BRAHMS IS ALIVE!
Brahms museum
In Mürzzuschlag in Styria, where the highly imaginative and
lovingly arranged Brahms museum, unique in the whole world, is placed.
“Johannes Brahms on summer
holiday” is the theme of the
eventful permanent exhibition of the museum situated in the house,
where the composer lived during the summer of 1884 and 1885.
More than nine months Brahms lived in Mürzzuschlag and
composed his whole Fourth Symphony in e-minor and more than over 30
vocal works there. “It´s almost too
beautiful here...” Brahms tempted many of his
Viennese friends (e.g. Theodor Billroth, Eduard Hanslick, Robert Fuchs)
to visit Mürzzuschlag. Brahms even went for a walk to nearby
Krieglach to visit the famous poet Peter Rosegger, who worked there.
During the musical walk through the museum you will enter the
world of Brahms´ productive summers he spent composing in
Austria (Pörtschach, Ischl, Pressbaum and
Mürzzuschlag), Switzerland and Germany. Brahms wrote his major
works in summer.
You are invited to leaf through his scores and listen to some of his
immortal music. The combination of seeing and listening will make your
visit to the museum an unforgettable experience.
You will also become better acquainted with Brahms himself. A large
number of objects and photographs that belonged to Brahms (a loan
provided by the Historical Museum and the Musikverein –
Society of Music Lovers – in Vienna) as well as previously
unknown diaries and letters paint a lively and authentic picture of the
famous composer. You will meet Brahms´ circle of friends:
Clara Schumann, Joseph Joachim, Marie Soldat, Adele and Johann
Strauß, Theodor Billroth, Elisabeth von Herzogenberg, the
Fellinger familiy and many others.
The highlight of the museum is the music room where you can see and
listen to the original and restored Streicher-piano, on which Johannes
Brahms had his unique recording on a wax-zylinder from 1889. Brahms
himself plays one of the Hungarian dances for you!
Concerts performed all year by first-rate interpreters take place in
the music room with its splendid stucco ceiling from 1720.
The Brahms museum was awarded the European Museum Prize
“MUSEUM OF THE YEAR – SELECTED CANDIDATE”
in 1994 because of its unusual arrangement.
The museum can be visited without guidance; there are translations in
many languages for foreign visitors. Special programs for groups,
children and pupils perfectly complete the experience of the museum.
We are looking forward to welcoming you soon to the Brahms museum in
Mürzzuschlag.