Private Walking Tour of Vienna's Music History
Vienna’s rich classical tradition attracts legions of musical devotees to the city where Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Strauss and Mozart perfected their art. On your fascinating Private Music Tour of Vienna, dig deep into the lives of these classical virtuosos, visit iconic landmarks to trace their enthralling backstories.
- Begin your private tour at St Stephen’s Cathedral, where Haydn’s singing voice so impressed that he was invited to join the choir at age 5.
- Visit the MozartHaus, the only surviving flat of the Austrian composer.
- Walk by the opulent Vienna State Opera, built more than 150 years ago.
- Continue to Wiener Park to see the life-sized bronze statue of Strauss - the Waltz King.
- Wander the sights of the city, where Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert penned their combined thousands of compositions.
- Finish your tour with a stroll through Burggarten to visit Mozart’s Monument.
Synonymous with the syncopated waltz that bears its name, Vienna owes much of its music heritage to the Habsburg dynasty and the excellent creative environment provided by the imperial court for visionary musical talent. Great composers were drawn to Vienna to pen immortal works in a honing ground for musical visionaries.
As Europe’s musical centre for over two centuries, Vienna could have sat on its musical laurels - yet, today, the city’s musical history is far from static. In a city so bound by aristocratic conventions, learn how Vienna’s composers dealt with fortune, famine and the fickleness of celebrity. Examine the powerful physiological and emotional effect of classical music, from enharmonic key changes to amplify moods and rhythmic pace to heighten endorphins or promote contemplation.
In addition to the lineage of the so-called first Viennese school, Vienna also celebrates the more formalised second Viennese school of composers, including Anton Webern and Alban Berg. Your Private Music Tour of Vienna will look at how the city continues to develop entirely new approaches to composition, propelling innovation in music alongside traditionalism – to dramatic effect. Delve into rhapsodies and concertos and enjoy the atmosphere around such legendary classical music venues as St Stephen’s with its Gothic spires and the magnificent 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival auditorium of the Vienna State Opera.