Grüß Gott!

thechoralnomad
Jul 25, 2019
1 min read

Updated: Jan 31, 2021

St. Stephen, patron saint of horses and riders was one of the first martyrs and deacons in the Christian faith. December 26th was known as Stephanitag (St. Stephen's Day), a national holiday observed in Austria. For more than 700 years the cathedral is one of the one of the most important and historic landmarks in the world. It was first destroyed by a fire in its early years of construction, then the bombings during the second world war, it has risen up again and again, and withstood the test of time. Composer Franz Joseph Haydn sang as a choirboy here when he was eight years old and where W.A. Mozart got married in 1782.

In the summer of 2016 before the concert tour of Pacific Chorale to Budapest and Vienna even started I had managed to sneak in a three-day side trip to visit my cousins Ate Belle and Kuya Eddie, my nieces Michelle and husband Paul, Yeyeth and husband Julius with their cute son Matthew (yes, I have grand nephew!) whom I have met for the first time. We did some sight-seeing in Vienna, ate lunch at an authentic Viennese restaurant, had my Weißbier, and a quick trip to the museum. After watching my last concert at the Franciskanerkirche we had dinner at a nearby outdoor cafe while we waited for Paul who was getting off from work late that night. Every minute spent with them was gold!