Preview
Vienna 2011
ROYAL OR RUSTIC?
Choose between two different worlds for an evening in Vienna by Maryalicia Post
D
elegates attending the ESCRS and EuCornea Congresses in Vienna will be spoiled for choice when they get free time to allow them to visit some of this historic city's cultural attractions. Empress Maria Theresa was the first to enjoy marionettes at Schloss Schönbrunn. Her son-in-law, Prince Esterhazy, introduced a miniature theatre to the palace in the late 18th century to amuse the court and distinguished guests. Composers such as Haydn devised operas especially for the marionette theatre. Marionettes once again entertain at the Palace since Christine and Werner Hierzer were permitted to install their awardwinning theatre in the renovated court wing of the Schönbrunn in 1994. The skillful company involves the audience thoroughly in the on-stage life of the marionettes. There is always an involuntary gasp when the curtains finally part, revealing the actual size of the “performers.” “It is a case of your eyes deceiving you,” Christine Hierzer explains. “It doesn't happen to everyone – a few manage to retain an image of the size of the marionettes. But most people can’t .We always hear that intake of breath when we take our bow alongside the figures.” While this optical illusion adds to the charm of the spectacle, the sets, costumes, and the marionettes themselves are worth seeing. For sheer lavishness, The Marionetten Theater’s production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute is the one to go for. An opera in two acts, the stage sets echo the gardens of Schönbrunn – its paths, zoo, Roman ruins. The costumes, by Christine Hierzer, are made of silk and hand-painted fabric. The music is the 1964 recording by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Karl Böhm. Before the performance, Werner Hierzer briefly explains the making and manipulation of the marionettes, and how it takes three years of training to make a
St Stephen’s Cathedral
Marionette Theatre at Schönbrunn Palace
marionette “come alive.” You are welcome backstage after the final curtain for a closer look. Performance times and online booking: www.marionettentheater.at. For a more conventional Mozart evening, you won't have to search far for the first option. It will find you. As you approach St Stephen's Cathedral, you 're bound to notice young people in 18th century costume clustering like pigeons on the plaza. They are there to urge you to a performance of the Wiener Residenzorchester. Will you be sorry if you fork out over nearly €50 for a seat that very night? I wasn't. True, all my fellow concertgoers were tourists, but then so was I. The hour and a half programme delivered a generous sampler of what we'd come for - music, opera, dance - performed in period costumes. The venue was beautiful, a stylish yet intimate room in a grand Palais. If the person selling tickets to the Mozarthaus concert had found me first, I might have gone there instead. Mozart's house – where Mozart lived and worked in 1781 – is conveniently located a two-minute
Delegates attending the ESCRS and EuCornea Congresses in Vienna will be spoiled for choice when they get free time to allow them to visit some of this historic city’s cultural attractions
walk down a picturesque lane leading from the cathedral plaza. The building is now a convent; the concert takes place in a handsomely frescoed room – the oldest concert hall in Vienna – a room in which Mozart himself often performed. Other choices: a concert in the Hofburg Palace, where the Emperor entertained his guests, or in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein. A concert in the Konzerthaus, the home of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, or the Vienna Opera House where Mozart’s Don Giovanni was first performed. For suggestions, browse www. viennaconcerts.com and www.mozart.co.at. All offer evenings of costumed Mozart performances in historic settings. If a Mozart concert represents Vienna at its most sophisticated, a visit to a Viennese Heuriger is the other side of the coin. “Heuriger” means both new wine and the inn in which it is served; as Vienna has some 700 hectares of vines inside the city limits, Heurigen abound. Since Emperor Joseph II allowed wine growers to sell their own produce from their homes, tax-free, the Heuriger has been a beloved institution. Traditionally a bush or branch of pine called a “Buschenshank” is hung outside the door to signify the inn is open. The practice gives rise to the alternate name of Buschenshank for a Heuriger. Days and hours vary with the whim of the owner. But if one Heuriger is closed, there will be another open nearby. To go with the wine, count on a bountiful self-service buffet of meats and cheese, bread, salads and desserts. Less traditionally, some offer hot dishes too. It is all enjoyed whenever possible in a garden under the trees. Music is often part of the ambience;
the producer of The Third Man film found the zither player Anton Karas, performing in a Heuriger, but these days it’s more likely to be sing-along accordion music. A Heuriger evening has become so popular with tourists that Heurigen in areas like Grinzing provide a themed entertainment along with parking space for buses. For a more authentic Heuriger experience, you might prefer one of these: A fifteen-minute taxi ride from the inner city takes you to Mayer am Pfarrplatz, 1190 Wien, Pfarrplatz 2. In the summer of 1817 Beethoven lived in rooms in this inn and worked on his Ninth Symphony. www.pfarrplatz.at/home-eng. Tram 2 stops in front of the Heuriger 10er Marie, 'the oldest wine tavern in Vienna', well known to artists and politicians. Ottakringer Str. 222-224, 1160 Wien. See: www.fuhrgassl-huber.at. One Heuriger in the inner city is the Gigerl-Blumenstockgasse, behind Kärtnerstrasse—Rauhensteingasse. Telephone: 43-1513-4431, with further details at: www.gigerl.at. Another inner-city inn is Weinstube Josefstadt, at Piaristengasse 27, 1080 Wien with its hidden garden. This one is hard to spot, situated as it is in a row of concrete buildings. You'll know the door by the lantern and the metal “Buschenshank” above it.
* The XXIX ESCRS Congress and 2nd EuCornea Congress take place in Vienna from 16-21 September 2011. Visit www.escrs.org for further details