Letters from Vienna #188
Letter to Baron Bethell #11
A virtual guided tour of Vienna, Part 11,
Of Hotels & Culture
There are numerous excellent hotels in Vienna that cater to all manner of tastes such as the Le Meridien (pictured above), Plaza Hilton (where I hung out with Ricky Demarco (on whose behalf we both campaigned)), Regina (where I enjoyed some of the best parties in my life) or the one I personally prefer most of all: Imperial, which has a wonderful history.
At the end of May 1905 Arthur Schnitzler noted in his diary: “…at 10 with O. (his wife) to Imperial following an invitation from (Max) Reinhardt. There, instead of “a few friends”, a large company (40-50) gradually assembled. I sat between Frau Moll and Frau Marschalk (instead of Fr. Mahler), O. between Mahler and Hollaender – Besides most of Reinhardt’s first actors there were also Richard, Pfitzner, Leo, Roller, Klimt, Kaufmann, Salten and many others. We left only after 3…”
In November 1904 Schnitzler noted: “How incomprehensible that people don’t notice what an artistically rich time they live in: Dehmel, Lilieneron, the Manns – Hauptmann, Hofmannsthal – Strauss – Mahler; – Klinger, Klimt! –“
How delightful the evening must have been!
Interestingly Schnitzler considered Mahler the greatest composer of his day who “expressed his being (Wesen) through music (in contrast to Bruckner who simply created wonderful music).”
Imperial was one centre of cultural life in Vienna: “Among the prominent guests were Anton Bruckner, who liked to have a snack here, Johannes Brahms, Friedrich Eckstein (patron of Hugo Wolf and Anton Bruckner. Sigmund Freud, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Rainer Maria Rilke and Franz Werfel frequented his table), Gustav Mahler and Franz Schalk, who came here before or after an opera performance, Berthold Viertel, the art historian Ludwig Münz, Karl Kraus, who loved the quiet of the Café … Roda Roda, Gustav Meyrink, Arthur Schnitzler and Carl Zuckmayer.”[1]
Another centre was Villa Ast, in the Wollergasse (in the 19th district), which was designed by Josef Hoffmann and built between 1909 and 1911.
“The painter Carl Moll acquired the villa, which had been furnished exclusively by Josef Hoffmann, for his stepdaughter Alma, Gustav Mahler’s wife, who lived here (together with her third husband, Franz Werfel) until 1938… At that time, the villa was an intellectual and cultural centre of Vienna: Alban Berg, Egon Friedell, Gerhart Hauptmann, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Thomas Mann, Hans Pfitzner, Arthur Schnitzler, Arnold Schönberg and Bruno Walter frequented it.[2]”
[1] https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Caf%C3%A9_Imperial