So we begin our narrative for today...
We begin our tours of Vienna. Our City Tour Guide is Maggie, a tall Austrian lady with tight reddish curly hair, who speaks English beautifully ... with what sounds to me like a curiously Australian accent. She guides us into this city of 1.8 million people which is the cultural, economic and political center of this small nation of 8 million.
Vienna used to be the capital of a much, much larger nation ... the great Austro-Hungarian Empire under the House of Habsburg ... one of the world's great powers in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Emperor Franz Josef reigned over the Empire for 68 years until he died in 1916...
As our guide Maggie puts it, the Empire "was good at arts and culture but not at war". World War I proved to be Armageddon for the Empire, which abruptly ceased to exist with its defeat in 1918. Austria even lost her beloved national anthem, which had been written by Franz Josef Haydn, to Germany.
Touring around Vienna is an odd experience for me. I have read Vienna referred to as being "a head without a body". There is grandeur everywhere here from an Age and Empire which no longer exists...
A prominent 18th century sovereign was Maria Theresa, who ruled as the only female Habsburg sovereign from 1740 to 1780 ...
Maria Theresa -- portrait by Martin Van Meytens, 1759
Along with her other imperial duties, Maria Theresa produced 16 children, thirteen of which grew to adulthood. Royal children were valuable currency for the empire, used to cement alliances through suitable marriages. On our palace tour, we see a truly immense bed recently restored for $600,000! This bed was not used for sleeping or sex orgies ... it was used exclusively for public display of royal children in Maria Theresa's time. Our palace guide tells us Maria Theresa ballooned up to 250 pounds in her later years. The term "Big Mama" starts to be circulated among members of our tour group. However, I am strongly informed by Cilla Temple, our choir's resident art historian, that the correct historical term for Maria Theresa is ... " The Brood Mare of Europe"! There you have it!
Barbara's Pano Photo of the Royal Garden Fountain!
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In the afternoon, we walk across St. Stephan's Square to prepare for our evening concert at Peterskirche ... The Church of St. Peter ...
A carriage ride through Old Vienna at sunset looks like a cool thing to do!
Our Evening Concert in Peterskirche ... a glorious event in a gorgeous venue before an enthusiastic audience! Another peak musical and spiritual experience that any words cannot describe!
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Affectionately,
Baldy aka Bob
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