If one turns off of Michaelerplatz onto Kohlmarkt and looks up at the building facade on the right, one will notice a memorial plaque: “In this building | lived and died | Pietro Metastasio.” As imperial court poet, Metastasio authored librettos that provided the textual basis for hundreds of operas—and Antonio Salieri, our jubilarian of 2025, was among those who made use of his texts. Metastasio was hence not just an authority where literature was concerned but also a key intellectual node in mid-18th-century Vienna.

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns, driven time and again off course…” Homer’s epic poem that recounts the wide-ranging journeys of Odysseus begins with an invocation of the muse (here in the English translation by Robert Fagle). She is asked to tell us of these heroic deeds. We will listen, promises the voice in the prologue, and the Odyssey begins…

Musician-Couples in the 19th Century: Insights into the research project by Melanie Unseld and Christine Fornoff-Petrowski