Stories Alive! A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889
A Changing World...
Zemii Tours is honored to present the sixth in many Stories Alive! Tours. The sixth tour is based off of the novel A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888-1889 by Frederic Morton. Published in 1986, this novel based on real world events takes you to the beginning of the fall of the Hapsburgs and the rising of a new world order.
The Story
As described on Amazon:
On January 30, 1889, during the Viennese Carnival, Emperor Franz Josef’s son and heir, Crown Prince Rudolf fired a revolver at his teenaged mistress and then at himself at Mayerling in the Vienna Woods. In this National Book Award finalist, Frederic Morton tells the story of the Prince and his city, where, in the span of ten months, “the Western dream started to go wrong.” In 1888-89 Vienna, other young men like Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler, Theodor Herzl, Gustav Klimt, and Arthur Schnitzler were as frustrated as the Crown Prince, but for other reasons. Morton interweaves their fates with that of the Prince and the entire city, until Rudolf’s body is lowered into its permanent sarcophagus and a son named Adolf is born to Frau Klara Hitler.
What William2 had to say about this book:
A portrait of Hapsburg Vienna about a generation before its dissolution. The monarchy is a class-driven machine producing much punctilio but apparently little in the way of strategic planning. The growth of nationalism among its polyglot population is viewed by Emperor Franz Joseph with trepidation, but ultimately the official attitude is wait and see. We as readers know these nationalist pressures will tear the Empire apart in 1914 when, in Sarajevo, Serb Gavrilo Princep blows a hole in Archduke Franz Ferdinand's neck. But in 1888 the monarchy seems either oblivious or in denial, perhaps a little of both. Only Crown Prince Rudolph and those of his immediate circle possess insight into the unsustainable imperial trajectory.
The Crown Prince is a fascinating paradox. He's well educated and liberal, a noble who's at heart a republican. His fondest wish is to see his kind expunged from state affairs. He knows the government is in desperate need of reform. Yet despite his lofty rank, his legions of admirers, he possesses no real power to effect change. The emperor employs his intelligence apparatus to spy on him. Agents follow him about and monitor his telegrams. The burden of protocol is overwhelming, but Rudolph seems to bear up well until the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The occasion is Emperor Franz Joseph's fifty-sixth birthday. Rudolph, who prefers the company of the so-called commoners to the moribund aristocracy, despises Wilhelm for his empty pan-German rhetoric. Yet he must toast him, must follow him about like a puppy, so the Kaiser won't grandstand at this or that reception about the virtues of the Greater Reich. He's stuck in this empty diplomatic role, smiling and toasting a man he despises. He's good at it. His manners are Old World. Understandably, he grows depressed.
There can be no question of Rudolph taking a mistress from among the nobility. His marriage to a cipher was a function of politics, not love. The noble ladies set their sights on him but he is emphatically not interested. Things look bleak indeed. Then he sees Mary Vetsera at one of the few social events where commoners and nobles can intermingle. At the new Court Theater they observe each other with opera glasses. Mary is 18 and Rudolph is 30. He's heard of her, of course. Mary's mother is a skillful social climber who's handed her gifts on to her daughter. Mary's a "lady of fashion" whose every new ensemble makes the society pages. Their liaisons are complex, arranged by a Vetsera family friend. There is much scuttling about labyrinthine corridors, much zigzagging about town to shake persistent tails.
Soon they are both dead from a suicide pact. Mary's corpse is spirited away by family members and buried without ceremony. Rudolph is given a funeral the likes of which are perhaps no longer seen in our day. His death rocks the empire. Of his final messages for others, he leaves not one word, not a syllable, addressed to his father.
The book is a portrait of a vanished era as much as it is a tale of star-crossed lovers. Along with Rudolph and Mary's story we're given a look at the cultural life of Vienna. The artist bios are beautifully compressed. We peek into the young lives of Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo Wolf, and Sigmund Freud--all in their twenties--as well as older established artists like Aaron Bruckner and Johannes Brahms. Vienna is a vast overwrought Baroque wedding cake. Morton brilliantly transforms the boulevard of braggadocio, the new Ringstrasse, into a fitting central metaphor for the posturing and decorum of a vast, fragmenting empire oblivious of the ticking clock. Wonderfully vivid and highly recommended.
The Author
Frederic Morton (born Fritz Mandelbaum) was a Jewish Austrian writer who emigrated to the United States in 1940. Born Fritz Mandelbaum in Vienna, Morton was raised as the son of a blacksmith who had specialized in forging imperial medals. In the wake of the Anschluss of 1938 his father was arrested but later released again. In 1939 the family fled to Britain, and the following year they migrated to New York. Morton said that back in 1940 his father decided, with a heavy heart, to change their family name to Morton in order to join an anti-Semitic labor union. Frederic Morton first worked as a baker but from 1949 studied literature. In 1951 he visited Austria again for the first time after the war, and in 1962 he returned, this time to Salzburg, to marry his fiancée, Marcia, whom he had met at college. From 1959, Morton worked as a columnist for several American periodicals. He died in Vienna in 2015 at the age of 90. From Goodreads
Why a Tour?
The Hapsburg Dynasty had an incredible impact on all of Europe. Their contributions to society are still felt to this day. Vienna still celebrates their history regularly and you can literally step back in time immediately when you walk the streets of Vienna. Although now a modern city, it still honors and cherishes its Hapsburg history everywhere you look. So, with this tour, you will be escorted back into time and live the royal treatment as if you were also a Hapsburg.
Learn more about the family on this intriguing video about Prince Rudolf’s mother, Vienna’s very own Sici, Empress Elisabeth.
The Tour
Explore the rich history of Hungarian Empire at the turn of the 19th century and before the world wars. Stay in a 5-Star hotel in Vienna where you will be taken on a magical ride to the past. Enjoy the Weinachtmarkts and indulge in the regional wines, famous chocolates, gastronomy, and luxurious spas in between your tours of the royal, intellectual, and artistic past of Vienna. (From Zemii’s website).
The tour is centered around Vienna and everything royal therein. Are you ready? Be prepared to be completely swept off your feet. This is not the tour to take lightly. You will also need to take your ballgown or tuxedo. (Hint: Click the links to see video tours of each offering). You have a ball to attend. This tour offers two hotel choices. The first choice is Hotel Imperial and the second one is Grand Hotel Wien. You will spend your first day exploring the various Weinachtmarkts in Vienna and end your evening with a performance by the Vienna Royal Orchestra. Your second day will include a private Christmas Time Tour from Vienna to Hallstatt and Salzburg Market. This is on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, you will have time to explore more of Vienna’s Weinachtmarkts, but then also spend half the day in Aisawan Boutique Spa. You will have a free morning to explore Vienna at your leisure on the 26th, but be prepared to tour the Vienna State Opera in the afternoon. Your evening will either consist of watching a performance by the Marionette Theater at Schönbrunn Palace or an Opera at the Vienna State Opera Theater. The next few days are a blur of tours of the numerous castles, museums, and watching the world famous Lipizzaner Stallions perform. Tours include: Schönbrunn Palace where you will see the Imperial Carriage Museum and enjoy dinner with an evening concert at the palace; Hofburg Palace; Sici Museum; Imperial Treasury; Old Town; Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien; and the Belvedere Palace and Museum. Enjoy an additional spa day at Therme Wein before you end your royal journey at the Sylvester Ball on New Year’s Eve. You have more free time to explore the city before your final event, so we recommend you explore the most famous churches in the area, including St. Stephen’s Cathedral and many others. There is so much to explore in this rich and historic city. We want to give you ample time to explore it all and during the best time of the year - Ball Season and Weinachtmarkts season!
