Winterreise

So remember how I got all excited because I got to go to Schubert's childhood home and see a lot of his stuff? Well last Thursday I got super excited because a group of us went to see a performance of one of his song cycles, Winterreise. It was such perfect timing with me giving my presentation on Schubert just a few days before and then going to see his apartment and church. It took place at the Musickverein, where I saw the Munich Philharmonic the week before, and it was seriously such a great concert. We did standing room again but this time pushed our way to the front so we could lean on the bar and look over the people's shoulders in front of us to read their programs. The baritone was Matthias Goerne and the pianist was Christoph Eschenbach, and they were both two of the most amazing musicians I have ever hear. They worked together so well and the music was so haunting that I didn't want it to end. And the baritone actually sang all 24 songs of the song cycle without taking any breaks. It was crazy, I don't know how he did it. After the concert I planned to meet Jessie and another friend Boyu at a bar, but as I was walking over to the bar I passed St. Stephan's and I saw a lot of people looking up at it. I thought they were just admiring it or something, but then I saw that there was somebody tight-roping between the two towers of St. Stephan's!

 At first it was really cool to watch, but as he got closer to the other side of the tight-rope I saw his hands flying around, and THEN HE FELL. Luckily he caught the rope and was hanging there, but I obviously freaked out and did not want to see anyone fall to their death. So I left. Really really hope that guy is okay.
Friday we had class and during class we got to go on a field trip to the Central Cemetery, where all the celebrites of Vienna throughout the centuries are buried. We saw the graves of so many famous composers that it was really insane to think of the people who are now buried here. Some of them were originally buried somewhere else but then moved to this cemetery. It was pretty cool. A little creepy, but still cool.

 Brahms' grave

 Johann Strauss II

 Schubert (excitement!)

 Beethoven (also super cool.)

 Wolf

 Eduard Strauss

 Josef Strauss

 Johann Strauss the first

Schoenberg

 The cemetery itself is one of the most beautiful places I've seen so far in Vienna. It is not a dark and scary cemetery at all, but really green and lush and a great place to go for a walk. Our professor told us that the Viennese celebrate death as a part of life, and the cemetery is made to reflect that, which I thought was a really cool mindset.
Had a really great weekend in Salzburg that we left for on Friday afternoon. Updates on that tomorrow!