![]() ![]() When on his death-bed, after the last rites of the church had been performed, he asked to have the Court band brought to his chamber, and as they played he expired. The Emperor's passion for music remained with him to the very end. Leopold's third wife, Eleanora of Mantua, was, on the contrary, a pronounced dévote obliged to accompany the Emperor to the opera, she took with her a copy of the Psalms, bound to look like a libretto, and studied them devoutly throughout the performance. Thus the "La Laterna di Diogene" was an exposition of the abuses rife in the Viennese Court at that time. Sometimes she utilized the opera to bring things to the Emperor's notice, which even she hardly dared to tell him of plainly. The Empress Claudia shared this taste, and her musical proficiency was one reason of her great influence over her husband. although he possessed a fully developed "Habsburg lip," he himself played very well on the flute and also on the spinet. Leopold was passionately fond of music, and. The final scene represented Olympus above the clouds, and Jupiter, from his throne, informing the assembled goddesses that the golden apple could belong to none other than to the Emperor's bride (his second wife, Claudia of Tyrol), as she combined the stately dignity of Juno, with the virtue and wit of Minerva and the beauty of Venus. In the ninth scene of the first act, Paris was discovered displaying to Juno a glittering galaxy of diamonds: on the right, two genii were bearing away the figure of Momus, while on the left, Minerva, completely armed, stood poised upon a rainbow. In this opera the scene was changed twenty-three times, and there were the same number of combats. One hundred thousand florins were expended upon the production of Sesti's "Il Pomo d'Oro" alone. (1657-1705) the opera was performed at Vienna with great magnificence. As early as the reign of the Emperor Leopold I. How many monuments, it may be asked, has France erected to Moliere or Corneille ?Ī little beyond the Academy is the Opera House. No fewer than forty statues of Schiller and Goethe are to be found on German soil. The veneration shown by Germany for her literary heroes is altogether admirable. Were this but of marble, instead of bronze, it would be much more effective. The facade has gilded niches, in which stand terra cotta figures representing the heroes and goddesses of Olympia, the whole forming a remarkably poor background for the bronze statue of Schiller, which rises in the centre of the Platz. Attached to the latter are schools of painting, sculpture and architecture. The Albrechtgasse, which skirts the side of the Hofgarten, leads back to the Ring, directly opposite the Schiller Platz and the great Academy of Fine Arts. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.įrom Vienna and the Viennese, by Maria Hornor Lansdale, 1902. ![]() Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value.
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