Musikverein

Vienna is a city that flirts with you through music, and nowhere does it feel more official than at the Musikverein. The Musikverein is one of the most classic houses of classical music in the world located in the beautiful streets of the First District. Its name translates as Music Society but that does not give much idea of how it feels like. This is not just a concert hall. It is the glittering living room of the city of music, the home where the great Golden Hall has been gasping audiences since 1870. Assuming that you have ever watched the Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert on TV and thought, I have to be there, then this is the room you are dreaming about.

Theophil Hansen was the architect of the building that opened on January 6, 1870. Much of the great nineteenth century vision of Vienna was formed by Hansen, whose creations have incorporated the Austrian Parliament and other great institutions. The language of the Musikverein, which he adopted, was classical, based on ancient Greece: proportions, Corinthian ornament, symbolism of sculpture, and a facade that is noble but welcoming. Located around the Ringstrasse, among palaces and broad streets, it is a part of the urban splendor of Vienna like it has always been part of it. Outwardly it already implies ceremony. From the inside, it becomes unforgettable.

The Grosser Saal or the Golden Hall is the middle of the complex. This initial impression is all glorious opulence: gilded ornament, crystal chandeliers, sculpted surfaces, which appear alive with motion, frescos on the ceiling to the honour of the muses. This light is gentle and warm almost theatrical but never cruel. It all seems to be created with the purpose of making the moment before music even more than it is.

The sound of the Golden Hall is generally considered to be one of the best in the world. According to musicians, it is as though the room itself is playing along, and each note comes back with clarity, warmth, and presence. The part of this magic is the exact design of Hansen. The hall is in the traditional shoebox form having the width, length, and height that are carefully calculated. The stuff and the decoration does not merely dress up the space, it assists in creating the sound, directing it in such a way that it reaches each seat with unbelievable symmetry. Even the whispering strings can be personal. Nothing like a full orchestra can seem huge, never sounding muddled, never distanced.

This fame is at its highest point every first of January when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra presents the famous New Year Concert. It has been broadcasted all over the globe, and attracts millions of viewers every time they see it: the gold, the splendor, the flowers, the festive atmosphere, and the sound that cannot be compared. The Strauss music and the ritual atmosphere make the event more than it was a performance. It is like a world holiday, an occasion of hope and beauty that opens the year with a sense of grace.

In addition to the Golden Hall, there are spaces of the Musikverein, which have their own atmosphere and closeness. Brahms-Saal is among the notable chamber music rooms in Europe: smaller, elegant, and warm in sound and the wood tones bring the performers and the audience closer. Recitals, quartets and ensembles are intimate here, like the music is being sung directly to you and not into a large hall. And at renovations in the 1990s, modern underground halls were provided, and the building was expanded to a site where tradition and experimentation can live side by side, and where education and new ideas can develop.

The uniqueness of the Musikverein is that it is not a historical monument. It is an alive assembly place. It hosts the best orchestras and soloists in the world during the season, but it also allows up-and-coming talents and new interpretations. It possesses all dignity and prospects, the refined clarity of skill and the suspense of the next thing.

The Musikverein is Vienna architecturally speaking, in most aspects. It is a music-made city, a city of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Mahler, and Brahms. It is where the past is not far away, it is here, still talking through performance. The Musikverein is that nexus, the bridge between the past and the present, between the refined world and the emotional, the traditional and the new.

The most promising is the fact that the Musikverein can be integrated into a Vienna itinerary so easily. Visit palaces and museums all day, and top it off with a night that is distinctly Viennese, a world renowned concert in a world renowned building. Even if you only do one concert in Vienna, make it this one.