October 14, 2023

Dateline – Vienna, Austria –

I’m feeling a bit maudlin tonight. Perhaps it’s the autumnal aire tragique of this faded imperial city, full of monuments to what once was. Mind you I’m not recommending the restoration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by any stretch of the imagination but the city is full of baroque and art nouveau masterpieces of architecture slated to govern far more than modern small and landlocked Austria which seems to revel in past glories, like Mozart, Strauss, and the film version of The Sound of Music. Or maybe it’s the pre-dinner cocktail, the champagne toast, the wine with dinner and the liqueur as a digestif after dinner that are making their presence known. I don’t drink a lot as I don’t like drinking alone. I do however indulge on trips such as this or at all inclusive beach resorts. I do try to pace myself. No one wants to see 61 year old me drunk off is ass it public. It wasn’t a pretty sight even when I was in my 20s. At least I’m a quiet and happy drunk. I sit in a corner somewhere and sing show tunes until I fall asleep. For this trip, this means singing along with the on board piano guy. He tried to hand me a microphone tonight. I refused. I’m willing to sing for him in my slightly inebriated state but not for the passengers at large. That may eventually change, but not tonight and not without a modicum of rehearsal. I am of the opinion that you can improv with spoken word all the time but you should never improv with music – unless that’s what the audience wants.

Where was I? General feeling of melancholy. It will probably be gone in the morning. My moods rarely last long. Usually there’s something unresolved in my psyche that prompts them. I don’t think it’s the dead husbands as my trips to continental Europe have all been either before or after both of them. Maybe it’s work. I’ve tried to leave most of that behind but the occasional person in the system doesn’t recognize I’m seven time zones away and sends a page or a text message to which I tersely reply ‘Can’t help you – ask someone else’. Maybe it’s a bit of twilight of career conflating with twilight of Empire. Maybe I’m overthinking all of this, but that’s one of the things I do.

After breakfast this morning, I tagged along to a rehearsal of the Vienna Residenzorchester, an ensemble that specializes in Viennese music and which puts together ballroom sized ensembles and orchestras for concert in the park performance and the like. They were brushing up on some Mozart and Strauss (and I am very suspicious the pieces the pieces they were rehearsing were chosen with a tour group in mind). It was a 16 piece full orchestra and the rehearsal was in the ballroom of the Auesperger palace which dates from the early 1700s. I looked up the Auespergs. They’re minor Holy Roman Empire princelings from what is now Slovenia so a palace in 18th century Vienna would have been de rigeur. It was all very nice.

Then I set out on foot to the Belvedere, Prince Eugene of Savoy’s magnificent palace on the hill overlooking the central city. I’ve always loved the building (and I am usually not very fond of the baroque but the proportions on this one are just right) and it has been a while since I had been in to see the Klimts. Steve loved Klimt. He had a number of Klimt prints, one of which still hangs on my wall. I really like his stuff to. One of my theater projects that never got off the ground – I was going to direct A Little Night Music and use Klimt as the basis for the visual look, not so much all the gold work but the stylized flowers and trees for the exteriors and the gold spirals for the interiors. Maybe some day.

Then back across town, lunch at the Cafe Savoy and some poking around the Naschmarkt which is the Vienna version of the Pike Place Market only they don’t seem to throw fish at you. The proprietors seemed quite content to let the goods rest on their shelves and in their cases. By this time, I had been walking for about six miles and I was tired so I went back to the ship for a nap before dinner.

Dinner tonight was a grand affair at the Pallavacini palace near the Hofburg. I looked them up to. They were a noble Northern Italian family form around Genoa who seemed to marry up and ended up with various titles from the Holy Roman Empire and at one point in the Middle Ages were running what is now Northern Greece. Anyway, they built their palace in Vienna in the late 1700s and apparently still live there on the upper floors. (The story being that a guest on a prior tour punched the wrong button on the elevator and ended up in their living room rather than the banquet hall). The lower floors with the state rooms are rented out for formal dinners and such so a lovely four course meal accompanied by members of the Residenzorchester from this morning along with some decent singers and dancers in a program of Viennese musical styles – including operetta, opera, lieder, and the usual Mozart and Strauss.

We are now sailing up the Danube and spend tomorrow in the scenic Wachau Valley. I have been told bicycles will be involved. Better take extra Tylenol in the morning.