Along the Schubert Cycle Path
Atzenbrugg is located about 40km (25 miles) west of Vienna on the edge of the Tullnerfeld on the river Perschling. The Kuenringer "Azzo", has built the first bridge over the Perschling in the Middle Ages at the time of the Carolingians. In the 13th century one finds a noble family of the "Atzenbrugger". In the 14th century, the castle and landed property pass into the possession of the Klosterneuburg monastery.
From 1820 until the year of his death in 1828, Franz Schubert stayed for a long time every summer in the Perschlingschloss at Atzenbrugg. His friend, the poet and music lover Franz von Schober, took him to his uncle Josef Dorfel (village judge of the abbey estate) in Atzenbrugg. Among the Schubertians were the painters Leopold Kupelwieser and Moritz Schwind, Anselm and Josef Hüttenbrenner, the comedy poet and peasant poet Bauernfeld, the opera baritone Vogl, the young Ernst von Feuchtersleben, the poet-painter Johann Mayerhofer and the music-lover Josef von Spaun.
The Schubert Cycle Path, as an alternative to the Danube Cycle Path, leads through the villages of Heiligeneich and Schloss Aumühle, to which the Schubertians made excursions.
Schubert was certainly inspired to many melodies during his stays in the summer months. He composed for his friends under the shady lime trees or in the garden cottage belonging to the castle (today the Schubert cottage), and the "Schubertiaden" took place in the castle.
Schubert's "Atzenbrugger German Dances" were created here. In the renovated banqueting hall of the castle "Schubertiaden" take place again and in the museum in the castle you can see in 9 rooms approx. 540 exhibits that remind us of the life and work of Franz Schubert and his friends: pictures, documents, family trees, busts, death mask, first prints of Schubert's compositions, facsimile of Schubert's diary, guest lists, original testimonies, coins, medals, newspaper reports 1889, letters, documents, family photos from the circle of friends, special stamps, Biedermeier guitar, Schubert's lock of hair, Biedermeier dress.....
Our ladies are standing in front of Atzenbrugg Castle, set up for a photo and not for a party game.
The Schubertian Moritz von Schwind painted "Parlour game, memory of Atzenbrugg" after 1860. Things must have been quite cheerful then. The painting is now in the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna.
Another Schubertian, Leopold Kuppelwieser, saw the "Gesellschaftsspiel in Atzenbrugg" (Charade in Atzenbrugg) in 1821 with a somewhat more serious Schubert at the piano. This painting is in the Museum of the City of Vienna on Karlsplatz.
See also:
Atzenbrugger Dances arranged for string quartet
(electronic music)
Schubert cycle path
