Outer Vienna

The Augarten park, which lies outside the centre of Vienna between the Danube Canal and the Danube, was laid out as a garden for the Imperial royal family in the 17th century.

In 1775 Emperor Joseph II opened it to the public - the embossed plaque bearing his words, "To All Men This Place Is Dedicated By Their Protector" [trans], still set above the entrance gate.

The Garden Pavilion stands on the ruins of an earlier Emperor's garden palace, and it was in this pavilion from 1782 that the famous musical matinées took place. Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert all performed here, as the plaque on the wall of the pavilion testifies.

Beethoven's great friend, the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, ran the summer series of matinées in the pavilion, and it was at one of these that Beethoven, with the English violinist George Bridgetower, gave the first performance of the Violin Sonata he dedicated to Rudolphe Kreutzer.

The broad avenue leading to the pavilion is today - as it was in Beethoven's day - lined with linden trees. The pavilion is no longer home to music, but to the Augarten porcelain factory, famous for its traditional dinner services and porcelain Lippizaner horses.

The Vienna Boys' Choir is today housed in a building on the perimeter of the park - the only musical connection the Augarten has today.

© John Suchet