How It Started
It was never meant to be as monumental as a colleague celebrating his 60th birthday playing multiple games on the St Andrews Links courses, but I did expect my first-ever attendance at a classical music festival to be somewhat a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Going to 17 concerts over 9 days at the same location is certainly not everybody’s cup of tea and may even hint at obsession.
It all started with an interest in the music of Schubert, and reading about the Schubertiades he played in. This led to an investigation of the modern-day Schubertiades that take place between April and October in Austria. At the end of last year, I decided to take the plunge and attend the August concerts in Schwarzenberg.
The quest for graves
Research into how to attend revealed that the best way to get to Schwarzenberg from where I am is via Zűrich in Switzerland. Not one to keep things simple when I can make them complicated, I decided to look for things to do in the vicinity while stopping over in Zűrich. As an avowed follower of literature and music, I decided to visit the graves of James Joyce, Otto Klemperer and Thomas Mann, all buried in the area.
The connection between music and Klemperer is obvious – he was a conductor, wasn’t he? Music was also a big part of Mann’s life. The full title of his book Doctor Faustus is The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, Told by a Friend. Wikipedia says:
“…Leverkühn develops the twelve-tone technique or row system, which was actually invented by Arnold Schoenberg. Schoenberg lived near Mann in Los Angeles as the novel was being written. He was very annoyed by this appropriation without his consent, and later editions of the novel included an Author’s Note at the end acknowledging that the technique was Schoenberg’s invention…”
The second chapter of Alex Ross’s book The Rest is Noise recounts an amusing incident showing Schoenberg’s obsession with Mann’s book. He is quoted as yelling: “You have to know, I never had syphilis.” Mann’s son Michael was a violinist and violist before joining the German faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.
Joyce’s connections to music may look more tenuous. Yet, an early collection of his poems is Chamber Music. Samuel Barber set three of the poems to music to make up his Op. 10. Joyce is said to have been obsessed with music, as promotional material for the book Music and Sound in the Life and Literature of James Joyce: Joyces Noyces says (I have not yet read the book).
So, what did I find?
Visiting the graves of Joyce, Klemperer and Mann, starting from Zurich airport, takes about an hour:
Joyce: Friedhof Fluntern, if you enter his name and year of death (1941), you will be here
Klemperer: Israelitischer Friedhof Oberer Friesenberg, if you enter his name and year of death (1973), you will be here (His grave is number 6816 in section I) – there is a book at the entrance to the cemetery which lists the locations of the graves by name
Mann: Friedhof Kilchberg, if you enter his name and year of death (1955), you will be here, his grave is at the end of the section to the right of the entrance, and his children Erika, Monika, Michael and Elizabeth Mann Borgese are also buried here
Incidentally, I subsequently found out that my quest for the graves of Joyce, Klemperer and Mann can be described as taphophilia. There is even a web site on cemetery travel, to which I probably have something to contribute.
Rachmaninov’s Villa Senar
Not satisfied with just visiting graves, I dug a little deeper into other places of musical interest. It happens that Rachmaninov’s holiday retreat during his exile from Russia was near Lucerne, in the municipality of Weggis on the shore of Lake Lucerne. The estate, Villa Senar, now belongs to the Canton of Lucerne. Although some events are held there, it is not often available for the public to visit. I was lucky enough to have caught a rare guided tour on the day after I arrived in Zűrich.
A scary incident happened on my way to Lucerne, when I stopped at MyPlace Café Restaurant Lounge, about 55kms south of Zűrich Airport. Coming out of the building after lunch, I couldn’t find my car. So I frantically called the Zűrich police, who refused to help, as my location was now out of their jurisdiction. I went back into the building to seek help from a shop assistant to talk to the authorities. Without blinking, he calmly told me I was wrong – my car was not missing. He then went on to explain that I was on the Lucerne to Zűrich side of the building, which looks exactly like the Zűrich to Lucerne side, where my car was parked. As I traversed the building to the other side, lo and behold my car was magically there.
As my tour was 10:15 in the morning, I decided to stay at the Campus Hotel Hertenstein, minutes’ walk from the Villa. Entrance to the hotel is confusing, as it is contiguous with a hospital or rehabilitation facility of some sort. I exited the car park to the wrong facility and came face to face with a patient being wheeled out of the lift in a bed, giving me a fright that I might go in vertically and come out horizontally.
L: “Music Room” in Villa Senar R: Villa Senar Main Building
I was hoping to have finished Fiona Maddocks’ book Goodbye Russia about Rachmaninov’s exile by the time I arrived in Villa Senar, but was barely halfway through it so had to quickly skim through the sections about the Villa. Although the building has a simple, minimalist design characteristic of the Bauhaus style and the grounds are open, the “music room” in which Rachmaninov would have composed some of his most important works such as the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the Third Symphony was a moving experience. In addition to the grand piano, photos of many of his friends are on display.
Now what about Schubertiade?
The August segment of Schubertiade 2025 is the fifth out of six in 2025. There were 18 concerts over 9 days, all at the Angelika Kauffmann Saal in Schwarzenberg , nestled in the lush forests of the rugged landscape of Bregenzerwald in Vorarlberg, the westernmost province of Austria. If you stay at one of the hotels in the area, you will most likely get a personalised Gäste-Card, which entitles you to free use of buses, cable cars and outdoor swimming pools. As the drive from Villa Senar to Schwarzenberg was more than three hours, I was unable to attend the first concert featuring Andrè Schuen and Daniel Heide in a programme of Lieder by Strauss, Wagner and Zemlinsky.
L: Angelika Kauffmann Museum R: Angelika Kauffmann Saal
Apart from the concerts, there are many attractions to explore in the area. In addition to being a haven for outdoor enthusiasts such as hikers and bikers, Bregenzerwald offers some unique culture and beauty as well. The Angelika Kauffmann Musuem in Schwarzenberg itself has a permanent exhibition area and another area where the exhibits change now and then. In the Heimatmuseum (Museum of Local History), you can take a step back a couple of hundred years to experience what life was like, including the story of the Schwabenkinder — hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of children sent to the Lake Constance region to work as maids, servants and farmhands in Allgäu.
Half an hour’s drive away from Schwarzenberg is Hohenems, a town near the city of Dornbirn, with 8 times the population of Schwarzenberg. Many of the concerts in other segments of Schubertiade are held in the Markus Sittikus Hall in Hohenems. I’m told that the Hall used to be a sports centre and is a little more intimate than the Angelika Kauffmann Saal and perfectly suited to the chamber concerts in the festival.
Above: Hohenems
The town of Hohenems is charming and quiet. In the span of about three hours, I was able to visit all 6 museums in The Schubertiade Quarter (Franz Schubert Museum, Schubertiade Museum, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Museum, Legge Museum, Nibelungen Museum and Shoemaker Museum), all for the affordable price of €7. By the time I learned that the Jewish Museum was the best in town, unfortunately, I had run out of time. That’s partly because I wasted precious time unnecessarily in a sushi restaurant where only cash was accepted and the chef had to double as waiter and receptionist.
The weather in the area during my stay varied. Glorious days of sunshine and warmth bookended a couple of days of persistent rain and coolness. What better to do on a rainy day than visit a shopping mall? Google Maps may tell you that the biggest is GWL in Bregenz, but the best in the area is Messepark in Dornbirn.
Venturing further afield on a sunny day, I took a one and a half hour drive up to Meersburg in Germany, on the northern shore of Lake Constance. A couple of hours on hand would be enough to cover both Meersburg Castle and the New Castle.
Worthy of mention is also the unique architecture in Bregenzerwald. Houses here are mostly made of wood. The plentiful supply of high-quality timber from silver fir, spruce, elm, and maple is ideal for construction. As a building material, wood is well-suited to the cold Alpine climate, providing excellent insulation and durable protection. There is a strong local culture of wood craftsmanship and techniques developing architectural styles unique to the region.
But what about the music?
I went to Schwarzenberg specifically to see Paul Lewis, Konstantin Krimmel, Elisabeth Leonskaya and Sabine Meyer, and along the way discovered Katharina Konradi, Patrick Grahl and Victor Julien-Laferrière. Lewis, Krimmel, Leonskaya and Meyer all delivered.
Paul Lewis was versatile and thoughtful in the Schubert D 960 sonata; and pensive and reflective in the Brahms Op 117, just what the doctor ordered.
Konstantin Krimmel went through both the song cycles Die Schöne Müllerin and Winterreise, as well as the posthumous collection Schwanengesang. He surveyed the gamut of emotions – awakening, hope, desire, disappointment and despair. His accompanist Ammiel Bushakevitz provided subtle, sensitive but firm support. That’s to be expected, as he played for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in his masterclasses.
Elisabeth Leonskaya’s all-Schubert programme was right on target, serving up a stunning performance of the Wanderer-Fantasie, D 760. I was over the moon about the generous gifts of two encores, one of which was my favourite from the Drei Klavier Stűcke, D 960.
Sabine Meyer made two appearances: with the Schumann Quartet in Weber’s Clarinet Quintet, Op 34 and with the Hagen Quartet in Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, K 581. She excelled in both, displaying superb versatility and sensitivity.
I had not been aware of Katharina Konradi before going to Schwarzenberg but was pleasantly surprised by her ebullient personality and humility. Her silky-smooth tone was enthralling. She had to stop and re-start one of the songs, but she handled it with grace and aplomb, at the end making a mock gesture of wiping her brow, as if to say “Phew!”
Patrick Grahl is not only a refined tenor, but tall, handsome and well dressed. His programme covered Mendelssohn, Pűttlingen, Schubert and Schumann. In particular, his unhurried lyricism in Schuman’s Dichterliebe, Op 48, was particularly soothing. Although I missed Daniel Heide in the first concert, I was at last able to savour his suave and mellifluous accompaniment to Grahl.
Earlier in the week, double bassist Dominik Wagner had delivered an innovative rendition of Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, D 821. Much as it was skilfully done, I felt that it was somehow one step removed from how the composer would have imagined it. It sounded more sombre than it should. By contrast, Victor Julien-Laferrière’s more traditional version on the cello was uplifting as he soared with his instrument.
One performance worthy of special mention is the final concert on Sunday morning, August 31st. Despite two last-minute changes in the line-up (Anna Katharina Wildermuth replacing violinist Suyoen Kim; and Sào Soulez Larivière replacing violist Adrien La Marca), the ensemble displayed unwavering integrity, unity and stamina in Beethoven’s Septet, Op 20 and the Octet of Schubert, D 803, both lasting over an hour. A great deal of applause, of course, would have been for Felix Klieser, the horn player born without arms playing the instrument with his left foot.
The disappointment that stood out was Marc-André Hamelin, whose technical prowess is clear but who leaves questions about his communication. In Schubert’s Sonata in A major, D 959, he sounded like a builder hammering away aimlessly without an architectural drawing. I wondered how long it would take the Steinway to recuperate after that banging. Half of the programme, Medtner and Rachmaninov, is probably out of Schubertiade’s purview anyway. A pianist friend says she would love to have Hamelin’s persuasive agent represent her.
You can join in the fun
Don’t feel left out if you were not able to make it to Schwarzenberg. Some of the concerts will be broadcast at these times on radio stations in the UK and Europe in September and October. To hear what I heard, don’t forget to tune in at the appointed times.
Schwarzenberg, I’ll be back
While I thought that I would leave Schwarzenberg with music coming out of my years after two concerts per day on average, I was surprised to feel totally refreshed and recharged. The atmosphere was rejuvenating, the air was refreshing, the aboreal architecture was pleasing and the music soul-cleansing.
Interestingly enough, staying at my hotel were a few music lovers who had joined an organised group tour from the UK. When I looked up the itinerary on the organiser’s web site, their tour covered only about 5 days of concerts and three excursions. The cost per day was higher than what I spent, so I ended the trip satisfied that I had a better deal. Even then, I learned a few things which I know will save me money next year — yes, I’m already planning it.