# Places for classical music pilgrimage in Europe??



## TzarIvan (Nov 19, 2011)

Hi !
This is my second time traveling to Europe and I've been nearly 3 weeks here in northern Sweden, and it's 40 celcius degree below my that of my homeland  I'm having a course as an exchange student, studying health economics which is a boring stuff and has nothing to do with classical music. Rather than spending my time sleeping during the whole class, I'm thinking of visiting places with historical significance of classical music, or attending classical music event. Last week I've been sitting on one of the seat in Gulbenkian Music Foundation, Lisbon, to watch my -everlasting- idol, Mr. Andreas Scholl *and I succeeded to take a photo with him * Last year during my first trip to Europe I spent my time mostly in Leipzig and rural areas of German, such as Eisenach, Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Eisleben to see monuments and churches associated with Johann Sebastian Bach and his spiritual inspirator, Doctor Martin Luther 

I will have 2 weeks off next March, can any of you give me suggestion which interesting spot I can visit?  Any suggestion will be highly appreciated! :tiphat:


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

*Prague* is magnificent and has a lively concert & cultural life (be a bit hesitant as regards the many exhorbitantly priced & dull "tourist church concerts" though) plus museums for the composers Smetana, Dvorak, Mozart and Jezek, plus a museum of music instruments. There is also a wide range of music shops.

Cheap stays, foods and transport there also  and an incredible number of sights generally.

For excursions/side trips, there´s a Smetana museum in charming Litomysl, a lovely Dittersdorf museum castle surrounded by a moat in Cervena Lhota, several Janacek places in Brno, etc.

*Bergen* in Norway has lovely museum villas dedicated to both Grieg, Ole Bull and Sæverud. To the south is a Fartein Valen museum and music centre. Unfortunately still on my to-do-list. Expensive, as one could guess, though.

_*EDIT*_: Forgot to mention the Martinu Museum in Policka, near Litomysl. Friendly staff, good collections, sometimes concerts.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I've heard you can still hear Ambrosian chant in the Cathedral of Milan. That's something I'd like to do sometime. 

I'd also stop by that church in Germany where the organ is supposed to play a work of John Cage for the next 500 years. (Well, ok, that might not be for everyone.) On the way to the Thomaskirche at Leipzig, of course.


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## AlexD (Nov 6, 2011)

I second Prague - Vienna is also worth a visit.

Neuschwanstein/Nuremberg if you are into Wagner. The fake grotto and craziness in castle puts his work & the excesses of the romanticism into perspective. Whilst there you can visit the Richard Strauss Institute in Gamersch Patrenkirken and go up an alp (there's a cable car if you want) so you get an idea of how landscape shaped much of the work.

If you are in Europe for a while the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall are worth a visit - they start 18 July and go on to 8 September.

I found this webpage maybe it will help http://www.musikermuseen.de/home/Garmisch-Partenkirchen_Richard-Strauss-Institut It also lists other German music museums.


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## TzarIvan (Nov 19, 2011)

joen_cph said:


> *Prague* is magnificent and has a lively concert & cultural life (be a bit hesitant as regards the many exhorbitantly priced & dull "tourist church concerts" though) plus museums for the composers Smetana, Dvorak, Mozart and Jezek, plus a museum of music instruments. There is also a wide range of music shops.
> 
> Cheap stays, foods and transport there also  and an incredible number of sights generally.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the great reply! Well, yeah, I forgot to mention that I've also been in Prague, Wien, and Salzburg last year, but I think they're really worth revisiting! And for sure, I agree with you about Prague for its overpriced 'church concert for tourist', distorting the building supposed function as a place of worship into money making machine, and I was really disappointed that the singers there often are not the good ones. Last year I came into one of those concert, and the singer completely ruined Mozart's Exultate Jubilate by singing the final part of the Alleluia one octave down because she couldn't reach the high C. Arghhh !! Then I found they put the wrong title for one of the organ works played *as a big fan of Bach, don't dare to put the wrong BWV number in front of me*, and there were many other mess in the repertoire list. Though finally I feel satisfied with state opera house which was really wonderful 

and yes, Norway is surely a good place to visit, though not that good for the wallet :lol: I was thinking of coming for the international church music festival in Oslo (and then take the train to see the Grieg museum in Bergen) but still torn between taking a visa free cruise to St. Petersburg from Helsinki and put a flower to the tomb of Tschaikovsky.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I guess I made one a few years ago when my family and I were in Finland. In Helsinki, we sought out the Sibelius Monument, and took cool pictures of it, like this one here from below:









That same trip to Finland we also visited the Sibelius Museum in Turku, and learned a lot of rare information about him.


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## TzarIvan (Nov 19, 2011)

AlexD said:


> I second Prague - Vienna is also worth a visit.
> 
> Neuschwanstein/Nuremberg if you are into Wagner. The fake grotto and craziness in castle puts his work & the excesses of the romanticism into perspective. Whilst there you can visit the Richard Strauss Institute in Gamersch Patrenkirken and go up an alp (there's a cable car if you want) so you get an idea of how landscape shaped much of the work.
> 
> ...


Though I'm a loyal fans of Mendelsohn, I think betraying him for a moment to visit the 'Wagnerian' castle you mentioned is really a tempting option if combined with the Alp mountain and Richard Strauss Institute! Great suggestion, thanks!


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## TzarIvan (Nov 19, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I guess I made one a few years ago when my family and I were in Finland. In Helsinki, we sought out the Sibelius Monument, and took cool pictures of it, like this one here from below:
> 
> View attachment 3231
> 
> ...


Nice information! I haven't heard much about Finland in relation with classical music, but this really brighten me up an idea, Sibelius monument in Helsinki, then take the ferry to St. Petersburg!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

TzarIvan said:


> Nice information! I haven't heard much about Finland in relation with classical music, but this really brighten me up an idea, Sibelius monument in Helsinki, then take the ferry to St. Petersburg!


That's my dream pilgrimage. I want to go to St. Petersburg and do 3 things: see the St. Petersburg Conservatory, everything to it, Glazunov's apartment/mansion, and then the Nevsky Cemetery where Glazunov and a bunch of other very beloved Russians lie. If I can make the time as well, I would go to Moscow to see Prokofiev's grave.


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## TzarIvan (Nov 19, 2011)

science said:


> I've heard you can still hear Ambrosian chant in the Cathedral of Milan. That's something I'd like to do sometime.
> 
> I'd also stop by that church in Germany where the organ is supposed to play a work of John Cage for the next 500 years. (Well, ok, that might not be for everyone.) On the way to the Thomaskirche at Leipzig, of course.


wow, I've never been to Milan before, my last trip to Italy was only Rome, Padua, and Venezia, and I'm really into those traditional chant! And for the John Cage, I hope that it's not the organ version of his 4"33 being played


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## TzarIvan (Nov 19, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> That's my dream pilgrimage. I want to go to St. Petersburg and do 3 things: see the St. Petersburg Conservatory, everything to it, Glazunov's apartment/mansion, and then the Nevsky Cemetery where Glazunov and a bunch of other very beloved Russians lie. If I can make the time as well, I would go to Moscow to see Prokofiev's grave.


Oh thanks, you've just added tons of another dream into my head :lol: Well, then what about continuing the journey from Moscow by the Trans-Siberian train to Beijing  *day dreaming*


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

In terms of museums & houses of composers, there's plenty to go to. Haven't been myself, but had acquaintances who did. Also, the television series _Classical Destinations_, produced here in Australia, went into some depth about some of these historic sites.

Some I can remember -

*Budapest* has things like Liszt's apartment museum, Bartok's house and I the Kodaly museum/house.

The* UK* has heaps of these things too. London has the Handel house museum (but Jimi Hendrix lived there as well, 200 years later!). Cheltenham has the Holst birthplace museum, website HERE. There's the Elgar museum & birthplace house at Worcester.

I also remember that in that tv series they also visited Chopin's birthplace museum in* Poland *& also Scriabin apartment museum in* Moscow*...


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## TzarIvan (Nov 19, 2011)

Yes, UK surely has so much to visit. I was dreaming of visiting any memorial monument of Henry Purcell, but unfortunately as a holder of third world Indonesian Passport, I need a separate visa for entering UK, which I didn't have a chance to apply before departing here. And yeah, how come I almost forget to visit the homeland of maestro Chopin whom etudes I practiced nearly everyday! Thanks for reminding me  

Okay, dear Poland and all the polish stuff, wait for me


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

If you like Passions from Johann Sebastian Bach, Holland is the place to go in March with numerous 'stagings' of great quality + reasonable prices.


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## TzarIvan (Nov 19, 2011)

TxllxT said:


> If you like Passions from Johann Sebastian Bach, Holland is the place to go in March with numerous 'stagings' of great quality + reasonable prices.


Can you give me further information / link regarding that event? I would be happy to see one with nice staging.


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