Salzburg · Vienna · Prague 2007: Music and Empire
Recollection in the Music of the Austro–Hungarian Empire

May 19 - 27, 2007

The course begins at the beautiful opera house in Munich on Saturday, May 19, 2007, and then eddies through the Austrian communities of Salzburg, Melk and Durnstein to flow into stately, imperial Vienna on May 22.  It then purls through Prague in the Czech Republic and ends on May 27.

In the Austrian countryside we visit the mines where Austrians have worked for centuries, the apartment where Mozart grew up, the humble convent that sheltered the Von Trapp family and the summits where hearts and eagles soar. Quietly and subliminally music stirs deep down inside us.  Along the blue Danube, following Mozart’s journey, we come to the majestic Benedictine monastery at Melk, which is itself a symphony of medieval legend, of bountiful religious education over the centuries and of timeless and memorable melodic traditions.  Now the music in our hearts and minds takes form, engages us and carries us forward allegro.

The tour reaches its crest in the alto and basso city of Vienna.  Graham Greene’s gritty, Third Man Vienna gives us the coarse context of the most exalted music the world has ever known.  It also gives us the fractured beginnings of today’s a-symphonic post modernism.  But more we still see and enjoy the anthem that is St. Stephan’s, the Lipizzaner stallions, the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, the Hofburg and the Vienna Woods.  We end our stay here with an evening at the opera.

The coda is Prague – medieval Prague, baroque Prague, contemporary Prague.  Secular and religious.  Symbols of the Jesuits; signs of Communism.  Home to Antonin Dvorak who wrote the New World Symphony during a visit to the United States, the largo movement of which is the enchanting hymn “Going Home.”

The faculty is Jessica Waldoff, Ph.D., chair of the Music Department and author, and William A. Green, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history.

The cost of the tour is $4,800 per person.

Click here to view a copy of the trip brochure which includes a detailed itinerary.

Click here to download the registration form to reserve a spot on the tour. Return it with your deposit to the address listed below. (Please put Alumni Travel/Study Tour on your check.)

These forms will open as .pdf files in new browser windows.

For further information, please contact: