Beethovenhaus??

They always say that you never know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. Well, we have walked 10 miles in the shoes of the great composers and are now completely exhausted. But, it was another very rewarding day.

We set out this morning with extremely lofty goals: to see two Beethoven houses, two Schubert houses, and Haydn's house. In the end, we fell short, but we shared marvelous adventures along the way.

Even though the embarrassment of our last U-bahn (subway) experience was still fresh in our minds, we ended up taking the U-bahn into the great unknown...literally. We found ourselves up a creek in the urban jungle that is outer Vienna. It wasn't long before Dr. Kavanugh was shouting at cabbies and pedestrians, "BEETHOVENHAUS?!" Apparently, the farther from the center of Vienna one travels the fewer people know English...or where Beethovenhaus is located. Thankfully, we found a wonderful guide in our dear friend Derek Zwier. He has a compass for a brain and proved himself to be the Bear Grylls of Vienna. (Although, he forgot to tip the cab driver, but that's a sore point. You didn't hear it from me.)

Finally, we made our way to Beethoven's house just outside of Heiligenstädt. Beethoven retreated to the rural sanctuary of Heiligenstädt in search of a cure for his growing deafness. When his condition continued to worsen, Beethoven wrote a letter to his brother that has practically become a sacred document in the musical world. His letter begins as a suicide note and ends with a triumphant declaration to overcome his disease and to continue to create beauty. It was almost chilling to walk around the very apartment where Beethoven wrote this monumental document, to stare at his death mask, and to touch his piano.

As you might imagine, Heiligenstädt has become a shrine to Beethoven. We found and walked "Beethovengang" which was Beethoven's favorite hike by the river. The composer loved the sound of rushing water because he could still hear the high frenquencies it created. Above is a picture of the gang at the corner of Eroicagasse and Beethovengang. (For those of you who don't know, Beethoven's epic 3rd symphony is called "Eroica.")

Haydn's house was incredible. Beautiful and ornate. Dr. Kavanaugh and I both surreptitiously played both Haydn's clavichord and pianoforte...and almost got kicked out of Haydnhaus. (Stupid Americans!) Haydn's house was quite contrasted with abject poverty of Schubert's death house, despite Schubert's status as one of the greatest composers of German lied. Schuberthaus is a haunting monument to Schubert's genius which wasn't recognized during his lifetime.

Must scurry off to bed. The troupe is traveling to Salzburg tommorow which entails a very early wake-up call. More soon! God bless and sweet dreams!