Not what you are thinking, it was late December back in 1808, in Vienna.
It was the date of a great concert, featuring the debut of Beethoven’s 5th and
6th symphonies, his 4th piano concerto, and the Choral Fantasy. Beethoven
conducted and played the piano.
The debut was held at the Theater An Der Wien
in Vienna, one of the nicest concert halls I have been to. My wife and I went
there after we were first married, and saw a performance of the Merry Widow, by
Franz Lehar. That operetta also had its debut at this theater, in 1905. In
fact, they are performing it again next week.
The Theater An Der Wien has an interesting history, besides hosting the
debut performance of great compositions. It was built by Emanuel Schikaneder,
who wrote the libretto to the Magic Flute (Mozart), and sang the role of
Papageno in the premiere. The theater has a statue of him in that role over one
of its doors; he died in poverty in 1812.
In November of this year, a concert was held at the theater featuring one
of Mozart’s favorite pianos; this piano returned to Vienna after 200 years. It
had been donated to a museum in Salzburg soon after his death, and is now on
display at Mozart’s house/museum. You can see a picture of it at http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1192179!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/mozart26n-2-web.jpg
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