Palais Lobkowitz & the Eroica Hall
Why is it significant?
On the little Lobkowitzplatz stands a palace with a grand portal and a tall, pale facade, one of the first great baroque palaces built in Vienna after the Ottoman siege of 1683. Today it houses the Theatre Museum; two centuries ago it belonged to a prince who loved music more than his money.
Key Facts
| Place | Palais Lobkowitz & the Eroica Hall |
|---|---|
| Address | Lobkowitzplatz 2, 1010 Wien, Austria |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.20560, 16.36840 |
| Part of Walk | Vienna in Three-Quarter Time: Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and the City of Music |
| Generated | Generated |
On the little Lobkowitzplatz stands a palace with a grand portal and a tall, pale facade, one of the first great baroque palaces built in Vienna after the Ottoman siege of 1683. Today it houses the Theatre Museum; two centuries ago it belonged to a prince who loved music more than his money.
Prince Franz Joseph Maximilian Lobkowitz kept his own orchestra and was one of Beethoven's most generous patrons. In 1804 Beethoven's Third Symphony was first played here, in private, in the palace's great hall, which is now called the Eroica Hall. Imagine the prince's musicians facing a symphony far longer and wilder than anything Haydn or Mozart had written, with the composer himself in the room.
The symphony had been meant for Napoleon. When Beethoven heard that Napoleon had declared himself emperor, the story goes, he flew into a rage and tore up the title page. What certainly survives is a copy of the score on which the words about Bonaparte are scratched out so hard that the pen went through the paper. The printed symphony carried a dedication to Prince Lobkowitz instead, and a new title, Eroica, to celebrate the memory of a great man.
In 1809, when a rival court in Germany tried to lure Beethoven away, Lobkowitz joined Archduke Rudolph and Prince Kinsky in promising him a yearly income for life on one condition: that he stay in Vienna. It was a rare thing, aristocrats paying a composer simply to compose. War and inflation soon ate into the money, and the prince's passion for music helped push him into financial ruin.
Inside the Theatre Museum you can see stage models, costumes and the Eroica Hall itself, painted ceiling and all, a room where you can almost hear those first stunned chords. Now cross Kärntner Strasse, the busy shopping street, and find the Rauhensteingasse a few steps to the east, a side street with a sad secret.