Why is it occasionally worthwhile to put aside your learning materials, leave the lecture hall, and experience history right where it was made? At first glance, university-level music students—frequently under enormous pressure to work and practice—would seem to have near-zero latitude for field trips. But it’s precisely these that can make a crucial difference: they make it possible to experience history. The abstract becomes tangible as the historical material comes alive. Visiting a special place, encountering a rare original, or taking in a location full of cultural history leaves behind an impression—one that frequently lasts a lifetime. The following three examples show how field trips not only enrich learning but can also beget experiences that provide sustained inspiration.
Farinelli writes to Maria Theresia: Hands-On History
A field trip conducted as part of the seminar “Alcina vs. Polifemo – Händel vs. Porpora – London 1735 vs. Vienna 2022”, which included learning about the 18th century’s leading singers, took us to the Austrian National Library’s Department of Music. Our attention there was centred on a true jewel of music history: manuscript notation by the famous castrato Farinelli from 1753. Created as a gift to Empress Maria Theresia, it documents some of Farinelli’s impressive vocal ornamentations and thus bears important witness to baroque performance practice. Although this manuscript is accessible in digitised form, it is only through direct contact that its magnificence really becomes palpable—in the truest sense of the word. The students were permitted to examine this valuable manuscript for themselves, feel the weight of the paper, and marvel at its artful calligraphy. This was many of the participating students’ first-ever contact with such a significant original document: to them, Farinelli was suddenly more than just a name from their seminar—becoming a lively figure in a musical and cultural history that remains connected with our present. Our city offers abundant opportunities for such music history-focused field trips—and mdw classes are welcome guests at a great many of its institutions. This openness represents a valuable opportunity for students, for they experience how easily cultural treasures can be accessed by an interested person who knocks on the right doors.
Vanitas Meets YOLO: Mortality in Music History and at the Central Cemetery
In the seminar entitled “Von Vanitas zu YOLO. Musik und Vergänglichkeit” [From Vanitas to YOLO. Music and Mortality], which I led together with my colleague Jakob Maria Schermann, we explored musical perspectives on the fleetingness of life. A thematically appropriate field trip took us to the Vienna Central Cemetery, a place full of history, symbolism, and memories.
Beyond providing a home for the (honorary) graves of famous composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, and Schönberg, this necropolis is itself a cultural monument that thematises ephemerality and remembrance in an artistic manner. At the Funeral Museum (highly recommended!), we learned how the culture of mourning has changed over the centuries. And at the graves themselves, we analysed their designs’ incorporation of musical motifs and symbolism—such as lyres, music-making angel figures, or inscriptions that artistically highlight the connection between mortality and music.
Whether in the baroque era, in contemporary music, or in popular culture, mortality has remained a recurring theme of artistic expression. Our cemetery outing not only made this connection visible but also encouraged an emotional approach that enriched the accompanying intellectual engagement.
Early Music at the Wiener Konzerthaus: “Historical” Performance Practice Then and Now
As part of a lecture on 17th- and 18th-century music history, we paid a visit to the Wiener Konzerthaus early in the 2024 winter semester. We’d been invited there by Erwin Barta, head of the Konzerthaus Archive, to discuss a special anniversary in the history of music and interpretation—that of a performance of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo led by Paul Hindemith, which had taken place exactly 70 years prior. This event was a significant moment for the early music movement in Austria. Josef Mertin, an influential mid-century figure in Vienna where historically informed performance was concerned, had constructed an organ specifically for this performance that still stands at the mdw today. Moreover, Hindemith’s orchestra included Nikolaus Harnoncourt—for whom this performance represented a key experience and a significant factor in the development of his Concentus Musicus Wien. On location, one could quite literally feel the significance of the Konzerthaus as an institution that has been part of Viennese cultural life for over a century. Our discussion concerned not only historical instruments and repertoires but also the question of how institutions create and shape cultural continuity. The students also used this opportunity to associate historical contexts with their own artistic practice, not least in order to gain a greater understanding of their own place within a long-running tradition.
Why Field Trips are More than Just “Outings”
Field trips not only give rise to experiences but also broaden the horizons of alert minds: students get to know institutions that may be relevant to their future doings. Moreover, and far more importantly, such experiences place one’s own endeavours in a historical perspective. Students no longer view themselves simply as interpreters or artists but also as part of a historically evolved cultural practice. Beyond reinforcing the significance of the “minor subject” of music history, such awareness also nourishes one’s personal and artistic development. And, last but not least, it makes the past a lively and relevant part of the present.
