Austria and Bohemia

Baden - Rauhenstein

Baden, the principal spa town of Austria, lies 18 miles south of Vienna.

It was a favourite summer resort of Beethoven. He stayed in at least seven different addresses during 17 visits between 1804 and 1825.

In Baden in the summer of 1823 - 13th of August to the 5th of October - he completed work on the Ninth Symphony.

On that occasion he stayed at Rathausgasse 94 (today 10), in a first floor apartment consisting of a small entrance hall, bedroom and study.

He had stayed in the same lodging the year before, where it is said he jotted down musical ideas on the unplaned shutters of the windows, which his wily landlord then sold, charging him for new ones the following year.

The apartment has now been restored and is a museum to Beethoven. The ground floor contains an antique shop selling generally tasteless artefacts (see above).

The Helenenstrasse in Baden, today as 200 years ago, leads west out of the town into the Helenenthal, the Valley of Helen, through which the river Schwechat flows.

On either side of the river thick woods rise to imposing peaks. On the top of a hill to the left of the river stand the ruins of the 13th century castle, Burg Rauheneck.

To the right, lower and more accessible, stand the ruins of the medieval Burg Rauhenstein. A favourite walk of Beethoven's was along the Helenenstrasse out of Baden, and into the Helenthal. There he would turn to the right, away from the river, and climb the steep hill to the Rauhenstein ruins.

Often his nephew Karl would visit him in Baden, and together they would climb to the ruins.

In 1826 when Karl, in despair, decided to take his own life, it was to Baden that he went, carrying with him a pair of pistols and gunpowder, and to the Rauhenstein ruins that he climbed.

Today the ruins have lost little of their menace, though the climb to them is easier. The winding path is well marked out, and nailed to trees are signs saying, "Beethovenweg" [Beethoven path]. Today the ruins have lost little of their menace, though the climb to them is easier.

The winding path is well marked out, and nailed to trees are signs saying, "Beethovenweg" [Beethoven path]. 

© John Suchet