Odds and Ends

German Word of the Day

08/02: meistens- mostly
08/04: wahrscheinlich: probably
08/07: beantworten: to answer
08/10: Autobahn- highway
08/14: bei dir- at your place
08/18: offen- frank
08/20: gesund- healthy
08/27: Fussball- soccer

Schonberg music
Kammersymphonie op. 9
After listening to Schonberg’s music, I have decided that I do not like it very much. There is way too much going on and I have no idea what I am listening to. It really just sounds like a bunch of clashing noises put together. I also cannot really make out any melody. I just may not be used to listening to this type of Expressionist music. I played piano for eleven years of my life and I mainly focused on classical music, so maybe I have developed a somewhat of a biased ear and have a particular sound aesthetic.

CNN international
CNN international is pretty similar to CNN in the United States. They broadcast a lot of the same shows that they do in America, for instance: Situation Room, Anderson 360, and Larry King Live. The only difference really is that they show the weather from more places and they have weekly special shows on different regions of the word, like Marketplace Middle East. I personally like it better because as I am interested in what is going on in America, I also like the get a glimpse of what life is like in other parts of the world, specifically ones that I am not familiar with. I also noticed that CNN international shows more sports coverage that CNN in America does.

Bratislava vs Vienna
Some of my classmates and I took a day trip to Bratislava. We made a mistake and went on a Monday and basically everything was closed. However, it was interesting to see the differences between Vienna and Bratislava, especially relating to Bratislava’s long communist past. It was interesting to see the post-Communist era buildings juxtaposed to the ones built during the Communist era, there is really a large difference. Bratislava has done quite a nice job cleaning up their city and ridding it off Communist style buildings, to a more appealing and opening look. However, I found that there was not much to do or see there. Since they split with the Czech Republic, they have been trying to forge their own culture, since Prague was probably the dominant city, Bratislava does not have much to offer. I am glad I visited Bratislava, but I can say for sure that I will not visit it again and it was not because I did not enjoy myself just that there is nothing pulling me back there.

Protestant vs Catholic Art in the Kunsthistorisches Museum

Protestant Artphoto: courtesy of google images
Pieter Aertsen was famous for his still-life pieces. He often drew still-life paintings in the foreground and very discretely in the background would place a religious element. These were not meant for churches; however, they were meant to be placed into the homes of believers. The Protestant faith emphasized salvation through the book, so it was not necessary for artists to be creating great murals and frescoes in churches anymore; people could worship in the comfort of their own home. The reason for the discrete religious elements was at the time people were not given as much religious freedom and so they had to be secretive about which religious elements were being displayed in their homes.photo: courtesy of google images
Rembrandt is a very famous Protestant artist, comparing his works to those of Catholic artist one can see the great differences between Catholic and Protestant art. His pieces are very modest, use very little color, and our very solemn. In the Kunsthistorisches, most of his works that are displayed are portraits and not religious images. Rembrandt painted many portraits for in the Protestant world there was no need for pompous, grandiose paintings of Christ to glorify their religion. They relied on their faith and direct relationship to God to gain salvation, unlike the Catholic faith that uses many other means in order to get in the good graces of God to reach salvation.
Catholic Artphoto: courtesy of google images
Raphael is a Catholic artist and the work of Catholic painters is generally centered around the Holy Family. They always paint images of Mary and Jesus and do not really veer far off that idea. The lighting in this painting is done purposefully to show the perfection and holiness of the Family. The use of blue also shows the Catholics dedication to their faith. Blue is the most expensive to paint with, even more expensive that gold and silver. Blue is expensive because it is hard to come by and has to be imported from Afgahnistan. The artists willingness to use blue shows their devotion to their art. Usually artists are commissioned to paint certain paintings for churches, these churches are willing to shell out the big money in order to include blue in the paintings that are to adorn their churches. This shows the Catholics willingness and need to use other means besides the script to gain salvation.photo: courtesy of google images
Rubens is the quintessential Catholic artist. He always paints dramatic images to glorify Catholicism. This specific painting shows St. Ignacius performing a miracle on the obviously demonized woman. Exorcisms of this sort are very common in Catholicism. The exorcisms were done to remove demons from people and were done in public to prove the power of God through priests and saints. This painting is also characteristic of Catholic Baroque art. It is over the top glamorous and grandiose in order to display the power and importance of the Catholic church. Using powerful images such as this is very effective in scaring and brain-washing people into believing that they are not worthy and need the help of Catholicsm, priests, saints, and exorcisms to help them reach salvation.

NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/24/world/international-us-iran-nuclear.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=IAEA&st=cse

After visiting the UN in Vienna and receiving a lecture from a member of the IAEA, this article has a lot more relevance and is of more pertinent interest to me. I, somehow, feel connected to what the IAEA is doing and I understand more of what the agency is asking from Iran.
The UN and international community in general has been having problems with Iran’s uranium enriching process, Iran has been suspect to be creating weapons from their enriched uranium (mostly because Iran has refused the IAEA to inspect its nuclear technology). Iran has been part of the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), as a member you must agree not to use enriched uranium to create nuclear weapons. Iran has been in compliance with the treating until recent years, in which it has failed to meet certain IAEA inspections.
This article is mainly about how Iran will comply with IAEA and US demands to inspections and upholding the NPT. The IAEA is currently in Iran doing inspections on Arak, their heavy water reactor site. The point of the IAEA is not to see through disarmament of nations with nuclear weapons; however, the goals of the IAEA are to make sure that nuclear technology is used for peaceful purposes. The IAEA works with countries and does inspections to see that enriched uranium is not used to make weapons and offers consultations to nations that are part of the IAEA to practice peaceful uses of nuclear technology.
In Iran, the IAEA is inspecting its nuclear reactor sites to make sure that the enriched uranium is not used for weapons. Tehran insists that it is using the nuclear technology for electricity and not for weapons like the international community thinks. The West is still very skeptical of what is going on in Iran. Hopefully, the findings of the IAEA will ease the tension between the West and Iran.
The IAEA is essentially a powerless agency since even if it did find that Iran was using their enriched uranium for weapons, the IAEA has no power or jurisdiction to make Iran stop. They can only strongly advise against it. The disarmament or prevention of nuclear weapon production will have to be done either through diplomatic means by other nations, mostly likely the West, or if diplomatic means do not work it will probably end in violence and the eschewal and issuance of more sanctions on Iran from the international community. This could have many negative consequences, just as Germany got ousted after World War I, this could build up to the creation of devastating effects.
Furthermore, the recent controversial elections in Iran have resulted in even more apprehension of meeting diplomatic compromises between the West and Iran. The US, Britain, France, and Germany are urging fellow Security Council nations: Russia and China to place sanctions on Iran and pressure them to stop their uranium enrichment program. Hopefully these sanctions will be effective and violence will not have to be resorted to. Due to the IAEA’s inability to police and carry out consequences for noncompliance, this may turn into a crisis between nations instead of an episode to safeguard the international community.

Mozart and Don Giovanni

Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus (Gottlieb) Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg to Leopold and Anna Mozart. His father, Leopold, was a very talented violin master of the archbishop of Salzburg. However, soon after his birth, Mozart would out perform is father in every musical aspect. He was considered a wunderkind, or child prodigy, and wrote his first piece of music at the age of 5. In A Life in Letters, it is very apparent that Leopold is very envious or jealous of his son because Leopold would teach Mozart, however everything that Mozart would surpass everything that Leopold taught him. As a result of his envy, Leopold stopped composing and working musically all together. Within that same year, he would start touring and playing his own original works. At the time, there was no public marketplace for music and it was difficult for Mozart to make money, thus he relied on a patron to pay him for creations of symphonies, orchestras, and operas. In order to scramble for patronage, he moved out of Salzburg to Vienna in 1781, where there is a greater interest and need for music due to its residence of the Habsburg monarchy. He receives minor patronage by the Habsburgs, but most of his patronage and income came from the nobility and aristocrats of Vienna. Mozart was also very devoted and involved with the Free Masons and became an official member in 1784.
Don Giovanni
Mozart split his time between writing music compositions and operas. We were fortunate enough to watch one of Mozart’s operas, Don Giovanni. Don Giovanni is an opera about a womanizer, who tries to get with all the women around him; however, he is wanted for murdering the Commendatore, Donna Anna’s father. In the process of trying to conceal his identity to keep from being avenged by Donna Anna’s fiancé, Don Ottavio, Don Giovanni tries to get with all kinds of women: servants, single women, taken women, anyone he can get his hands on. He even goes as far as to dress up as his servant, Leporello, to get with Zerlina’s servant. Through all of his womanizing and murderous ways, he makes many enemies who want him dead and has to do a lot of appeasing and convincing to keep his life. None of the people who want him dead can successfully kill him, but strangely in the end, Don Giovanni gets dragged down into hell by the statue of the Commendatore.
I felt that the version of the opera we saw was very different from that of the original by Mozart. The Don Giovanni we saw was a modern interpretation of the original. The same value, idea, and synopsis of the story are carried out, but in a very different way it is in the original. The original is set in an Italian city and the modern version it is set in a hotel. It was very interesting to hear the 18th century opera music being sung on hotel set in modern day wardrobe; however it was nice to see that in the scene in which Don Giovanni throws a ballroom party for Zerlina and Masetto, they are all dressed appropriate to the time period of the original piece. The modern adaptation also got sort of strange in the end, when the director used his poetic license to carry out the end of the play. I will admit that the original libretto is strange and very unrealistic when the statue of the Commendatore drags Don Giovanni into hell with him; however, the scene in which Don Giovanni grows old and dines with a bunch of mannequins and loses his mind before he is eventually slashed to death in a glass box was even more unrealistic. It was hard for me to draw parallels between the two versions of the opera in that instance. All in all the opera was a great experience. It was fun to be able to dress up and enjoy something considered to be very “high society.” I read in the Lonely Planet guide that the Viennese are very proper and concerned with their status and thus always jump at the chance to present themselves in a very aristocratic manner. However, even though I thought the people at the opera dressed nice, it was not anything exceptional. In fact I thought, as a whole, our group was dressed in a more presentable manner than most of the Viennese. Also paying 5.50 Euro for a tiny glass of champagne was a bit ridiculous. The opera was a very bourgeois event and the people who come out almost remind me of the attitudes of those Ringstrasse barons that felt the need to act in an aristocratic manner in order to prove their wealth and status.

Salzburg

Day 1
We took the train from Wien Westbahnhof at 6:57 AM and headed off to Salzburg. Salzburg is a quaint little town near the border with Germany. It is the birthplace of Mozart and they would not let you forget it. Everything there had some sort of reference to Mozart on it. Vienna is a city that is renowned for its classical music; however, in Salzburg music was part of anything and everything. Even the local bakeries had pretzels in the shape of treble clefs. As a piano player of 12 years, I found it very amusing and quite nostalgic since it brought me back to my piano playing days. All the souvenirs they sold there had something to do with either Mozart or the Sound of Music. The town is a complete tourist city and everything was catered toward tourism. The tours, food, accommodations, and entrance fees there were all very expensive, since they could get away with it.
First off we walked into town and visited some of the sites in town. It was a zoo there were tourists everywhere from all over the world. We walked into the Dom church and there were more people visiting there than there were when I visited Stephansdom. Afterwards, we decided to go on our own Sound of Music tour, since the one provided was so expensive. We were able to do it for 2 Euros instead of the 33 Euros required for Panorama tours. We visited the Hellbrunn, where the famous Pavilion in the movie stands. The Mirabelle Gardens where they sang “Do Re Mi” and “Favorite Things.” We also visited the abbey, where Maria and Mr. Von Trapp got married.
Day 2
We decided that since we were in Salzburg we would have to visit Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest and some salt mines. The tours offered for these two destinations would amount to about 90 Euro, so again we decided to do it ourselves for less than half the price. We took the bus to Berchtesgaden and on the way found a salt mine. The salt mine we visited was definitely a tourist trap, a lot like the subterranean lake we visited on our way back from the Alps. Once we entered we had to wear some ridiculous body suits and ride a minors train into the depths of the mountain. Inside we went on a slide and rode a boat across a salt lake. The boat ride across the salt lake was complete with a cheesy light show and some trippy music. At the end of the boat ride, they allowed us to taste the water of the lake and it was a lot saltier than I thought it would be. After the salt mine, we took the bus across the Austrian-Germany into Germany and eventually into Berchtesgaden Hauptbahnhof and then another bus to the foot of the mountain where the Kehlsteinhaus was located. From the foot of the mountain, we had to take another bus 20 minutes up the mountain and then an elevator to the peak. The peak offered beautiful views very similar to the views we saw while we were in Raxalpe. On the peak there was a cottage, which was Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. It was a fiftieth birthday present to Hitler. I have to admit it was strange to be at Hitler’s birthday present on my birthday. I was very disappointed because once we got up there, there was really nothing to see besides the views. There was no museum or anything, just a restaurant where they were rude and charged ridiculous prices for the mediocre food. I did wonder about all the effort and manpower needed to create an eagle’s nest so far up a mountain. We went through a lot of trouble to get up there, imagine getting supplies and people up to the peak in order to build a tea house for Hitler, only the best for the Fuhrer I guess. On our way down the mountain, a large tour bus broke down, and we had to wait a while in order for them to clear to the side of the road so that we could pass by, this messed up our transfers to the other two busses back into Salzburg and our train back to Vienna, so we went back to Vienna a lot later than we had wanted to. Even with all that trouble, I am glad we went to visit Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest even though it was pretty anticlimactic because I know I would have regretted it if I was so close and I didn’t visit it.

The Third Man

The Third Man is a movie made in 1949 that is based in Vienna. The story goes: Harry Lime, a resident of Vienna, invites his friend Holly Martins out to Vienna for work. Upon Holly’s arrival, he discovers that Harry Lime has died. As he tries and investigates his friend Harry’s death, he grows more and more suspicious that Harry’s death was no accident and that he was in fact murdered. Even though Holly is warned by many officials and Harry’s friends to leave town, he does not and is adamant about getting the truth about his friend’s death. Along the way, he falls for Harry’s lover, Anna, and tries to keep her from being sent back to the Russian sector of Vienna (she is Czech). Holly encounters a man on a walk and is convinced that he has run into Harry. Through his investigations, Holly finds out from Calloway, the lead detective, that Harry was involved in penicillin smuggling on the black market. Lime would attain penicillin and dilute the amount, sell it to hospitals, and the hospitals would then distribute these diluted antibiotics to patients with bacterial infections and has staged his own death. Calloway then takes Holly to the hospital to see the effects of the diluted penicillin purchased from Lime. The children are all deformed and have suffered because of the ineffectiveness of the diluted penicillin. After seeing these sick children, Martins decides to help the police lure and capture Lime in exchange for seeing that Anna gets out of Vienna safely. Anna did not want Holly’s help and tried to mess up the capture of Lime, for she still loved him despite his evil doings. In the end, the officials were able to find out that he was using the sewage system to get in and out of the different occupied zones in Vienna and shot and killed him there.
This movie was interesting to watch after familiarizing myself with most of the Vienna sites. Some sites that I recognized from the movie included: Hofburg, Café Mozart, and the Prater. Some common cultural things I saw were: the Strassenbahn, the Emperor Josef statue in the Hofburg, and Gosser beer signs. The movie was very informative historically, in the sense that the viewer was able to see the aftermath of World War II. We could see that a lot of Vienna had been destroyed. It also helped the viewer understand the implications of Vienna being split into five zones. It was also cool to see Martins face the same difficulties as we have. He didn’t speak German and most of the Austrian characters didn’t speak English. There were many instances in the film in which he had to say “I don’t understand you” or “I don’t speak German,” which is something that I have encountered a lot while on this trip. It is sometimes frustrating not being able to understand anyone, yet at the same time refreshing. The language barrier is not so bad, since luckily many of the Viennese speak flawless English. It is also interesting to see the crime and darker side of Vienna. My views of Vienna have been mostly positive, with the exception of the people being a bit rude and snooty, I have never felt unsafe walking around, except for maybe the sketchy drunk people at the Karlsplatz station.