Art & Music

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) — born in Salzburg, died in Vienna, immortal worldwide. Mozart is not only Austria's most famous son but one of the greatest composers in human history. Already a child prodigy, he traveled with his father Leopold through the courts of Europe, played before Empress Maria Theresa at six, and wrote his first opera at twelve.

His work — over 600 compositions, including The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, A Little Night Music, the Requiem — spans opera, symphony, chamber music, and church music. Mozart died at only 35 in Vienna under mysterious circumstances (poisoning? kidney failure? overwork?) and was buried in a common grave at St. Marx Cemetery — the exact location is unknown.

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809), the "Father of the Symphony," worked for decades as Kapellmeister for the Esterházy princes in Burgenland and Eisenstadt. He created 104 symphonies, The Creation, and the Emperor Quartet, whose melody became the German (and until 1938 the Austrian) national anthem.

Franz Schubert (1797–1828) — born in Vienna, died in Vienna, unappreciated in Vienna. Over 600 songs, symphonies (the "Unfinished"), chamber music of heartbreaking beauty. Schubert lived in poverty, and his music was only truly appreciated after his death at 31. The Schubertiade in Schwarzenberg and Hohenems (Vorarlberg) is the world's most important festival for his music.

The Strauss family gave the world the Viennese Waltz — and Vienna its musical myth. Johann Strauss Father (1804–1849) wrote the Radetzky March, which concludes every New Year's concert to this day. His son Johann Strauss Son (1825–1899), the "Waltz King," composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, and operettas — including The Blue Danube (the unofficial anthem of Vienna and Austria), Die Fledermaus, and The Gypsy Baron.

The Viennese Waltz was revolutionary in the 19th century: For the first time, couples danced closely embraced — a scandal for the society of the time. The three-quarter time, the turns, the elegance — all became the epitome of Viennese culture. To this day, every ball opens with a waltz, and the ability to dance the Viennese Waltz is considered a basic skill in Austria.

The New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein is broadcast every year on January 1st to over 90 countries — it is the most-watched classical concert in the world. The tickets are extremely sought after: You must register a year in advance for a lottery. However, the dress rehearsal on December 30th is freely accessible (registration required).

Contemporaries and successors: Franz Lehár (The Merry Widow), Carl Michael Ziehrer, and Robert Stolz continued the Viennese operetta tradition, which stands as a distinct genre between opera and musical.

The Vienna Philharmonic is considered one of the best orchestras in the world — founded in 1842, democratically self-governed (the musicians choose their conductor), and with a distinctive sound: warm, golden, with the famous "Viennese Legato". Their home is the Golden Hall of the Musikverein (opened in 1870), whose acoustics are considered the best in the world.

In addition to the Philharmonic tradition, Vienna is home to the Vienna Symphony (the second top orchestra), the Vienna State Opera (300 performances per year, 60 different operas per season — no opera house worldwide offers more), the Vienna Volksoper (operetta, musical, ballet), and the Vienna Boys' Choir (founded in 1498, heard on Sundays in the Hofburg Chapel).

Vienna's music history is unparalleled: Here worked Beethoven (who spent most of his life in Vienna), Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler (as director of the Court Opera), Schoenberg (who revolutionized music with the twelve-tone technique), Alban Berg, and Anton Webern (the Second Viennese School).

Today, Vienna is also significant for contemporary music: The Donaueschingen Music Days and the Wien Modern festival are platforms for new music. The electronic scene is vibrant — labels like Mego and artists like Christian Fennesz and Fennesz enjoy international acclaim. The pop and rock scene has produced distinctive voices with Falco ("Rock Me Amadeus", the only German-language No. 1 hit in the USA), Bilderbuch, Wanda, and Soap&Skin.

Around 1900, Vienna became the epicenter of an artistic revolution. The Vienna Secession (founded in 1897) broke away from the academic art establishment — their motto: "To every age its art, to art its freedom", engraved in gold above the entrance of the Secession building.

Gustav Klimt (1862–1918) was the leader. His "The Kiss" (1907/08) — the gold-shimmering couple in an embrace — is one of the most iconic paintings in art history and hangs in the Upper Belvedere in Vienna. Klimt's "Golden Phase" (Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, sold for $135 million in 2006 — then the most expensive painting in the world) combines Byzantine splendor with erotic tension. His Beethoven Frieze in the Secession is a monumental liaison between art and music.

Egon Schiele (1890–1918) was Klimt's pupil and radical counterpoint: Where Klimt used gold and ornament, Schiele painted naked bodies in contorted poses, thin, vulnerable, brutally honest. His nude drawings shocked society — he was even briefly imprisoned. The Leopold Museum in the MuseumsQuartier houses the world's largest Schiele collection.

Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) completed the triumvirate: expressive, wild, psychological — his portraits virtually "skinned" the subjects. Together, Klimt, Schiele, and Kokoschka make Vienna the most important place for turn-of-the-century art worldwide.

The Viennese Art Nouveau (Secession style) also influenced architecture: Otto Wagner's city railway pavilions at Karlsplatz and Nussdorfer Straße, his Postsparkasse building (a precursor of modernism), Josef Hoffmann's Purkersdorf Sanatorium, and the Wiener Werkstätte (craftsmanship at its highest level) — all can be experienced in Vienna.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000, born Friedrich Stowasser) was Austria's most idiosyncratic artist — painter, architect, eco-visionary, and enemy of the straight line. His credo: "The straight line is godless." He never wore matching socks, lived on a sailboat at times, and designed houses that look as if a child had drawn them — with colorful facades, green roofs, uneven floors, and trees growing out of windows.

His most important works in Vienna:

• Hundertwasserhaus (Kegelgasse/Löwengasse, 3rd district) — a public housing project (!), colorful, crooked, green. Freely viewable from the outside, inhabited inside. Opposite is the Hundertwasser Village with shops
• KunstHausWien (Untere Weißgerberstraße 13) — the museum for Hundertwasser's work: uneven floors, no straight walls, trees inside the building. Permanent collection plus photography exhibitions
• Spittelau Waste Incineration Plant — yes, a waste incineration plant as a work of art. Golden sphere, colorful ceramics, green terraces. Hundertwasser redesigned the facade in 1992 — it is one of the most photographed buildings in Vienna

Beyond Hundertwasser, Vienna also has modern architectural highlights: the MuseumsQuartier (one of the largest cultural areas in the world, baroque facade meets contemporary architecture), the DC Tower by Dominique Perrault (250 m, Vienna's tallest building), the WU Vienna campus with buildings by Zaha Hadid, the House of Music (interactive sound museum), and the Graz Kunsthaus (the "Friendly Alien" — a blue blob building that seems to have landed like a spaceship in the old town).

Austria's museum landscape is extraordinarily dense for a country of this size:

Vienna

• Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) — one of the largest art collections in the world. Bruegel (the world's best collection!), Vermeer, Caravaggio, Velázquez, Titian, Rubens. The rooms alone — the emperors had taste — are an experience
• Albertina — Dürer's "Young Hare", Klimt, Monet, Picasso. One of the largest graphic collections worldwide, plus changing blockbuster exhibitions
• Belvedere — Klimt's "The Kiss" and the best collection of Austrian art from the Middle Ages to today, in the baroque palace of Prince Eugene
• MuseumsQuartier — Leopold Museum (Schiele, Klimt), mumok (Museum of Modern Art), Kunsthalle Wien. Plus cafés, courtyards, and Vienna's most creative atmosphere
• Natural History Museum — the Venus of Willendorf (29,500 years old!), dinosaurs, gemstone collection, and a planetarium-like digital planetarium

Outside Vienna

• Ars Electronica Center (Linz) — the world's leading museum for media art, technology, and visions of the future
• Museum of Modern Art (Salzburg, Mönchsberg) — contemporary art with panoramic views over the old town
• Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum (Innsbruck) — from prehistory to Gothic, outstanding collection
• Admont Abbey (Styria) — the largest monastic library in the world, a baroque marvel

Festivals

Austria is the land of festivals — of world-class:

• Salzburg Festival (July/August) — founded in 1920, the most prestigious music festival in the world. Opera, concerts, drama (the "Jedermann" on the Cathedral Square!). Tickets are sought after and expensive (€50–450), but there are remaining tickets on the day of the event
• Bregenz Festival (July/August) — the legendary Seebühne on Lake Constance, the largest open-air stage in the world. The stage designs (a giant eye for Tosca, a Chinese dragon for Turandot) are spectacular
• Vienna Festival Weeks (May/June) — theater, music, performance. Avant-garde and tradition, international and local
• Schubertiade (Hohenems/Schwarzenberg, Vorarlberg) — the world's most important festival for song and chamber music
• Styriarte (Graz) — Nikolaus Harnoncourt founded this festival, focusing on early music and baroque