During a visit to the Salzburg Festival, I had time for a short day trip to visit a composer's grave, per morbid habit. I faced a choice between Bruckner in St. Florian or Webern in Mittersill. I sought the advice of Twitter, whose collective sagacity voted for Bruckner. Indeed, St. Florian is a most remarkable place: not only the famous crypt, where the late symphonist lies beneath his beloved organ and opposite a wall of skulls, but also the basilica itself, the Albrecht Altdorfer Passion altar, and the astonishingly atmospheric monastery library. Alas, the Hörerlebnis Brucknerorgel (Bruckner organ listening experience) that ordinarily occurs on Tuesdays was postponed. I pledge to visit Webern another time.
Previously: Georg Trakl, Thomas Mann, Bach, Nietzsche, Monteverdi, Koussevitzky, Michael Furey, Luranah Aldridge, Ligeti, Frescobaldi, Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Baudelaire and Beckett, Nadia and Lili Boulanger, Stravinsky and Nono, Zemlinsky, Schnittke, Fibich, Xavier Scharwenka, Elliott Carter, Enescu, Rachmaninov, Mahler and many others, Russ.
