Inner Vienna

Prince Lobkowitz, along with Archduke Rudolph and Prince Lichnowsky, was one of Beethoven's greatest patrons, receiving the dedication of the Eroica Symphony (after Beethoven, in a fit of rage, withdrew the dedication from Napoleon), the op. 18 Quartets, the Triple Concerto, the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte, as well as joint dedications (along with Count Razumovsky) of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies.

His Viennese residence - his home being an estate in Bohemia - was a sumptuous palace opposite the Hofburg across from the Michaelerplatz. He determined to make it even more sumptuous, in the service of the art he adored most, music.

He created a splendid concert room on the first floor of his palace, with velvet covered seats, to house his own orchestra.

It was in this concert hall that Beethoven conducted the first public performance of the Eroica Symphony. 

The expense of the concert room, not to mention the expense of maintaining his own orchestra, coupled with the ruinous costs of the war against France to which the nobility contributed funds, ultimately bankrupted Prince Lobkowitz, causing him to flee from Vienna to escape his creditors in 1813.

The Lobkowitz Palace still stands opposite the Hofburg today, its façade little changed from Beethoven's day. It houses the museum of Austrian theatre. The Eroicasaal - the concert room that takes its name from the symphony that was first performed there - is as sumptuous as it was two centuries ago, with its painted ceiling and floor to ceiling windows, albeit no longer with velvet covered seats.

It is still used for concerts. In 1996 my wife Bonnie and I heard a performance of Beethoven's Quintet op. 16 there, though more recently it has been used for performances of Viennese waltzes with players and dancers in costume for the benefit of tourists.

© John Suchet