Day 8 - An Architectural Tour and the return of the Fortepiano

“All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.” - Phillip Johnson


Artistic forms in the mid-18th century had a lot in common. Paintings, poetry, musical compositions and even gardens can be divided up into thematic areas.  One of the more interesting parallels between music and the other art forms is in architecture.  Viennese architecture spans centuries: Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles dominate the skyline with a little modern construction thrown in for good measure.  Some of the most amazing architecture can be found in the churches.  In previous blogs I've mentioned St. Stephen's and the Schottenstift. Today we'll cover a wide variety of private and public buildings along with a few more churches.

Private homes and public buildings have a similar style of architecture in this period.  You will notice a very symmetrical style.    Let's start with a building very close to my hotel, the Liechtenstein Palace. The Liechtenstein palace served as  the summer or country home of the Liechtenstein family.  It was built outside the fortified walls of Vienna.  The Liechtenstein's had a second palace inside the walls, but that is a subject for a different time.  Notice the symmetry of the facade; a division into three vertical sections and four horizontal sections.  Horizontally, the ground floor was primarily used as a reception area.  Look at how, even on the outside, you can see where the ground floor ends.  The first floor, what we would call the second floor in America, is where the family dwells and where some entertaining might take place.  The next level would house servants and the very top level would be used primarily for storage, but might have some servants quarters as well.  Vertically you will note that the middle section juts out slightly in front of the two side sections (although it is hard to tell in this photograph.)  The front entry way is emphasized by use of wrought iron gates.  The facade is heavily ornamented with rounded and pointed pediments and repeated patters.  you might want to compare this structure to that of a basic rondo.  The left side of the building being an A section, the middle being a B section and the right side returning to A.  In addition you can look at the different levels as a kind of theme with variation.  The thirteen ground floor openings, with three windows and a door (left), five wrought iron arches (center), and one door and three windows (right) creates a perfect mirror image of itself.  The first floor repeats the pattern with some slight changes.  We still have 13 opening, but now they are all windows.  But look at the window pediments, they recreate the  pediment pattern of the ground floor.  Meanwhile, the second floor repeats the pattern of thirteen openings but the pediments all match.  The pattern of 4-5-4 returns however by adding additional height in the middle five windows above the pediments.  Many of the buildings throughout Vienna follow this patterns.  Here are a few of them.  See if you can find the patterns.

This is the Kinsky Palace 

This building is directly across from the Schottenstift

Church architecture had a very different basic style.  In general, Catholic churches are laid out in a cross.  The altar is at the top of the cross with the nave running from the front door to the altar.  The area just inside the front door is called the Narthex.   Sometimes churches have to alter their altar (hee hee hee) so the church can fit on the land provided.  This is what happened with St. Peter's Church here in Vienna.  Although the front exterior is covered with scaffolding that is covering a section that is being renovated,  you can still get an idea if what the church looks like by the picture superimposed over the scaffolding.  (They have this on all the churches being renovated.)  To fit in to the smaller space, the front entrance was narrowed and the bell towers turned on an angle.  Inside this meant that in order to have enough room for the congregation the central nave has been turned into an oval.  St. Peter's is where I attended the Mozart concert last night.  We were down in the crypt.  No, there weren't any dead bodies down there.  In fact, why don't we go down to the crypt right now and visit with Dr. Richard Fuller.  Dr. Fuller performed last evening and is going to give us a brief speech on the fortepiano.  (Was that a weak transition or what?)

Link to the Photo Album

As I mentioned yesterday, the Fortepiano is the precursor to the modern piano.  It has fewer keys, (this one has only 61 keys), no foot pedals, (It does have pedals that are manipulated with the performers knee), and a reversed keyboard.  It is all wood construction with leather wrapped hammers and leather wrapped dampers.  This instrument was invented during Mozart's lifetime.  The modern Piano did not exist, so this instrument and the harpsichord were the instruments Mozart was actually composing for.  The only real difference between harpsichord score and fortepiano scores is the addition of dynamics in the fortepiano score.  Dr. Fuller explained today that we really don't know which piece was composed for which instrument because publishers of the day would say that it could be performed on either instrument. The excerpt above is  the Rondo alla Turca from Mozart's Piano Sonata No.11 in A Major.  A complete recording of the third movement of the Rondo from the Sonata in F Major can be found here.
 Following the concert we had a brief break before continuing on our architectural tour.

The Jesuit church also known as the University church

The Holocaust Memorial in Judenplatz

 The Holocaust Memorial is a stunning piece of work.  The blocks, upon closer inspection, look like books with the spines turned inward so that we can't see what is written on them.  This signifies the lives of the Jews who were killed in WWII and how their life stories were never completed.  The doors into the structure can not be opened because they have no door knobs leaving the occupants trapped inside.  Written on the concrete outside the doors, in multiple languages is "In commemoration of the more than 65,000 Austrian Jews who were killed by the Nazi's between 1938 and 1945.

Inside St. Peter's church

A small unidentified chapel

This church has architecture that makes it look like a private residence.

While in St. Peter's I lit a candle and prayed for the safety of my family thousands of miles away.

Of course the day had its share of food.  Here is a fruchtorte that I ordered at a sidewalk cafe just off the Graben.  The Graben is a street that runs through the old city.  It is mostly upscale and touristy shops.  Graben means trench or canal.  The street runs along the route where a canal used to run when the Romans were in Vienna.  All over Vienna there are portions of the original Roman roads that are still being used.  

The best part of today food wise, was not the best food I've eaten while here, but it was really good.  One of the things I did to prepare for this trip was to listen to some German Language CD's that Jenny bought.  One section of the CD's covered ordering food in a restaurant.  Unfortunately the only things it taught you to order were Bratwurst mit Brot und Currywurst.  So for dinner today I had Bratwurst mit Brot and my classmate Kathy had Currywurst. The picture on the left is the Currywurst, my Bratwurst mit Brot is that french bread looking thing I'm holding!