sun.
*
Clicking on the
SkyWatch icon below
takes you straight to
Sky Watch Friday Headquarters
from where you can journey on to visit
hundreds of skies around the world!
*
Photographed by Merisi
Sunday, May 17, 2009
More images
to come! :-)
Window with Rhododendron
Galerie Kandinsky
What are you looking for?
Kristian's Monasteri Restaurant
is tempting you!
This being an equal opportunity blog,
here the same scene again!
When you are done looking,
I would suggest to stop
for breakfast at Café Kandinsky.
Be forewarned:
Tables like this one are not uncommon,
here you run into a serious risk
of whiling away your whole morning!
Something like 101 different varieties
of Staud's heavenly-tasting Konfitüren jams
lie in wait for you - the sweet beginnings of more such
slow food for a leisurely breakfast.
I have yet to find out
why in the world anybody would think
that "Slow Food" was invented in Italy!
Italy of all places is where they
have "bars" where they scan your coffee-IQ
- (what with the "Bon giorno, dottoressa!") -
that secret code trasmitted immediately to the automatic coffee maker
as soon as your shadow slinks through the door frame,
all meant to expedite your stay at the counter
down to mere seconds!
"Slow Food"
was not "invented" in Vienna either,
there simply was no need to,
Viennese meals
are by definition
a celebration of slowness
in the best sense of the word:
taking more time than is usual or necessary,
not moving too quickly, but proceeding at a low leisurely speed pace!
(That old saying about "words not hurting" does not always apply,
especially not in Vienna,
where "fast" and "speed" should be used
with the utmost care only -
they are best left to traffic reporters
and disk jockeys!)
Photographed by Merisi
Lerchenfelder Strasse to Neubaugasse Durchhaus *)
Saturday, May 23, 2009
*) Durchhaus: Austrian for a passage way
through one or more buildings -
The Lerchenfelder Durchhaus
cuts through a whole city block.
View of the Durchhaus
from the entrance
at Lerchenfelder Strasse
Don't forget your bike!
*