Impressions from Vienna (Satis Shroff)

 
VISITING MOZART: IMPRESSIONS FROM VIENNA (Satis Shroff)

In the EC train from Munich to Vienna you get pampered by a brunette stewardess in a tight stretch skirt. She seems to have a Ukranian accent, and you’re served water, newspapers, mags and snacks. A delight in comparison to the German stressed stewardess. Austrians are good at service management.
The train is speeding at 140kmph past meadows and forested areas. A big lake to the right, mixed deciduous forests, past maize fields. The sky is blue with scattered fluffy clouds, detached Austrian houses with dark brown, wooden balconies, decorated with geraniums on the windows and house fronts. A saw mill with piles of planks near a forest. Another lake to the right with sailing boats and the vast sky above.
 There’s no wifi connection between Munich and Salzburg. The Austrian telecommunication takes over from Salzburg. This is because there’s no agreement between German and Austrian railways in this regard.
The Austrian hamlets look cute like from a picture-book with their solar roofs, wooden balconies decorated with white, violet and red flowers and green meadows with ripened, dry maize fields.
The train speeds at 230 kmph through the tunnels. Salzburg Hauptbahnhof, followed by Linz and the train pulls up at Vienna West Hauptbahnhof.

A young American lady in jeans shorts and a loose grey T-shirt is busy with her European diary, writing busily and painstakingly with her left hand, taking care to write the words eligibly because the train made it impossible to keep a steady hand.  She wears sneakers and travelled first class. Perhaps her junior year abroad. Two young guys, looking like Albanians out to seek asylum in the west, sit in front of me. The conductor comes shortly and tells them politely that they have second class tickets. They stay on a little bit for the information to sink in, then decide to go to the other compartment. The great thing about trains in Europe is that you can walk from one end to the other.
Ah, I read that Tschipras, our Athener PM, has another deadline till the 20th of August 2015. Herr Schäuble was the bad guy with his Grexit plans but Chancellor Merkel can’t decide everything on her own. She has to get Herr Schäuble’s blessing  because the latter has a growing influence in the CDU. ‘Der Spiegel’ even pointed out he could be the next chancellor.
* * *

Schönbrunn Castle (Satis Shroff)

You take the tram to Schloss Schönbrunn, the magnificent summer residence of the Habsburgs, and are rewarded by the sight of  magnificent garden and castle complexes of a superlative quality. Hundreds of tourists from all over the world are underway to Schönbrunn with camcorders, selfie gargets. You see the people making an event out f it by dancing gangnam style or doing a Melbourn shuffle in the sprawling gardens, posing in front of palaces.
You can imagine the people of Vienna from the past, promenading in the gardens, playing hide-and-seek in the labyrinth gardens. From the Irrgarten to the Irrenanstalt, eh? Schloss Schönbrunn, which means ‘beautiful fountain,’ owes its existence to the madness of the Habsburgs. The old residence was destroyed in the year 1683 and it was Emperor Leopold I who ordered the Luftschloss to be constructed. It was planned to be better than the one in Versailles. However, this ambitious plan was given up and replaced by a modest version. The rococo style palace you see now was ordered by Maria Theresia, and was planned and constructed in 1740. You can see the room where 6 year old Mozart played the piano for the Empress.
The castle has parks laid according to the French style, complete with a botanical garden with palms and a butterfly house.

The Danube (Donau) Marina restaurant located just below the bridge with a picturesque view of the modern bridge on one side and the skyscraper skyline of of Vienna with speedboats, yachts and cargo-ships. A cadof the and  ndlelight dinner in such a beautiful ambiente on the bank of the blue Danube.
Vienna, a city of your dreams. A city that flirts with its past, and lives in the historical past. You can feel the pomp and greatness of the Habsburger Dynasty still breathing in Vienna’s countless buildings, palaces, castles, its pompous facades, the fiaka rides, the many museums, romantic cobbled lanes. The people from Europe and their influence, the cultural varieties that is seen in the Vienna waltz, the Hungarian Radetzky March and the Bruckner symphony speak for themselves. Glass and chrome buildings bear witness to modernity around Stephansplatz.
The rokoko castle of Schönbrunn has parks that bear a definitive French accent with flower beds, statues that evoke a stately ensemble.
If you go to Vienna, you can’t miss the Vienna Prater, a big area for public enjoyment, which was opened in 1766 originally as a retreat. It has taverns, coffee houses, swings, carousels and bowling alleys. This led to the beginning of the ‘Wurstelprater,’ as the Viennese call it. It has today two gigantic Ferris wheels and is an amusement park for big and small. It offers cabarets, varieties, street artists and carnival rides, playhouses. Fun is the main goal of the Vienna Prater, like its counterparts at the Europa Park in Rust and Disneyland in Paris.
The biggest attraction and the trade-mark of Vienna is the big Ferris wheel. Which has a diameter of 65m, built in 1897. A ride is worth the grand view of Vienna from above: the lights of Vienna city winking at you, the Danube canal and the well-kept fields and green areas. You can walk 14 km along the Hauptallee. A favourite haunt is the Lusthaus, a pavilion dating back to 1783, in which even napoleon’s soldiers drank beer and had supper.
Tom Cruise was in town, not to watch an opera performance, but to beat the drum for his latest movie, which was shot in Vienna last year. He managed to block the Vienna Ringstrasse for an extravagant trailer show. It was the best advertisement for Vienna, and to this end the Hollywood star was treated as a VIP by the Austrians vice-chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner, and Culture Minister.
Tom Cruise said in an interview: ‘I love Vienna. It’s wonderful here.’
Lest we forget, the Hollywood stunt-star is the face of the scientology-sect was the tenor in the more serious newspapers of Vienna.
On Tuesday 21, July 2015 around 30 refugees were set free in the Böcklinstrasse by organized gangs. The group of 30 refugees headed towards Prater, an amusement park in Vienna. The police rounded them up shortly and drove off in a bus.
Hotel Regina, a traditional individual hotel in possession of a family in an imposing Vienna palace, was built in 1827. It’s located near the votive church and the Central Rathaus (Town Council) and the Burgtheatre. The  with paintings of the old Vienna, and the hotel family members since generations done in sepia.
Despite all the changes brought about historically and genetically, Vienna has remained true to itself. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, Vienna has emerged in the middle of Europe, and has become a buffer-zone between Eastern and Western powers. Vienna has become a cultural and trendsetter.
When you travel with the S-Bahn, tram or bus you see people from East and West, North and South with their mobiles as a communication medium. Vienna is a global city.

* * *

Donau Boat Ride (Satis Shroff) 

Vienna has a great many bridges, like Venice and Amsterdam, but there are trees and thick bushes reaching to the river all along the way.

Hunderwasser architecture with slanted houses and a tower like the one they felled in Stuttgart (TV tower). Ah, the blue Danube is no longer blue in this section of the river. The water is green and there are a hundred anglers who make a living with the fishes angled from the Danube.
The sky has clouds in light grey and golden hues in patches. A tranquil, warm evening as the boat pushes forwards, and the houses created by Hundertwasser become smaller and smaller. After the sluice where the boat spends a great deal of time for the water to rise, I talk with an Armenian family: father, mother and son. The son has a long, black beard and I think he’s a radical Muslim. I’m told they’re Christians from Armenia who now live in the USA. So we swap stories and the entire journey becomes a wonderful, amiable experience. We talk about food, families, European sight-seeing. The son says, ‘We were wondering whether we’d taken the wrong train at Salzburg. We only read the word: Wien.’

 Ah, Wien is Vienna in German. Well that’s the way it is. The French also expect that the world speaks their language.

The boat goes past the Millinium Shopping Tower.

Norbert Kettner, the director of tourism, can be happy about the 5% increase in visitors spending their nights in Vienna. In the first half year there were 6,330,800 bookings in Vienna’s hotels. The leading visitors are from: Germany, Austria, USA, Italy, UK, Russia and Switzerland, even though the Swiss Frank is at a level with the dollar.

You go past the Marinien Bridge where you had dinner last night. The boat makes an about turn before the Marien Bridge.

A bridge with another 60-storied tower. You have your dinner in the boat as it winds its way through the sluice, bridges starting at the Schwedenplatz. The boat passes the Urania Observatory, and goes past green Vienna with forests of the Prater. You pass the docks at Maria Wien, where you can admire a suspension bridge across the Danube. The boat then proceeds to the Reichsbrücke after passing the Danube Island, the Peace Pagoda and the Ernst Happel soccer stadium. I remember Happel’s favourite expression during soccer games. His admonition was: ‘Pressing!’ You press the other team so hard that they can’t play their system. A soccer strategy. The midwife also uses the same expression with a gynecological connotation.

Travelling first class with reservation the Austrian railjet 65 can be comfortable, leather seats, a lot of space for your legs. You’re pampered the same way as in a plane, except it’s not all inclusive. The board restaurant takes order and delivers the food and drinks right to your seat.
The Danube flows from its source in the Schwarzwald to the Black Sea, crossing countries. A fourth of the route is through Germany. The Danube is fully of history, forts, powerful cloisters, castle and pompous palaces, beautiful landscape woven with legends.

Albertina is another recommendable address for art lovers, and has significant collection of graphic art and drawings. It is located beautifully between impressive buildings and cafes, among them Café Mozart.

An interesting photographic exhibition was on Lee Miller (May 8-August 16,2015). She was born in 1907 and died in 1977, and was a fascinating blonde woman of the 20th century. Within a period of four decades Lee Miller

Contributed an immense amount of work as a photograph who aimed at the impulse of her times. She tried her hand at different genres. Lee created in Paris surrealistic photographs together with Man Ray. She did modern landscape pictures in Egypt. After that she photographed the disastrous consequences of World War II from 1939 onwards. She made icons of portraits and war photography that were presented in Austria for the first time. She’s well known for her shots in the Führer’s bathtub. She wouldn’t have dared do that because Eva Braun wouldn’t have allowed her to come so near. A photograph of a KZ prisoner wearing striped pyjamas and thick socks. Her own nude photography: a lithe body with short blonde hair.

The Imperial Butterfly House in the Burggarden palace  of the Burghof, 200m from the opera. It is housed in of the most beautiful Jugend style glass-shoes and a unique tropical oasis, eh? It is like a sauna inside, but the butterflies that flattered around between the tropical plants were a delight and fascination with their colourful and intricate features.

Schloss Belvederere has a baroque art collection, the Emperor’s art gallery and the Museum of the Middle Ages depicting Austrian art. You have to marvel at Prince Eugene of Savoy’s former residence. The magnificently laid gardens are among the most impressive examples of baroque architecture in Europe.

The Upper Belvedere has the world’s largest collection of Klimt paintings and  includes the ionic work: the Kiss.  Other highlights are masterpieces by Schiele, Kokoschka, Waldmüller, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh and major collections of the 19th and 20th centuries, in addition to the medieval and baroque art.

The rose gardens are fascinating with roses in different colours, growing straight towards the sky. The fragrance is still fresh and the visitors stick their noses and emit ‘ahs.’ The roses are donated by many Austrian families in memory of their beloved ones, with messages engraved below each clump of roses.

 When coffee came to Vienna, the Viennese were not used to the strong intense flavor of the new beans. Think about Kopi Luwak from the movie ‘The Bucket List.’ Then someone got the idea to sweeten the freshly brewed coffee with hot milk. This was the birth of the famous ‘Vienna Melange.’ It has remained the most popular way of making coffee in Vienna until today.

The Vienna Melange is half espresso and half frothy milk. And Apfelstrudel to go with it. Your taste buds experience the unique harmony found in a visit to a Vienna coffee house.
Around 1752 Empress Maria Theresia allowed concessions for coffee makers. Since then coffee, tea and drinking chocolate have been sold in Vienne coffee houses.

Can water be pure and luscious? Yes, on a hot summer day, drunk with or without lemon. Vienna’s first coffee house was opened on the spot, where the Café Mozart is today, in 1794. In 1929 it was named café Mozart, after a monumentof Mozart. The Mozart Café became popular through the Hollywood movie ‘The Third Man’ by Graham Greene. The Querfeld family runs the café since 1993. Anita Querfeld and her daughter Andrea Winkler have taken over now.
* * *
 

VIENNA BY NIGHT (Satis Shroff)

Wien, Wien, nur Du allein,
Goes an old song.
A walk in the city is fascinating and delightful.
You see the many gaudy lights,
Of palaces, St. Stephan’s church,
The former Habsburg palaces,
The many ice cream vendors
In the evenings.

Mothers photographing their Italian cover-girl daughters,
Japanese and Chinese women,
Slim-lined, decent make-up
And oh-so-conscious,
Posing in front of boutiques, theatres, opera houses,
Cathedrals, fountains and Greek statues.

A music student you’ve seen and heard
Playing Mozart melodies on his violin,
Is now playing Vivaldi,
Among Japanese, Chinese and European on-lookers,
Licking ice, holding babies, caressing each other.
The classical music and the warm Vienna light,
Makes people mellow.
Vienna by night is a thrilling experience,
On a boat along the Danube,
With all those lights
Winking at you,
 And the reassuring breeze caressing your body.

This led to the beginning of the ‘Wurstelprater’

* * *

A WALTZ WITH YOU (Satis Shroff)

Ah, the sound of Vienna begins.
I execute a perfect circular waltz,
With you in a gown
And I in tails,
After the pre-ball sekt.

It’s amazing how even teenagers
Go voluntarily to learn
How to waltz,
And how to kiss a lady’s hands,
Impeccably.

I learned it at socials
Organised by the nuns of St. Helen’s
And the Christian Brothers of Ireland.
When the ‘ladies choice’ was announced
By the Master of Ceremonies,
You could feel the adrenalin
Surging in your young blood.

It helps to develop your self-confidence,
In a society where balls are a way of life.

But a waltz in Vienna,
Is a legacy of Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph.
Strauss and Mozart rule the dancing floors.
In palaces, concert halls, posh hotels,
The 19th century Sofiensaal.
 You dance in your polished best,
For the Viennese or your society.
The art of formal greeting,
Bowing, hand-kissing,
How to ask for a dance,
And how to introduce people.
Correct Viennese etiquette is well-seen:
Küss die Hand gnädige Frau,
You look so lovely tonight.

The ambient, the rustling silk clothes,
The moving violins, the pricking sekt,
And the swirls whirl you
To another baroque world.


* * *

VIENNA’S BIG HEART (Satis Shroff)

At the Musikverein’s Golden Hall,
In Vienna with you,
Listening to the renowned singers and solists,
All wearing costumes and white wigs, from the baroque era,
With operatic overtures
From Mozart’s times.

To enjoy melodies from the baroque era,
With operatic overtures,
Arias and amorous duets.

A promenade with you,
In the summer residence of the Habsburgs,
To admire and inhale the aroma
Of the roses in the palace gardens
Of Schönbrunn.

Sauntering along Prince Eugen von Savoyen’s Belvedere,
The exquisite baroque architecture,
Or admiring the works of Schiele,
Kokoschka, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh.
The fragrant smell of Edelweiss,
Gentians and Alpine roses,
From the Alpine Gardens.

Albertina in the heart of Vienna,
With its imperial pomp and paintings,
From Monet, Manet to Picasso.
Watching the morning exercise
Of the white Lipizzaner horses,
In the Spanish Riding School.
Yes, the very ones King Birendra also wanted to possess,
Before he was killed by his own son.

The imperial palaces,
Art rooms, ballrooms and flourishing gardens
Evoke a touch of decadence,
Preserved by the bourgeois society.
In the streets during the day,
There are beggars from the former East Bloc,
But also Austrians among them,
Who have fallen through the social net,
Sleeping in public parks.
Demonstrations of the Kurds,
Against the bombardments of the PKK,
And Erdogan’s Turkish power politics.

Austrians taking shots at asylum seekers,
Who have reached 80,000.
A dangerous angst against asylum seekers spreads,
The fear of loss of Austrian identity.
Austria took 90,000 war refugees from the Balkankrieg,
Another 90,000 in the Hungarian revolt.
Vienna has indeed a big heart.






Eingestellt von Satis Shroff um 06:19 Keine Kommentare: 
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Labels: arias, austria, austrian monarchy, bach, mozart, music, satisshroff, songs,strauss, vienna, wien

Donnerstag, 30. Juli 2015

Zeitgeistlyrik: A Waltz With You (Satis Shroff)

 

A WALTZ WITH YOU (Satis Shroff)
Ah, the sound of Vienna begins.
I execute a perfect circular waltz,
With you in a gown
And I in tails,
After the pre-ball sekt.
 
It’s amazing how even teenagers
Go voluntarily to learn
How to waltz,
And how to kiss a lady’s hands,
Impeccably.
 
I learned it at socials
Organised by the nuns of St. Helen’s
And the Christian Brothers of Ireland.
When the ‘ladies choice’ was announced
By the Master of Ceremonies,
You could feel the adrelanin
Surging in your young blood.
 
It helps to develop your self-confidence,
In a society where balls are a way of life.
 
But a waltz in Vienna,
Is a legacy of Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph.
Strauss and Mozart rule the dancing floors.
In palaces, concert halls, posh hotels,
The 19th century Sofiensaal.
 You dance in your polished best,
For the Viennese or your society.
The art of formal greeting,
Bowing, hand-kissing,
How to ask for a dance,
And how to introduce people.
Correct Viennese etiquette is well-seen:
Küss die Hand gnädige Frau,
You look so lovely tonight.
 
The ambient, the rustling silk clothes,
The moving violins, the pricking sekt,
And the swirls whirl you
To another baroque world.
 
 

VIENNA’S BIG HEART (Satis Shroff)
At the Musikverein’s Golden Hall,
In Vienna with you,
Listening to the renowned singers and solists,
All wearing costumes and white wigs, from the baroque era,
With operatic overtures
From Mozart’s times.
 
To enjoy melodies from the baroque era,
With operatic overtures, arias and amorous duets.
 
A promenade with you,
In the summer residence of the Habsburgs,
To admire and inhale the aroma
Of the roses in the palace gardens
Of Schönbrunn.
 
Sauntering along Prince Eugen von Savoyen’s Belvedere,
The exquisite baroque architecture,
Or admiring the works of Schiele,
Kokoschka, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh.
The fragrant smell of Edelweiss,
Gentians and Alpine roses,
From the Alpine Gardens.
 
Albetina in the heart of Vienna,
With its imperial pomp and paintings,
From Monet, Manet to Picasso.
Watching the morning exercise
Of the white Lipizzaner horses,
In the Spanish Riding School.
Yes, the very ones King Birendra also wanted to possess,
Before he was killed by his own son.
 
The imperial palaces,
Art rooms, ballrooms and flourishing gardens
Evoke a touch of decadence,
Preserved by the bourgeois society.
In the streets during the day,
There are beggars from the former East Bloc,
But also Austrians among them,
Who have fallen through the social net,
Sleeping in public parks.
Demonstrations of the Kurds,
Against the bombardments of the PKK,
And Erdogan’s Turkish power politics.
 
Austrians taking shots at asylum seekers,
Who have reached 80,000.
A dangerous angst against asylum seekers spreads,
The fear of loss of Austrian identity.
Austria took 90,000 war refugees from the Balkankrieg,
Another 90,000 in the Hungarian revolt.
Vienna has indeed a big heart.