Musical Travelogue
Vienna~Salzburg~Prague
Watertown Connecticut Master Piano Teacher Thomas Mazuroski regularly travels abroad to visit important musical sites. He recently traveled through Vienna and Salzburg, Austria and Prague in the Czech Republic.
“In Vienna I was privileged to tour Figarohaus, Wolfgang Mozart’s Viennese residence in one of the oldest parts of the city. I also toured Ludwig V. Beethoven’s residences at Pasqualatihaus and Heilgenstadt. One of the absolute highlights of the trip was the museum of musical instruments and the ability to see and hear the pianos that belonged to the composers Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schuman, Schubert and Mahler, as well as violins belonging to Wolfgang Mozart and his father, Leopold.”
In Salzburg, which is busy celebrating Mozart’s 250th birthday, Mr. Mazuroski toured Mozart’s birthplace and a museum that houses the composer’s effects. En route to Salzburg, driving through the beautiful lakes region where portions of the movie The Sound of Music were filmed, Mr. Mazuorski stopped at the little picturesque town of St. Gilgen, where Mozart’s mother, Anna Maria, was born in 1720.
After crossing the famous Charles Bridge in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, Mr. Mazuroski toured the Estates Theatre, a splendid example of Neo-classical architecture and the location of the first performance of Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni.
“Most memorable of all,” Mr. Mazuroski said, “was my trip to Eisenstadt”, the location of the renowned Esterhazy Palace and the residence of the most influential and prodigious composer of the Classical era, Franz Joseph Haydn. Haydn’s employers were the Esterhazy princes and Hayden served the Esterhazys as their composer-in-residence.
“When people think of the Classical period in music they immediately think of Mozart and Beethoven, but my private tour of Schloss Esterhazy, which ended with a performance of Haydn’s music in the great baronial hall, known as Haydnsaal, and where Hadyn conducted the private orchestra of Princes Nickolaus and Paul Esterhazy, was an experience I will treasure forever.”
In addition to the above travel destinations, Mr. Mazuroski’s musical adventures have taken him to Russia, Poland, Norway, Scotland and many other wonderful places.
