Throughout the semester we studied many different classical artists (Beethoven, Strauss, Hayden, and Mozart to name a few), along with the time period surrounding the music and the conditions that the artists were living in. The most enjoyable thing that I learned during the semester was how to talk about music. We had two different assignments. The first was to discuss the differences between two different plays, and the second assignment was to see a classical concert and to talk about the concert. These two assignments pushed me to want to understand how to talk about music effectively.
The second part of the course was to travel to Vienna, Austria. This was an amazing experience! The first day that we got there we had a tour guide give us a tour of the city and then take us to the oldest restaurant. The city was amazing and a lot to take in during the first couple hours! On Saturday, April 28th, we traveled to the church that Hayden was buried. The crypt that he was buried in was very breath taking. After that we visited Esterhazy Palace where Hayden worked. The place was beautiful, along with all the rooms and items within the rooms. The most interesting thing at the Esterhazy Palace was the fact that the family tree portrait was all fake. They had lied about who their ancestors were to hide their protestant heritage. After the Palace we traveled to Forchtenstein Castle. The view from this castle was amazing, you could see everything. Everything was absolutely beautiful that we viewed and I got a ton of post cards that showed all the places that we went too. On Sunday, April 29th, the first thing that we saw Vienna Museum. Everything was so amazing, there was architecture exhibits, statures, and art. Next we went to see Upper and Lower Belvedere. Upper Belvedere was a palace where they held the important meetings, the first floor extended over 1.5 floors, the rooms were filled with art. Lower Belvedere was where people lived. Here the house was just as beautiful, and had so many cool rooms, along with a lot of art. The next day, Monday, April 30th, we went to see Schönbrunn Palace. The place was huge, at least 9 attractions including the Carriage Museum, the orangery, a zoo, and mazes. Everything here was so beautiful, we spent all day here and I still was not able to view everything in the complex. On Tuesday, May 1st, it was a national holiday in Vienna, so a lot of the shops were closed, but we got to witness the workers march, it was really interesting! After watching the march we viewed the opera house. The coolest part about this opera house, is that a lot of the opera house is original from when it was originally built. Some of it was reconstructed due to WWII. After the opera house we went to view, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms grave. There are two grave sites for Mozart, since they do no know exactly where he was buried. At the end of the day we saw Aida at the opera house, it was interesting to watch an Opera on the stage that we viewed in the morning. On Wednesday, May 2nd, we saw Haydn's house. In the house it showed a map of where Haydn lived compared to the inner city, and it was crazy how far away he lived. After Haydn's house, we went to Mozart's house. The first floor was my favorite as it showed, how he lived in this apartment. From class we learned that Mozart was really bad with money so he moved around a lot throughout his life. Finally we ended the day with going to a 300 year old wine cellar. It was really cold in the cellar but the wine was very good! The second to last day in Vienna, Thursday, May 3rd, we Freud museum. It was really interesting to look at his work. After the Freud museum, we went to see Beethoven's apartment. The museum was on the fourth floor, it was very hot. We then went to view a concert hall where they play the New Year's Day Concert. It was a very beautiful concert hall, in order to event get tickets to the concert you have to enter a raffle, and there was around 900,000 entries already! Then we went to the Albertina, which was a painting museum where there were more modern paintings. After the Albertina we went to a small concert and it was very interesting, since their were actors that were talking during the performance. Overall I really enjoyed the concert though. On the last day in Vienna, May 4th, we first went to Strauss' house. Then we went to the Ferris Wheel, it was such an amazing view of the city. An interesting thing about the amusement park there, is that each ride is individually owned, so you cannot just buy a pass and enter the park, you have to pay for each individual ride. After the Ferris Wheel, we went to the technical music. It was very cool there, since there was a lot of different exhibits including chemistry, automotive, renewable energy, instruments, cooking appliance, and more! Our final night we had a dinner in a cellar, where it was sampler plate of all their different kinds of food. The food was delicious, and the dessert was very good, but very rich. I think out of all the food that I ate over the course of the week, this dessert was the heaviest thing that I had. Vienna was an amazing experience, and I am so glad that I had the chance to travel to a different country, and to learn the different culture there. One thing that was very different from US, is that you seat yourself at restaurants, and that you have to ask if you want to pay to leave. I really enjoyed everything that I experience in Vienna, and would love to go back to see it again!