Well, I got there in the end! Actually, I got there right on time. The place is awesome (although by no means the most spectacular Austrian monastery).
We had a recital from the 'Bruckner Organ', also a performance of AB's symphony '0'; this wasn't quite as good as it sounds as, er, the St. Florian's acoustic is awful.
Bruckner's birth place hasn't really quite caught up with tourism; the actual house was being repaired, the church was locked, (although we had arranged to visit), and the arts centre was astounded to have any visitors at all. So it's not quite the equivalent of Stratford on Avon! However, I think it will improve given time.
For the really enthusiastic you can re-trace the walk taken by AB and his mother when she took him to St. Florians. At intervals along the way you can stop and listen to excerpts from AB's symphonies.
The schoolhouse at Windhaag has a plaque, but is a private house, however, a resident came along and told us a few stories about the place. I was tempted to ask him what AB was like as a teacher... but thought this might prove to be ill advised.
For the benefit of anyone else going, the best beer is, in my opinion, Kaiserbrau (have a Kaiser, be a Kaiser!). It's fairly readily available around Linz.
We had a recital from the 'Bruckner Organ', also a performance of AB's symphony '0'; this wasn't quite as good as it sounds as, er, the St. Florian's acoustic is awful.
Bruckner's birth place hasn't really quite caught up with tourism; the actual house was being repaired, the church was locked, (although we had arranged to visit), and the arts centre was astounded to have any visitors at all. So it's not quite the equivalent of Stratford on Avon! However, I think it will improve given time.
For the really enthusiastic you can re-trace the walk taken by AB and his mother when she took him to St. Florians. At intervals along the way you can stop and listen to excerpts from AB's symphonies.
The schoolhouse at Windhaag has a plaque, but is a private house, however, a resident came along and told us a few stories about the place. I was tempted to ask him what AB was like as a teacher... but thought this might prove to be ill advised.
For the benefit of anyone else going, the best beer is, in my opinion, Kaiserbrau (have a Kaiser, be a Kaiser!). It's fairly readily available around Linz.
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