The 'Ring' in Vienna

Vienna

5 - 12 June 2009

Tour Leader: Peter Bassett

Eva Johansson (Brünnhilde) & Johan Botha (Siegmund) in Die Walküre
Vienna State Opera, Nov 2007

Vienna has occupied an influential place in European musical life for centuries.

Richard Wagner first visited Vienna as a nineteen-year-old in 1832. He spent six weeks there, went to the theatre, saw operas by Gluck and Hérold and generally indulged himself. ‘The impressions of musical and theatrical life were certainly very stimulating’ he wrote, ‘and Vienna remained for a long time my idea of creativity rooted in the originality of a people…I shall never forget the enthusiasm - bordering on derangement - generated by that magician of the violin Johann Strauss [the elder] whenever he played, no matter what the piece was.’

Wagner returned to Vienna a decade later and, with characteristic zeal, tried to reform the administration of the city’s five theatres! It was in Vienna in 1861 that he heard his Lohengrin for the first time, thirteen years after its completion, and there too that he planned the premiere of Tristan und Isolde.

He was back again in 1875 to conduct fund-raising concerts for the first performance of the Ring, and he chose Vienna as one of only three cities to be granted production rights after Bayreuth. The Ring was first performed there between 1877 and 1879.

The new production of Der Ring des Nibelugen, which you will see in 2009, has a wonderful cast including Nina Stemme, Eva Johansson, Stephen Gould and Juha Uusitalo. It is under the musical direction of Franz Welser-Möst, currently Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra and recently appointed General Music Director of the Vienna State Opera from 2010.

Because 2009 is the Haydn bicentenary year, we shall also be celebrating (in our non-Wagner moments) the life and works of this much-loved and hugely influential figure in Vienna’s musical life.

ITINERARY 
Friday 05 June 2009
Arrive Vienna and transfer to the Radisson SAS Palais Hotel. Late this afternoon, join Peter Bassett for a special welcome reception at the hotel. (Welcome reception)

Optional performance: Those who are not suffering from jetlag may like to attend a concert of Joseph Haydn symphonies at the Wiener Konzerthaus, featuring Les Musiciens du Louvre, conducted by Marc Minkowksi. Tickets are subject to availability and should be requested at the time of tour booking.

Saturday 06 June
Start today with an orientation tour around the famous Ringstrasse surrounding the Old City and bordered by the city’s most important buildings: the Vienna State Opera, Hofburg Imperial Palace, Town Hall, Parliament House and the Museums of Fine Arts and Natural History. You will also stop at the Vienna Central Cemetery, the resting place of many great musicians including Beethoven, Schubert, Salieri, Brahms, Gluck, Wolf, Strauss (Johann senior and junior, Josef and Eduard), Czerny, Schoenberg, Hanslick, Suppe, Zemlinsky, Pfitzner, Lotte Lehmann, Leonie Rysanek and others. This evening, enjoy your first Vienna Ring Cycle performance at Wiener Staatsoper - Das Rheingold. (BL)

Sunday 07 June
A short morning's stroll with your local guide around Vienna’s Old Town within the Ringstrasse, then ccontinue to the Austrian Theatre Museum, at Lobkowitz Palace, which houses a model of the first Hofburg theatre and the Eroica-Saal where many first performances of Beethoven’s works took place. This afternoon, there will be some free time to relax before this evening’s performance of Die Walküre. (BL)

Monday 08 June
A full day at leisure in Vienna.
This evening, enjoy a concert at the Wiener Konzerthaus featuring Maurizio Pollini, often described as one of the greatest living pianists. (B)

Tuesday 09 June
Morning excursion to the fabulous Schlosshof, an imperial Baroque palace built under the order of Prince Eugene of Savoy and extended under its later owner, Empress Maria Theresa. The jewel of Schlosshof is undoubtedly its stunning garden - edged flowerbeds, sculpture groups, pavilions, ornamental shrubbery and lovely fountains, spread across seven terraces stretching down to the banks of the March River. The garden was admired by contemporary visitors even more than the castle itself. However, as time passed it was sadly neglected, lost in a sea of weeds and brush, until quite recently. With the help of excavations by landscape architects, historical maps and three paintings that were created around 1760, the gardens were successfully restored in exact detail to their original diversity of colour and form. Return to Vienna mid-afternoon. Evening performance of Siegfried at the State Opera House. (BL)

Wednesday 10 June
In 2009 Austria commemorates the 200th anniversary of Joseph Haydn’s death and today you will take an excursion into Lower Austria and Burgenland to learn about the life of this extraordinary composer. Start with a visit to Haydn’s birthplace, then continue to the town of Eisenstadt, where Haydn spent a major part of his lifetime working as conductor for Prince Esterházy for whom he composed many of his famous works. Here you will see Haydn’s former home, which now houses an exhibition about the life and work of the composer and the lovely Mount Calvary Church where one of the seven Eisenstädter organs can be found, on which the master himself had played. The church was built in Oberberg, Eisenstadt between 1715 and 1722 under the order of Prince Esterházy. Finally, take a tour of the magnificent Esterházy Palace where Haydn spent most of his career as court musician for the Esterházy family. The Haydn Hall is the showpiece of the palace - a concert hall which ranks as one of the finest in the world – and Haydn composed many of his works specifically based on the outstanding acoustics of this hall. Return to Vienna in the late afternoon. (BL)

Thursday 12 June
After a leisurely start to the day, join Peter Bassett and your fellow group members for a special farewell lunch before the finale of the Vienna Ring – Götterdämmerung. (BL)

Friday 13 June
Tour ends after breakfast (B)

Renaissance Tours
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