While I was eavesdropping at the large gate of the Pfarrkirche, I saw a sandwich panel across the street: Schubertmuseum. Yes, I went unprepared. I do that deliberately to discover on the spot and be overwhelmed by everything there is to experience. I've been traveling this way for years and I go to concerts the same way. Minimum information, absorb on the spot and later nose into literature if that's still necessary. It may be the opposite of the usual approach, but this way I'm not influenced by this and that and form my own opinion as much as possible.
That museum, I still have time since the next concert starts at 4 p.m. Of course I have time, it's 11 o'clock and some. It's surprising to discover that the museums are open on this first of May and moreover don't close in the afternoon. The first thing I walk into is immediately also the seat of the Schubertiade. A large city villa, beautifully maintained. One half contains the Schubertiade offices and the other half is a museum dedicated to the remarkable German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. That's worth it, especially for enthusiasts who want to know everything, but really everything about great artists they look up to as true worshippers. You find countless letters from fans, her father, herself, great conductors and fellow musicians, photographs and some of the beautiful evening gowns she wore during concerts. Because there's more than just this museum, I have to go through it 'diagonally' or else I'll miss some and yes, one of them, that of the Schubertiade itself, I'll have to visit another time. That will be for next time.
On the square there's another beautifully maintained building and there you find the Legge Museum where attention is also paid to the writer Stefan Zweig who lived and worked there and was the owner of the house. With Schubert or musicians who were engaged with Schubert among other things, the author had nothing further to do. Walter Legge was pretty much the first and certainly one of the most important producers of long-playing records for the classical music world. He collected the very greatest of their time – in the 20th century, if you had some luck, you became world-famous and rich as a classical musician. That's become much more difficult now. We are spoiled rotten with the massive supply in all possible ways, but about 100 years ago a long-playing record and a classical radio station were already an enormous luxury. Through mass production and the improvement of equipment, recording techniques and so on, the producers experienced golden times and the top musicians earned money hand over fist. Who didn't buy classical music LPs for their home? And thick books? Try explaining that to the children and youth of today. Just for that reason, such a museum, again full of photographs and letters, is surprisingly educational.
Continuing to explore the very neat little town after enjoying a tasty bite with blue cheese at the Italian restaurant 'La skisetta'. A little free advertisement: do you also want to go to such a Schubertiade sometime? Then treat yourself to a meal at www.laskisetta.at. The next steps in the small town of Hohenems brought me to the Nibelungen Museum. Look, this town could really do much more with the Nibelungen. The Nibelungen really need a Neubauer (he stamped the museum out of the ground and manages it) because that wondrous world of the Nibelungen – the writings were found back in Hohenems in the 19th century – has certainly brought a lot with it, if only to mention Richard Wagner. Wagner fans should not only find their way to the opera houses, yes they also need to come here to visit something that held Wagner in its grip and led to mighty opera creations.
I visited the Schubert Museum a day later. A fairly beautiful building, larger city garden too, but there are costs to the building that begs for extensive renovation. It has quite a few portraits of people who colored the world of Schubert and you see quite a few reproductions of letters, handwritten by Schubert, nobility, other musicians, family and friends. Facsimiles of scores, first editions and lots of information. It demands several hours of your time, but I didn't have that, the concerts called me…
For the Schubertiade Museum I didn't have time left anymore, so I'll have to come back through that impressive town sometime, where besides I was nicely pampered in a folksy B&B where every morning I was surprised with an unexpected breakfast. That's what you call hospitality. Yes, I'll be back!