The composers and Vienna

Why these names

The ticket page for the church concert names Vivaldi, Schubert, Beethoven and Haydn, and its longer description adds Mozart and Bach. Four of the five composers discussed below have a direct tie to Vienna, and the fifth, Vivaldi, ended his life here. Wikipedia is the source for the facts that follow, and the operator may change the programme, so none of this promises a piece.

Vivaldi, and a death in Vienna

Wikipedia calls The Four Seasons Vivaldi's most famous work, one violin concerto for each season of the year. The set was printed in Amsterdam in 1725 inside Opus 8, a collection of twelve, and a sonnet is tied to each concerto and describes the scenes the music paints. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for royal support, but the Emperor died soon after his arrival. Wikipedia says Vivaldi died in Vienna during the night of 27 to 28 July 1741.

Mozart and a little night music

Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525, is Serenade No. 13 in G major. Wikipedia says Mozart completed it in Vienna on 10 August 1787, and that the German title literally means 'a little night music'. The score asks for five string players, though string orchestras often play it, and it reached print around 1827, about thirty years after his death. Four movements survive, and Wikipedia says another is now believed lost.

Haydn, the string quartet and the city

Haydn moved to Vienna in 1740 and, Wikipedia says, spent the next nine years as a chorister at St Stephen's Cathedral. He was dismissed in 1749 after his voice changed. Wikipedia credits him as pivotal in the evolution of the string quartet, and says he is sometimes called the father of the string quartet. He died at home in Vienna in May 1809, aged 77.

Beethoven, the student who stayed

Beethoven moved permanently to Vienna in November 1792, aged 21, and Wikipedia says the city became his base. There he studied composition with Haydn, who also taught him some counterpoint. He died in Vienna on 26 March 1827, aged 56, after several months of illness. In 1802 he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament, a letter to his brothers about his growing deafness, which was never sent and was found among his papers after his death.

Schubert, born and buried in Vienna

Schubert was born in Vienna's Himmelpfortgrund suburb and died in Vienna in November 1828, aged 31. Wikipedia credits him with more than 600 Lieder, within a much larger output. In the early 1820s he and a circle of artists and students held social gatherings that became known as Schubertiads, many in the large Vienna apartment of Ignaz von Sonnleithner. His String Quartet No. 14, Death and the Maiden, dates from the winter of 1825 to 1826.

Where to go next

For the church itself, the baroque church guide covers the dome and the fresco. For the practical side of the hour, the guide to what to wear and expect covers seats and rules. For choosing between this concert and a hall, the comparison guide sets both out. And if you are still deciding whether the hour is worth your evening, the start-here guide answers that question first, with the sources at its foot.

Read next: The baroque church explained