Eisenstadt was a great example of the periphery places surrounding Vienna that I'm glad we took the time to visit.
The Esterhazy family fascinates me, serving as an example of people who have made very advantageous alliances through history. In the midst of great turmoil, in the form of Hungarian nationalism and the Protestant Reformation, this family decided to give total allegiance to the Habsburgs of Austria and convert to Catholicism. It really makes me wonder how strongly people of the 17th and 18th centuries really felt about their nationality or religion if switching to the other side meant great wealth and influence. In the end, it really seems to have been the right choice for the Esterhazys who became the largest landowners under the Habsburgs and in some cases were wealthier than them.
As I listen to Haydn's Symphony No. 92 I don't think I'm able to interpret it any more than it being high society music of the 18th century. But that's because my ears are untrained. Haydn clearly had a significance for Austria that goes far beyond what sounds nice on the ears. Music during this time period fascinates me because it served a lot of purposes for the people who listened to it, and especially the rulers who commissioned it. Here's a quote from habsburger.net, talking about the anthem made for Emperor Francis (II) I on his birthday, that shows just how important and political Haydn's music was for the Habsburgs,
" The commission for the composition was the idea of the president of the Lower Austrian government, Count Franz Joseph von Saurau. On 30 January 1797 he made the following representation to the authorities in Prague:
Right Honourable Count!
Your Excellency will be aware of the effect of the English popular song, God save the King, has had on the common people, and how much and for how long it has kept the national spirit staunch in action against foreign foes.
The enclosed song, with words by Haschka and set to music by the illustrious Hayden [sic], will be sung by the people in all the theatres in Vienna on 12 February, that is, the Emperor’s birthday…"
No wonder he received such an opulent burial at the Bergkirche in Eisenstadt
And while on the topic of the Bergkirche I have to note the incredible choir performance that came out of nowhere. The conductor was wearing a hawaiian shirt and you would never expect this caliber of emotionally compelling music to come out so casually. The whole experience was extraordinary.
Our end of our tour of the Bergkirche served as a great transition to our next topic while in Eisenstadt, which was the Jewish population. Here is an image of the court judges who were responsible for sentencing Christ to death depicted in contemporary Jewish clothing of the time the church was built by Paul Esterhazy (early 18th century).
Christians were often reminded to hate and distrust Jews in both subtle and overt ways through the centuries. But the biblical themes of Jews betraying Christ seems to be omnipresent.
After the church, we were given free reign to grab lunch and hang around the town. I took this opportunity to explore as much as I could while everyone else was eating. I wasn't hungry, and I could tell from the map we received that there was more to see. Walking alone after being with a large group for several weeks was therapeutic and really put my mind at ease. Don't get me wrong, I've been having a lot of fun with these people but I still think it's important to take a second for yourself. That being said I found one of my favorite gardens of the whole trip. Kathy and Lawrence had talked about the different garden styles in Vienna, especially as it pertained to the baroque gardens of Schönbrunn and the Belvedere. But they also mentioned English gardens, and that seems to be what I stumbled upon in the northern part of Eisenstadt. It was a beautiful place to watch the fish swim around and contemplate how lucky I was to be on this trip
The Österreichisches Jüdisches Museum was our next stop. It became a fascinating discussion on the history of memory and the willingness to preserve that history. We started our trip by visiting the Jewish graveyard. I was incredibly impressed with the work our tour guide was doing there, in both the scale and nature of the work.
Slowly but surely, he and his team catalog each and every one of the more than one thousand tombs here at Eisenstadt. Once cataloged they upload the details to a database online, making it possible for decedents of the Jews living here to find their ancestors and trace their lineage. Without this kind of work being done here, the families that lived here for generations would be erased from all memory.
As it stands today, most Viennese are not willing to spend the effort or resources to preserve the Jewish cemeteries as well as the Jewish history that was effectively wiped out after 1938.
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