This morning I chose to go see something that I had been meaning to all month, and something that always makes me happy anywhere: seeing a marching band play.
The band in question is the Hoch und Deutschmeister Band, which gathers on the corner of Graben and Kohlmarkt every Saturday morning before marching to the interior courtyard of the Hofburg via Michaelerplatz. There, they perform works by various Austrian composers (the Strausses, Franz Lehár, Carl Michael Ziehrer and Robert Stolz for instance) for 40 minutes.
I excitedly ran ahead of them from the Graben towards the courtyard, where they gathered in a circle around their director who took the time to explain a bit of their history to the crowd. Apparently, the Deutschmeister Band was first formed in 1741 to perform changing-of-the-guard ceremonies at the Hofburg, which they did until 1918. This tradition was only revived just a few years ago, although I think the band has still existed in different incarnations since the end of World War I.
Many of the crowd left before the performance's conclusion, but I stayed for the whole thing (and even found fellow band nerd Me'Lisa James in the crowd!). All in all, it was enjoyable 40 minutes, seeing musicians young and old playing together. I did not recognize any of the tunes, except for the fact that they were all marches and all Austrian.
When they were done, I took a quick look inside the nearby Augustinerkirche, where, amongst all the other sights of the gothic church, I saw posters up for (what I perceived to be) free daily classical music concerts. Tonight's repertoire included nothing that I recognized, except for the names: Mozart and Bach. The prospect of hearing a Mozart piece other than "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" was enticing to me, and I absolutely love Bach's organ works. I would later inform Professor Stuart and Stephanie Merrill of this when we were relaxing at a cafe by Schwedenplatz, and they decided that the three of us should go, having nothing else planned for the evening.
(A note about the cafe: this was the only time I've ever had a grumpy Viennese waiter/waitress, or at least been aware enough to notice one. And the main reason why she was so is because we sat down in tables blocked off with a "reserved" sign. I am told, however, that usually such tables are not really reserved, it's just that the cafe doesn't want to deal with more customers than it wants to deal with!)
As we walked into the Augustinerkirche shortly before 18:30, I noticed that many people in attendance were wearing much nicer clothes than myself. It felt strange. I then felt completely out-of-place once Professor Stuart and I sat in the pews and she informed me that we were really attending a Catholic mass. I suddenly didn't want to be there, as I am not Catholic myself and I was afraid I was taking up a seat for someone much more devout than me. I began to get really worried at certain points such as the moments when everyone crossed themselves in unison.
The thing is, I hate to stand out as an outsider. I've been trying to do that this whole month as an American in Europe. But how to not stand out as a non-Catholic American in the middle of a mass in the capital city of one of the most staunchly Catholic countries in the continent? The experience almost overshadowed the beautiful orchestra and choir behind me, and I felt stupid for being so naive to think that this was really a free classical music concert. Of course not, I was expected to show my faithful side. But how could I do that when I can't speak Deutsch...
Professor Stuart and Stephanie seemed to get much more out of the experience than I did. Turns out, this was the mass for the feast of St. Augustine, so we had picked quite a day to visit. I was glad that they were both okay with attending (I felt guilty for misleading them), but next time I will be more careful and will not attend something that I don't belong in. Even though Kathy said that most of the attendees weren't religious at all, I still felt out of place. I guess this is just another learning experience.
The German word of the day is "wohnen," meaning "to live."
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