Auf wiedersehen, Wien

I’ve just returned from a meaningful week-long journey to Vienna, and especially memorable was the generous hospitality I enjoyed from the utterly charming Arabella Fenyves and the most gracious Christoph Wellner at radio klassik Stephansdom, then a few days later from the gentlemanly John Haynes over a few glasses of wine at the Cafe Schopenhauer. This, along with a fine and meditative St. John’s Passion at the Stephansdom itself; visits to the Belvedere, the city museum (excellent, I must say), the Leopold Museum and the Peterskirche; and Sunday mass at the Hofmusikkapelle on my birthday made for a very special week. When I first visited Vienna many years ago, I was most intrigued by the city’s fin de siècle culture; now, it seems, I’ve gone fully Baroque. I make no apologies for this, though of course I’ll never abandon Schnitzler, Klimt and Schiele (not to mention Thomas Bernhard). One day I’ll write all this up.

One exhibit that I will miss, however, will be the Canaletto & Bellotto exhibition opening at the Kunsthistorisches Museum later this month. The painting at the top of this post will undoubtedly be front and center of the exhibition; the Museum web site notes:

The panoramic view looks north from the Upper Belvedere, the summer palace built for Prince Eugene of Savoy but purchased in 1752 by Empress Maria Theresia. The city unfolds as a sequence of monumental landmarks. Bellotto seems to render Vienna with near-cartographic precision, but subtly compresses distances and steepens towers to guide the viewer’s eye inward and upward. The result is a carefully constructed image of Imperial order, presenting Vienna as flourishing under the rule of Maria Theresa and Francis I Stephen.

Having just enjoyed that view myself from the Upper Belvedere, I can report that the charm of the landscape is undimmed after 250 years. Thank you especially to my lovely wife for the opportunity. Arabella, Christoph and John: I’ll be back.