The Mozart Festival, Würzburg Friday 3 June, 4 nights

There can be no finer period setting for the music of Mozart than the Imperial Hall of the Prince-Bishops’ Residenz in Würzburg. The month long Mozart Festival attracts some of the world’s finest musicians. This year

brings artists to the Festival such as Alfred Brendel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner and the American pianist prodigy Kit Armstrong. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Clemens Schuldt, will be giving the opening concerts of the Festival and are delighted to welcome Kit Armstrong as soloist, described by his tutor Alfred Brendel as the finest pianist he had worked with. Kit Armstrong plays Mozart Piano Concerto No 20 in D minor. SCO’s concert opens with an overture by an almost exact contemporary of Mozart, Joseph Martin Krauss (1756 to 1792). Born in the Würzburg region he moved to Sweden at the age of twenty-one, becoming the leading musician at the court of Gustav III and was nicknamed ‘the Swedish Mozart’. The concert ends with Mozart Symphony No 39 in E Flat Major, which is preceded by Richard Strauss Intermezzo aus Capriccio. Supporters will have the opportunity to meet with the SCO players during their stay in Würzburg.

The Festival’s opening weekend is probably also its most exciting. From noon on Saturday, ‘Mozart Day’, the Festival takes to the streets of Würzburg with Mozart’s music being heard on open air stages within the old town. On Sunday there are chamber concerts at 11am and 4pm given by the Dover Quartet and the Jacques Thibaud String Trio; the first recital includes Mozart ‘The Hunt’ Quartet K.458 and the second recital two of his flute quartets. On Sunday evening the Basle Chamber Orchestra with Sol Gabetta perform Haydn Symphony No 79, Schumann Cello Concerto and their interpretation of Mozart Symphony No 39. We are spoilt for music whilst in Würzburg; at the opera house on Sunday evening there is a performance of Nicolai’s comic opera Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, which follows closely the plot of Shakespeare’s play. The opera remains very popular in Germany, though it is seldom performed elsewhere. This is the only opera Nicolai composed in German; his previous operas were all in Italian. Before he declined the libretto for the opera that became Nabucco, Nicolai’s works had been more successful in Italy than those of Verdi.

Our accommodation is at the excellent four-star Hotel Maritim, located just outside the old town and affording views across the River Main to the old bishops’ palace and the vineyards on the west bank. The hotel’s excellent facilities include an indoor pool, spa, sauna and small gym. There is a bar and two restaurants. We have reserved superior rooms, most of which enjoy a partial river view. Rooms are of ample size, classically modern in design and are equipped with safe, minibar, hairdryer, satellite tv and free wifi.

Our touring programme besides visiting the glories of Würzburg, concentrates on the historic small towns along the ‘Romantic Road’, before ending in Augsburg and Munich.

Friday 3 June Our flight from Edinburgh with Easyjet is scheduled to land in Stuttgart at 10.30 from where we are driven to Rothenburg ob der Tauber on the ‘Romantic Road’. Entering the city gates you feel transported back into the sixteenth century, surrounded by ancient houses, street signs, fountains and narrow, cobbled lanes. The Thirty Years War so impoverished the town that citizens couldn’t even afford to update their properties. Come nineteenth century Romanticism, preservation became fashionable. So today you can admire genuine buildings of the Renaissance and Middle Ages, which display steep roofs, tall gables, staircase turrets and corner oriels. We’ll become acquainted with this exquisite town initially with the assistance of a local guide then on our own.

From Rothenburg we make the short drive to Würzburg to spend three nights in the Hotel Maritim. Evening meal is included at the hotel tonight.

Saturday and Sunday 4 and 5 June Würzburg owes its glory to the Prince-Bishops who developed the town and built one of Germany’s largest palaces. St Kilian cathedral houses the funerary monuments to the Prince-Bishops. Some are plain and unadorned, others reflect the overweening presumption of mankind. Constructed between 1720 and 1744, the Residenz owes its design to Balthasar Neumann, and the huge 600 square metre ceiling fresco over the Grand Staircase (reputedly the largest fresco in the world) is by Giovanni Tiepolo. The Imperial Hall, or Kaisersaal, also features Tiepolo’s frescoes; the Venetian room is so named after three tapestries depicting the Venice Carnival; the Gartensaal is decorated in a lighter Rococo style. After our morning guided tour Saturday afternoon and Sunday are at leisure. Saturday evening is the SCO concert in the Residenz and Sunday the optional chamber music recitals, concert and opera performance.

5886

8c Penrhyn Avenue, Rhos-on-Sea LL28 4RD Tel: 01492 547744Email: grosvenortravel@grosvenortravel.co.uk www.grosvenortravel.co.uk

Grosvenor TravelW5838

This flight-inclusive holiday is financially protected by the ATOL scheme. When you pay you will be supplied with an ATOL Certificate. Please ask for it and check to ensure that everything you booked (flights, hotels and other services) is listed on it. Please see our booking conditions for

further information, or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: www.atol.org.uk/ATOLCertificate.

Across the River Main, on the west bank, is the old bishops’ palace, Marienberg. It served in more hazardous times as both residential palace and defensive fortress. Within the central courtyard stand a thirteenth century keep and a circular chapel from the eighth century. The Marienberg is also home to the Franconian Museum of the Main, noted for its collection of wooden sculptures by the ‘Master of Würzburg’, Tilman Riemenschneider. Local wine producers will certainly be vying with Mozart to grab your attention during the weekend. Würzburg will be celebrating its annual Wine Festival and producers set up booths across the town for sampling and purchasing their vintages.

Monday 6 June Leaving Würzburg we regain the Romantic Road at Dinkelsbühl. The town’s medieval walls are intact, fortified by four towers. Inside most buildings are of original timber-frame construction. The Deutsches Haus boasts a richly decorated Renaissance façade, and the hall church of St George has a splendid fan-vault ceiling. From the Tauber valley we enter the Ries basin, thought to have been created by a meteor strike millions of years ago. Nördlingen is a former free town of the Holy Roman Empire, just as well preserved as Dinkelbühl. Continuing south Donauwörth is dominated by the Monastery of the Holy Cross, displaying a beautiful eighteenth century Wessobrunn stuccowork interior. Our final stop is Augsburg, where we stay one night at the Hotel Augusta, providing good sized rooms in a city centre location.

Tuesday 7 June We start our day with a guided tour of Augsburg, probably Germany’s richest city in the sixteenth century. A trading centre on the route to Italy since Roman times, the city gained in wealth when it was nominated the seat of the Imperial Diet. Historically significant both for the Lutheran ‘Confession of Augsburg’ of 1530 and for the ‘Peace of Augsburg’ of 1555 which acknowledged the Protestant faith, it is best known as the home of great banking dynasties such as the Fuggers and the Welsers. Of the Fuggers there remains the family palace, their funeral chapel and the Fuggerei, a colony built between 1516 and 1525 for poorer citizens who could reside there for a token rent provided they prayed for the souls of their benefactors. There are other outstanding Renaissance and later Mannerist period buildings in Augsburg, notably the Town Hall with its Golden Room and Princes Chambers, and the properties along Maximilianstrasse, considered the most elegant street in southern Germany.

There is free time after the guided tour before we depart to the capital of Bavaria, Munich, arriving mid-afternoon for a brief tour of the historic city centre. After the tour there is time for an early evening meal before we continue to Munich airport for our direct flight back to Edinburgh with Easyjet.

Holiday price is £970pp sharing a twin room with four nights accommodation including breakfast, one evening meal, flights, excursions, entrance fees and transfers as above, one concert ticket for 4 June, and the on-site assistance of a SCO representative. Single occupancy supplement is £110. Deposit is £370pp. Travel insurance is available from £22pp, conditions apply. Enquire for pricing and availability for room upgrades, and for optional concert and opera tickets. Plane seats can be pre-booked at a small additional cost.

Booking is by phone with Grosvenor Travel, 01492 547744. Minimum numbers are required to operate the holiday. Closing date is Friday 29 January or sooner if ticket and room allocation are exhausted.