36 | Viking Explorer Society News
Top 4 Musical
DESTINATIONS
Music, whatever the genre or period, offers an unbeatable
opportunity to sample a new culture or immerse yourself more fully
in a familiar one, says travel writer Jo Cair
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
The Austrian capital is proud to call
itself the "City of Music" and it's not
hard to see why, given the
enormous number of influential
composers who lived and worked
there over the centuries. Beethoven,
Brahms, Strauss, Mahler, Haydn
and Schubert are all associated
with the city, but Vienna's most
famous export is surely Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, who composed
many of his best-known works in
the city. Mozart relocated to
Vienna from his hometown of
Salzburg to be closer to the
music-loving Emperor Joseph II
and the career opportunities
available in Viennese high society.
He lived all over the city but the
flat where Mozart spent his
happiest years—now a museum
—is Vienna's chief pilgrimage site
for fans of the composer. As well
as a place to get to know Mozart
better, Mozarthaus Vienna hosts
afternoon concerts twice a week
in July and August.
Mozart's works are regularly
performed by the Vienna
Philharmonic orchestra, which
plays at the beautiful 19th-century
Musikverein concert hall, among
other venues.
