We’re in beautiful downtown Vienna, Austria, home of the Waltz King, Johann Strauss II. We arrived earlier today, rested up, and now we’re out and about, just starting to explore the pedestrian zone of the Innere Stadt.
As noted last time, we’ve discovered that even though we don’t sprechen sie deutsch per se, we can still figure out the meaning of quite a few words here. Remember? As in “Haus der Muzik” and “Kaffeehaus Frauenhuber.”
We’re walking in a pedestrian-only zone made up of wide streets lined with all kinds of stores, cafes, and businesses. Everything is clean, neat, big, and nice. It’s a great place to just walk and look around.
My guess is that this area has been built anew after being flattened by Allied bombers during World War II. We see the occasional ancient-looking structure, but so far, not very many.
The Music City
Something we do see a lot is people walking around with musical instrument cases. They’re everywhere, hurrying along like they’re late for practice. I’ve never seen so many people walking around with violin cases.
We’ve also noticed posters calling our attention to upcoming concerts. And come to think of it, one of the first stores we saw was the Haus der Muzik. I’m starting to see why Vienna is known as the Music City.
Just about every great composer that ever lived worked here for awhile. But the hometown favorite seems to be Johann Strauss II – The Waltz King.
The Waltz King
In 19th-century Vienna, waltzes were all the rage. Johann Strauss II was regarded as the greatest composer of waltzes, so I imagine he was an extremely popular guy. Maybe calling Strauss the Waltz King was like calling Elvis the King of Rock and Roll.
Strauss’ most famous waltz has to be the Blue Danube. Non-waltzers would recognize the Blue Danube, even if they didn’t know it was the Blue Danube. You know the one… Da da da da da, dat dat, dat dat…
There’s a statue in one of Vienna’s parks, the Stadtpark, that pays tribute to Johann Strauss II. It’s a beauty. Haven’t seen it in person yet.
Strauss is still popular today, just not quite in the same way. But he almost wasn’t popular at all.
Young Johann
His father, the already-great composer Johann Strauss I, knew how tough life was for a professional musician. He didn’t want that life for his son, so he forbade Johann junior from playing musical instruments. He tried to, anyway.
The story goes that Johann junior defied his father’s orders and practiced the violin in secret. I say, “the story goes,” because I’m a wee bit skeptical, myself. I mean, how does one go about practicing the violin in secret? Did they have a sound-proof room in the Strauss haus?
Johann junior got caught practicing more than once, and paid a price each time. But he was bound and determined, and he ended up being one of the greatest composers of all time. Perhaps there’s a moral to this story?
Maybe one of these young guys or gals we see walking around with violin cases are going to be one of the next great composers. If so, it looks like they’re in the right place.
To be continued…
