Lose yourself in music in Vienna (Haus der Musik)

Member Name: dmandrew

Product:	Haus der Musik
Date:	11/04/08 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comprehensive, interactive, state-of-the-art

Disadvantages: You need a whole day to get the most out of it

The Haus der Musik was opened in 2000. It is situated in central Vienna, about midway between the Opera House and Stefansdom. An interactive museum, it is housed in the former palace of the Archduke Charles. It was also once the home of Otto Nicolai, composer of "The Merry Wives of Windsor", and who also founded the Vienna Philharmonic concerts. As a result, the Hause der Musik also houses the Vienna Philharmonic archive. It is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Vienna was home to so many of the world's most famous composers, and takes great pride in its history. Beethoven, Mozart, the Strauss family, Haydn, Schubert, Schoenberg, Webern and Berg are just some of them. You can spend a couple of hours learning about these composers and hearing plenty of their music as you walk through the exhibits.

So far, it's a normal museum, although it already oozes quality. One rather chilling exhibit in the Beethoven section has five ear trumpets on the wall. Beethoven, as almost every schoolchild seems to know, went deaf at an early age. The five ear trumpets let you hear how his deafness progressed. You hear the same piece of music in each one, but as you move along the line of ear trumpets, the sound seems further and further away. In the last ear trumpet, you hear nothing.

Mozart allegedly was responsible for producing a method of composing by throwing dice. There is an interactive exhibit for this, which several people can join in with. It's quite fun, although you can see how it is made to work if you understand harmony.

We then move to a wonderfully captivating huge screen, which shows the Vienna Philharmonic in full swing. When we were there, it showed the famous New Year's Day concert, with some extraordinary sliming having gone on. Conductor Zubin Mehta and all of the players were clearly having a whale of a time, with wonderful intelligent banter going on amongst sheer professionalism of playing. I could have watched that for hours. You can get DVDs of the concert, but they don't include some of the most special bits, such as when the orchestra was playing the "Carnival of Venice." It had been rearranged so that virtually every player had a little solo to do, which he either improvised or had prepared earlier. The conductor knew this would happen, but had no idea what the solos would be like, so this adds hugely to the fun.

On another floor, there were lots of computerized exhibits that you could have a go at. Some produced sounds according to how you moved, and they were complex and exciting sounds as well. On some, you and a friend could sing into microphones and then transform electronically the sounds you had just made. You could even make a CD of your composition and take it home.
There is also a floor which just lets you bather in sound. It's hard to describe adequately, but it's very relaxing. One part of this says it recreates what a baby hears in the womb.
There was a wall with about eighty little sets of headphones. Each one played a different sound - not necessarily a musical one. It might be a mallard quacking, or a baboon farting, or 2 a.m. in Tokyo. If you listened, guessed and then read the label, it was more fun.

A very popular and again interactive exhibit gave you the chance to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Well, to do it virtually, but this was pretty impressive. You chose from about six pieces. I had a go at the "Blue Danube" waltz, as there are quite a few tempo changes, and I wanted to see how the machine would cope. You held a heavy sausage-like baton to conduct with, and in front of you, on a giant screen, the VPO played. You heard them as well. If you showed that you were no good at conducting then the music would stop and one of the players would stand up and say something in German, presumably pretty insulting, as then the rest of the orchestra would laugh and start to behave like naughty schoolboys. Although I am used to conducting choirs and orchestras, this was tricky, as the orchestra did not always respond as a real live one would. I managed to get about three minutes into the waltz, before there was a VPO revolt. Apparently, one of the violinists said that they could play it better without me! That is another part of the museum that I could spend ages in, but it is popular, so you have to pass the baton on to someone else waiting.
There are also some huge instruments that you can play and listen to. The great thing about the whole museum is that it is so hands-on. It's also very attractive and exciting inside, with some very elegant rooms and some very futuristic, mirroring the sort of music that might be produced in the future.

It's not expensive. In 2008, it was 10 euros for adults and either 8.5 or 5.5 for children, dependent on age. There are lots of deals for families, and for tickets that also let you see the Mozarthaus around the corner, where Mozart lived when composing Figaro.
I think you can get a year ticket for about 27 euros that lets you in as much as you want for a year. If I lived in Vienna I would get one of those, no problem.

You can check fees on
http://www.hdm.at/en/information/entrance-fees/5. htm

and take a look at the complete website at
http://www.hdm.at

then press the button for English if you don't read German.

When you come out, treat yourself to that famous Viennese combination of a fancy coffee and a big piece of Sachertorte.

Summary: Great value, high class interactive music museum and more in Vienna