Tuesday, August 02, 2011

The Gypsy Baron and Don Giovanni

A trip to Austria wouldn't be complete without hearing some music. During our two week stay we had the opportunity to see Die Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron), an operetta by Johann Strauss II, and Don Giovanni by Mozart! The music, the costumes, and the performances were wonderful, but the locations of these two musical events were quite unique.

Let's start with "The Gypsy Baron." There's a big lake in Burgenland; it's called the Neusiedlersee. On the western side of the lake (just across from where we were staying) is a small town called Mörbisch. The town of Mörbisch has an open air theatre built on the shore of the lake! It seats about 4000 people. Imagine listening to the beautiful music of Johann Strauss while looking out over a beautiful lake! And at the end - fireworks!











I forgot to mention that in order to get to the theatre in Morbisch, we had to take a boat ride across the lake. (Margie and Mick - this photo is for you!)



A week later we traveled to see St. Margarethen to see Don Giovanni. The backdrop for this opera were the rocks and stones of this rock quarry in the hills. My first opera and what a place to experience it in!









That was an enjoyable experience, but also a late night! The opera didn't start until 8:30 (plus it was the premiere, so lots of speeches auf Deutsch of course!) It was 1:50am when we crawled into bed that night (or shall I say "morning"?)

One more music-related note - while traveling through the south-western part of Burgenland one day, we traveled through the town of Raiding. You ask "What is the significance of Raiding?" Why, it's the birthplace of Franz Liszt! I didn't get a photo of it, but there was a baby grand piano in the center of town - couldn't believe it! The birthplace of Liszt was open for all to explore (no admission was charged.)








Our travel tales are starting to wind down, but I have a couple more stories to share so if you are so inclined, tune in again tomorrow!

3 comments:

Katrina said...

Very fun!!! The open air theater on the lake is absolutely gorgeous :-).

Margaret said...

Ok, that is soooooo cool! Can you tell I'm a music lover? lol! Oh, I would have loved to be a tiny fly on your shoulder for all of this!

Patti-Rocky Mtn Stitcher said...

I envy you what a wonderful time.