A BEETHOVEN INN?

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 13

A BEETHOVEN INN?

FATE OF FAMOUS HOUSE. WHERE "EROICA" WAS COMPOSED. VIENNA. Should the famous house, in which Beethoven composed the "Eroiea" Symphony, become a "Heurige" (an inn in which wine of the new vintage is supplied ) ? This question is occupying the minds of the music-loving Viennese. There are already two parties, one which considers it a sacrilege to allow this famous house to become a noisy inn, and the other which argues in quite a did •rent spirit. Tn the peaceful but exquisite small "Eroica gasse," in the Grinzing district of Vienna, stands the charming house of one .storey where Beethoven composed the symphony more than one hundred years ago. A well-known innkeeper, Herr Franz Mayer, bought this house some time ago, and he now intends to convert it into a "Heurige." British visitors to Vienna are well acquainted with the "Heurige," which is a simple inn, with wooden tables and wooden benches, in which the innkeeper is entitled to sell his home-grown wine. These "Heuriges" are all situated in the hilly northern and south-western districts in Vienna., on whose slopes in the days of Beethoven there were large vineyards. A patent of the Emperor Joseph 11. permitted the wine-growers here to sell their new wine on their premises without a license. Their inns have small orchestras of two violins, a mandolin, and a melodion. Two singers, as a rule, also entertain the guests. Many musicians consider it a sacrilege that gay Vienna tunes should be heard in the courtyard where the greatest genius of music found inspiration for one of his most majestic compositions. Others, however, argue that Beethoven when he lived in Grinzing and Heiligenstadt (two of the northern districts of Vienna) loved to go occasionally to these small inns and enjoy a glass of wine. For the time being both sides maintain their point of view, and it will probably require some authoritative intervention to decide whether the establishment of an inn in the "Eroiea" house shall be permitted. \