Following our morning lecture, we make our way by coach to Joseph Haydn’s house at 19 Haydngasse. Haydn famously wrote to Mozart’s father saying ‘I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition’. The house in the 6th district of Vienna is where Haydn lived from 1797 until his death in 1809 and where he composed his oratorio masterpieces The Creation and The Seasons. The house contains much Haydn memorabilia, including his piano, his portraits, and even his composing pencil. We are also able to view the rooms in the house that honour the memory of Johannes Brahms.

Haydn’s piano in the Haydnhaus

We then make our way to the Kunsthistorisches Museum for lunch, after which we have a guided tour of the collection of paintings. The museum was opened around 1891 and is Austria’s largest art museum, and contains works by Raphael, Brueghel the Elder, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Caravaggio. It also contains magnificent paintings of views of Vienna by the Venetian artist Bernardo Bellotto, and show what the city would have looked in Mozart’s time. This evening you may choose to join our optional excursion to the opera.

After the morning lecture in the hotel, we spend the morning at the palace of Schönbrunn, commissioned in 1696 by Leopold I, completed in 1730, and adapted in the mid-18th century for Maria Theresa. Our audio-guided deluxe tour includes Maria Theresa’s bedroom, hung with Brussels tapestries, her breakfast room decorated with needlework worked by her and her daughters, and the Hall of Mirrors, where Mozart, aged 6, gave his first Viennese recital. In later years, Mozart presented his comic opera The Impresario in the orangery. The gardens were laid out with fountains and statues, and later, on the Gloriette Hill, a colonnaded arcade was added, which gives the visitor magnificent views over the city.

After an included lunch at the palace in the Café Residenz, we make our way to St Mark’s cemetery to see the supposed grave of Mozart, and we follow this with a visit to the main cemetery of Vienna to view the graves of Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert. Peter will give a final recital in a church in the suburbs of Vienna. This evening we enjoy a farewell dinner at the nearby Sky Restaurant – a magnificent eatery overlooking the rooftops of central Vienna.

After a summing up lecture, we check out of our hotel, and following a swift visit to the Museum of Military History, we continue to the Upper Belvedere Palace. Here, we enjoy a tour of the magnificent art collection, paying especial attention to the paintings on the uppermost floor, which reflect everyday life in Vienna during the last years of Mozart’s life and that of the early 19th century.

Features

Tour limited to 24 passengers

Tom Abbott – professional tour manager & art historian

Jeremy Limb – pianist

Ricahrd Rowe – tenor

Six lectures by Peter Medhurst

Private recitals and study morning with Peter,  Jeremy and Richard on Mozart’s music

Centrally located historic 4* hotel

Welcome & farewell dinners included

Included lunches every day

All excursions, entrance fees, guided tours & gratuities included

Direct scheduled British Airways flights from London Heathrow to Vienna

Personal audio headsets on days 1 to 6

Highlights

Walking tour of Vienna’s medieval streets

Afternoon coffee & cream cakes at Café Frauenhuber

Austrian Theatre Museum, Lobkowitz Palace

Recital in the Lobkovitz Palace by Jeremy & Peter of music by Mozart and his contemporaries

Study morning in Mozart’s Figaro House on Mozart’s piano sonatas and opera arias

State Hall National Library

Augustinian Church

Albertina Art Collection – guided tour

Recital by Jeremy at the Bösendorfer piano show room

Liechtenstein Garden Palace – private tour of its art collection

Excursion to the Wachau Valley

Organ recital in Melk

Karlskirche

Kunsthistorisches Museum – guided tour

Schönbrunn Palace

Visit to Mozart’s grave

Museum of Military History

Upper Belvedere Palace

Optional

Vienna Boys’ Choir performing High Mass at the Hofburg Chapel

Optional opera on Day 2 & 5

The Music and Art Experts

Peter Medhurst – music expert, pianist and bass-baritone

Peter Medhurst is well-known in the world of the arts as a singer, pianist, scholar and lecturer, who in addition to his appearances on the concert platform and in the lecture hall, sets aside time to devise and lead tours abroad for small groups of art and music connoisseurs.  His particular interests are centred on the music, art and history of Vienna, Salzburg (with its strong Mozart link), Berlin, Halle (Handel’s birthplace), Dresden, Venice (Vivaldi’s birthplace), Rome, and Delft (with its Vermeer and 17th century Dutch School connections) and over the years Peter has been associated with a number of companies including Travel Editions, Cox and Kings, Success Tours, Heritage Travel, Tailored Travel, and Voyages to Antiquity.  Peter did his training at the Royal College of Music and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Tom Abbott – art and history expert, tour manager

Tom Abbott graduated in Psychology and Art History at Carleton College, Minnesota, and studied at the Louvre School of Art History in Paris. 1987 he moved to Berlin leading tours in Germany, specialising, of course, in the German capital. While in Berlin, Tom commenced and completed his graduate studies in the history of art and architecture, focusing particularly on the art of the Italian and German Baroque. He has recently led seminar tours to the United States exploring the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the School of Nancy, France, as well as tours focusing on the art of the Netherlands from the Golden Age to the Contemporary. Tom is associated with the Foundation of Prussian Palaces and Gardens.

Richard Rowe – tenor

Richard Rowe studied at the Royal Academy of Music receiving a Dip RAM. A finalist in the 2008 Opera Rara Bel Canto and Richard Lewis prizes, he was also the recipient of the Leverhulme Award and the Worshipful Company of Musicians medal.  Scottish opera appearances: Stroh Intermezzo; Five:15 2009.  Operatic engagements include: Tybalt Romeo et Juliette, Ferrando Cosi fan tutte with British Youth Opera, Tamino Die Zauberflöte, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Jupiter Semele, Janek The Makropulos Case, Sandy The Lighthouse (Peter Maxwell Davies) Opernhaus Kiel, Nationale Reisopera, Jenik The Bartered Bride for Schloss Hallwyl, Switzerland, Golo Genoveva (Schumann), Banquo Macbeth (Bloch) with UCL Opera; Cautionary Tales and covering the title role in Joshua for Opera North, and Andres in Wozzeck for ENO.

Jeremy Limb – pianist

Jeremy Limb is the great grandson of Sir Arnold Bax, the distinguished 20th century English composer.  Jeremy read music at Queen’s College, Oxford, then studied piano at the Royal College of Music. Since leaving the the Royal College of Music he has broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of their Young Artists’ Forum concert series; given numerous recitals round the country, and in 1997 won 1st Prize in the 18^th Brant National Piano Competition. He now works as a freelance musician in various capacities – soloist, accompanist, sight-reader, repetiteur (including work for English National Opera), as well as arranger, composer and performer of all types of music including jazz/pop. He is also a writer and performer of comedy and was nominated for the LWT New Comedy Writing Award for his play ‘Play Wisty For Me’ – The Life of Peter Cook.

The Accommodation

We stay for six nights at the magnificent and centrally located 4* König von Ungarn Hotel in Vienna (www.kvu.at). Located just behind St Stephen’s Cathedral, the hotel is said to be the oldest in Vienna and certainly there is an old world charm about it. Distinguished guests of the hotel have included novelist Günter Grass, actor Larry Hagman, mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa and pianist Alfred Brendel.

Its facilities include a restaurant and a bar. All rooms are en-suite and feature television, telephone, hairdryer, mini bar, and a room safe. Dinner is included at our hotel on the first evening (set 3 course dinner without drinks), and at The Sky Restaurant on our last night, while the remaining four days are on bed and breakfast basis.

One particular aspect of the König von Ungarn Hotel that will appeal to people on the tour is that Mozart (above left) lived in an adjoining building – the Figaro House (see right) – in fact, the breakfast room of the hotel is directly beneath Mozart’s appartment.  In addition to composing his famous opera here in 1786, Mozart also worked on the so-called six ‘Haydn Quartets’.  Our study morning on Mozart’s piano sonatas and opera arias takes place in the Figaro House – all deliciously convenient.

Extras to the tour

Insurance £44

Single room supplement £339 (limited availability)

Optional excursions

Local accommodation tax to be paid directly to the hotel

Flight details may be subject to change

Price based on twin share

Normal booking conditions apply

Bookings through Tailored Travel
Tel: 020 7064 4970

Email  info@tailored-travel.co.uk