Sound of Music

Austria has been particularly endowed with a rich musical legacy. Many of the top composers in the world have been born here, including the most influential of them all – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart was born in Salzburg and was a music prodigy, creating musical compositions and performing in the royal courts from a very young age. He was born in 1756 at 9 Getreidegasse, a 12th-century house in Salzburg; today his home is a museum exhibiting his first musical instruments, family portraits, letters and early editions of his music. Mozart and his family moved to another house in 1773 – the Tanzmeisterhaus at Markartplatz in Salzburg. The house was reconstructed after being bombed in WWII, and is now a museum that displays the family history and most importantly, Mozart’s original forte, piano. Mozart’s friend, Joseph Haydn, who is known as the ‘Father of the Symphony’ was also Austrian, born in the village of Rohrau. His birth home is also a museum, as is the house in which Franz Schubert was born in Vienna. Another musical genius was Anton Bruckner who was born in Linz, and in whose honour the city’s concert hall is call Bruckner House. Linz hosts the annual Bruckner Festival in September, a three week long musical extravaganza.